Origins: The Rhine Knee and the Making of a Commercial City — a part of the book Basel as an International Financial Centre by Dr Alexander Ressos.
Part A traces the formation of Basel from its prehistoric and Roman beginnings to its accession to the Swiss Confederation in 1501. It asks a question that runs through the whole book: which features of a place make it suitable for the handling of other people's money? The answer given here is that Basel's financial vocation grew out of four conditions that were present long before the first bank was founded in the city. The first is geography: a river crossing at the point where the Rhine turns north and becomes navigable towards the North Sea, at the meeting point of three natural regions. The second is lordship: a prince-bishop whose coinage, customs and debts created the first monetary institutions of the city and whose gradual financial exhaustion allowed the citizens to acquire his rights one by one. The third is civic organisation: guilds, a council and a municipal treasury that learned to borrow on the annuity market and to manage a public debt. The fourth is the encounter with Europe: the great Council of 1431 to 1449, the university of 1460, the imperial fair privilege of 1471 and the entry into the Confederation in 1501 connected Basel with the Church, the Empire, the Italian banking houses and the Swiss cantons.
Chapter I describes the physical and Roman foundations. Chapter II examines the bishop's city and its money. Chapter III turns to the bridge, the guilds, the markets and the municipal finances of the late Middle Ages. Chapter IV treats the Council of Basel as a financial event. Chapter V follows the city from the foundation of the university to its accession to the Confederation.
This part belongs to Basel as an International Financial Centre by Dr Alexander Ressos, published here in full, section by section.
The Rhine Knee: Geography, Celtic Settlement and Augusta Raurica — conclusion
Basel was born at a bend in the Rhine, at the meeting point of routes from the North Sea, Burgundy, the Swiss plateau and Italy. Read more Basel · OriginsA city at the bend of the river
Every financial centre begins as a place where goods, people and information pass. Basel owes its existence to a bend in a river. Read more Basel · OriginsThe Upper Rhine as an economic region
Basel's position cannot be understood in isolation from the region around it. The Upper Rhine plain, stretching from Basel to the area of Mainz and Frankfurt, is one of the most fertile and densely… Read more Basel · OriginsCeltic Basel: the Gasfabrik settlement and the oppidum on the Münsterhügel
The earliest traces of a substantial settlement on the site of Basel date from the late Iron Age, the period of the La Tène culture. Read more Basel · OriginsAugusta Raurica: a Roman colony on the Rhine
The Roman presence in the region began shortly after Caesar's victory. According to the inscription on his mausoleum at Gaeta, Lucius Munatius Plancus, governor of Gallia Comata and one of Caesar's… Read more Basel · OriginsRoads over the Jura
The prosperity of Augusta Raurica depended on roads as much as on the river. The Romans built a network of roads that connected the colony with the rest of the Empire. Read more Basel · OriginsThe silver treasure of Kaiseraugst
One find from Augusta Raurica deserves special attention in a book about money. In the winter of 1961 to 1962, during construction work near the late Roman fort at Kaiseraugst, an excavator uncovered… Read more Basel · OriginsThe economy of the frontier: army pay, coinage and supply
The prosperity of Augusta Raurica depended to a large extent on the Roman army. From the reign of Augustus onwards, the Rhine frontier was guarded by legions and auxiliary units stationed in camps… Read more Basel · OriginsFrom the colony to the fort: late antiquity on the Rhine
The prosperity of Augusta Raurica did not last. From the middle of the third century AD, the Roman frontier on the upper Rhine and the Danube came under pressure. Read more Basel · OriginsAlemanni, Franks and the early medieval town
In the fifth century, Roman rule on the upper Rhine collapsed. The Alemanni settled on both banks of the river, and the region came under the rule of the Franks after Clovis defeated the Alemanni… Read more Basel · OriginsThe river as a trade route: from Roman boatmen to the Rhine ports
The Romans organised navigation on the Rhine, which had carried goods since prehistoric times, on a large scale. Read more Basel · OriginsArchaeology, heritage and the law
The history of the Basel region is also a history of what has been found in its soil. Read more Basel · OriginsThe Roman legacy and the modern financial centre
Several threads link the Roman period with the modern Basel financial centre. Some are direct. Read more Basel · OriginsWhat geography teaches the financial centre
It may seem far-fetched to begin a book on a modern financial centre with Celtic ramparts and Roman silver plates. Yet several lessons of the early history of the site continue to shape Basel. Read more Basel · OriginsBasel and Geneva: two beginnings compared
The companion volume on Geneva opens with a scene from the same year in which the Rauraci left their territory: in 58 BC, Caesar had the bridge over the Rhône at Geneva cut to stop the Helvetii, and… Read more Basel · OriginsThe Bishop's City: Lordship, Coinage and the Medieval Urban Economy — conclusion
