Before the Public Banks: Innovation and Resilience by Charities in Fifteenth Century Naples

The paper focuses on the common characteristics of the two banks whose origins date back to medieval times: that of S. Eligio and that of the SS. Annunziata. Both were originally two hospitals, founded by lay confraternities composed of exponents of the bourgeoisie and the mercantile world, had a privileged relationship with the monarchy and great prestige in the city, which triggered an imitative process, for which hospitals named after Sant'Eligio and to the Annunziata rose progressively in various other cities of the Kingdom of Naples. Through the study of the sources related to the Annunziata, the essay highlights that they, like all medieval hospitals, the Annunziata also turned its attention to a multitude of recipients, delivering them diversified services according to individual needs. Its archive, compared with archives of other ecclesiastical city institutions, shows the importance of the business surrounding the entity: through passive (Payments) and active operations (use of deposits) it had since the fifteenth century the features of a banking institution, which was formalized more than a century later.