Bardi

The Bardi were a Florentine merchant and banking house whose noble rank is documented from 1164, when Emperor Frederick Barbarossa enfeoffed their forebears with the county of Vernio. Staunch Guelphs, they fought at Campaldino in 1289 alongside Dante Alighieri.

Their Compagnia dei Bardi grew into one of the greatest banks of medieval Europe, financing trade across the continent through bills of exchange. By 1338 it ran thirteen branches, and the family adorned Santa Croce with chapels frescoed by Giotto from about 1310.

Their fortune was broken by royal credit: they had lent Edward III of England some 900,000 gold florins for the Hundred Years' War, and when he defaulted in 1345 the Bardi collapsed together with their partners the Peruzzi. The family survived, and around 1415 Contessina de' Bardi married Cosimo de' Medici, who restored their political rights after 1434.