ABSTRACT
Since the time of the crusades a great economic revolution had been slowly transforming the civilization of Western Europe—first in Italy, then France, Germany and other countries. The system of barter was gradually displaced by the employment of silver and gold money as a medium of exchange in business. The Medieval Church profited greatly by this significant transition from natural products to a gold basis as a measure of values. The Avignon period conspicuously marked the last stages of that evolution, and the Papal curia through its network of international relationships became the greatest financial power in Europe and the world.
