A fourteenth-century Italian merchant in financial difficulties considered a deliberate, sudden bankruptcy as one of the possible solutions to his problems. The purpose of such a move would be to conceal as large a proportion of his assets as was practicable and to ensure for himself a not unprosperous future. There was always a risk of surprising reactions from the victims and political complications could add to the perils of the unscrupulous bankrupt. The public authorities had naturally to intervene and to impose some sort of orderly liquidation of business breakdowns, which might otherwise escalate and spread widespread ruin. All these features can be illustrated from the story of the English branches of the Scali. Their bankruptcy, and that of the Pulci and Rembertini some twenty years earlier, involved the interventions of the royal council and the chancery. The records produced by the resultant official proceedings throw interesting light on an early stage of international banking in western Europe, before the evolution of more uniform types of business documents and of standardised methods of attesting financial liabilities.

The ruthless unscrupulousness of these bankruptcies is well illustrated by what the Frescobaldi of Florence tried to do in Gascony in 1311. The outlines of this story are well known. However, none of the existing accounts spell out all the details. The Frescobaldi were under dire pressure. Their position as the principal bankers of King Edward II had exposed them to relentless hostility of Edward's political opponents, the Lords Ordainers, who were trying to cripple him financially by ruining his chief financiers.