The study of medieval finances, both public and private, has a long-standing tradition in the historiography of the Low Countries. Scholars such as Henri Pirenne (in 1929), Hans van Werveke (in 1934) and, more recently, Raymond van Uytven (in 1961), together with a series of colloquia organised by the "Crédit communal" (Blankenberge 1962, Spa 1964) paved the way for more integrated approaches. Indeed, financial history can no longer be studied exclusively from the point of view of the history can no longer be studied exclusively fromthe point of view of the history of fiscality or through the techniques of bookkeeping. A broader approach including social, economic and political aspects, offers a more comprehensive insight in the way late-medieval society was constructed.
This collection of essays explores tha possible links between private and public finances. Their authors consider they ways networks are organised and how power-élites manipulate public finances in order to control the financial resources of collectives. Case-studies on Lusemburg, Namur and Lüneburg concentrate on this question exclusively, others are centered on the financial roles and statutes of bastards, Hanseatic merchants and guilds in the Burgundian Low Countries and of fiscal officers in Murcia. The tension between financial centers and their periphery is discussed with respect to Italy and merchants active in both international and local economies, as in late-medieval Bruges and early modern Antwerp.