Bardi

The Bardi were a Florentine family whose bank operated from London to the eastern Mediterranean. By the 1320s it was a leading European bank, financing trade and lending to rulers including Edward III of England.

The Bardi bank failed in the crisis of the 1340s, though the family continued in commerce. After Cosimo de' Medici, husband of Contessina de' Bardi, gained power in Florence in 1434, he restored the family's political rights.