ABSTRACT
Bills or letters of exchange facilitated long-distance trade between cities where banks operated. Practice varied in detail, but bills of exchange were due for payment within a given number of days, depending on the distance between the two cities concerned; that period was termed 'usance'. Couriers provided a quick but expensive means of communicating between cities, and were employed by governments and wealthier merchants. Double-entry book-keeping was common practice among businessmen prior to Luca Pacioli's account of it in his Summa de arithmetica, but it has become popularly associated with that publication. Banking facilities existed to meet a range of needs, from those of rich merchants to poorer families saving for their daughters' dowries. Bankers employed skilful ruses to avoid charges of usury, the practice of charging interest on the repayment of loans. the Fugger of Augsburg grew increasingly wealthy on a variety of commercial fronts, including silver, copper and mercury mining, as well as the cinnebar and gold trades.
