House of Bardi

The House of Bardi was an influential Florentine family that founded the powerful banking company known as the Compagnia dei Bardi. In the fourteenth century the Bardi lent Edward III of England 900,000 gold florins, a debt he failed to repay, and the resulting losses, together with 600,000 florins Edward also borrowed from the Peruzzi family, led to the collapse of both families' banks. During the fifteenth century the Bardi continued to operate from various European centres, and played a notable role in financing early voyages of discovery to the Americas, including those of Christopher Columbus and John Cabot. This description is adapted from Wikipedia contributors under CC BY-SA 4.0; changes were made. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/