The bishops of Basel ruled their city from the eleventh century to the late fourteenth century. Read more Basel · OriginsThe prince-bishop as lord of the city
For most of the Middle Ages, Basel was the city of its bishop. The bishop was its spiritual head and its temporal lord. Read more Basel · OriginsThe Minster and the economy of the Church
Before turning to the bishop's money, it is worth recalling the scale of the ecclesiastical economy in the medieval city. Read more Basel · OriginsThe bishop's mint
The right to coin money was one of the most important and profitable regalian rights. Read more Basel · OriginsFrom the bishop's coinage to the Rappen monetary union
The bishop's right of coinage passed to the city in the fourteenth century. In 1373, the bishop pledged the mint to the city of Basel, which from then on exercised the right of coinage. Read more Basel · OriginsJews, Cahorsins and the question of credit
The history of credit in medieval Basel cannot be written without the history of the Jewish community, and that history includes one of the darkest episodes of the city's past. Read more Basel · OriginsThe rise of the citizens
While the bishop ruled, the citizens organised. The merchants, craftsmen and landowners of the city formed associations, obtained privileges and gradually acquired a share in the government of the… Read more Basel · OriginsBishop Heinrich von Thun and the Rhine bridge
The most important economic act of the episcopal period was the construction of the bridge over the Rhine. Read more Basel · OriginsKleinbasel: a second town and a second economy
Kleinbasel, founded by the bishop on the right bank after the construction of the bridge, developed as a town of its own. Read more Basel · OriginsThe earthquake of 1356
On 18 October 1356, Basel was struck by the strongest earthquake in the recorded history of Central Europe north of the Alps. Read more Basel · OriginsMarkets, measures and the regulation of trade
The right to hold a market was, like the right of coinage, a regalian right that the bishops had received from the crown. The market was a place and an institution. Read more Basel · OriginsThe nobles, the Habsburgs and the Evil Carnival
The emancipation of the citizens from the bishop was complicated by the presence of a third power: the nobility. Read more Basel · OriginsSources for a financial history of medieval Basel
The historian of finance in medieval Basel works with an exceptionally rich archive. Read more Basel · OriginsThe bishop's debts and the transfer of rights
The fourteenth century was a period of financial crisis for the bishopric of Basel. Read more Basel · OriginsBetween bishop and Empire: the status of the city
The legal status of Basel at the end of the fourteenth century was ambiguous in a way characteristic of the episcopal cities of the Empire. Formally, the bishop remained the lord of the city. Read more Basel · OriginsThe episcopal legacy
After the bishop's rule over the city of Basel ended in the fifteenth century, the Reformation of 1529 severed the last ties between the city and its bishop. Read more Basel · OriginsMoney, Credit and Public Finance in the Late Medieval City — conclusion
In the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, the citizens of Basel built the financial institutions of a self-governing city. Read more Basel · OriginsA city of ten thousand
At the end of the Middle Ages, Basel was a city of about ten thousand inhabitants. Read more Basel · OriginsThe merchant's monetary world
Before examining the finances of the city, it is necessary to describe the monetary world in which its merchants and officials operated. Read more Basel · OriginsThe municipal treasury
The acquisition of the bishop's rights gave the city revenues and obligations that required a financial administration. Read more Basel · OriginsRevenues: the Ungeld and other taxes
The largest source of revenue of the city was the Ungeld, an indirect tax on the consumption of wine, grain and other goods. Read more Basel · OriginsExpenditure: walls, wars and territories
The expenditure of the city was dominated by three items. The first was defence. After the earthquake of 1356, the city built a new outer wall that enclosed the suburbs that had grown up outside the… Read more Basel · OriginsThe public debt and the annuity market
The most striking feature of the finances of late medieval Basel, as revealed by Harms's study, is the size of the public debt. Read more Basel · OriginsThe guild economy and the regulation of work
The guilds that governed Basel in the fifteenth century also governed its economy. Read more Basel · OriginsSalt, wine and grain: the commodity trades
Three commodities dominated the trade and the public finances of late medieval Basel: salt, wine and grain. Read more Basel · OriginsPoverty, charity and the hospital
The medieval city was also a community of mutual assistance, whose institutions of charity were among its most important holders of capital. Read more Basel · OriginsPrivate credit: rents on houses and merchant partnerships
The rent was also the principal instrument of private credit. Citizens who needed capital, to buy a house, to set up a workshop or to finance a trading venture, sold rents secured on their real… Read more Basel · OriginsCrises: plague, famine and war
The financial institutions of late medieval Basel were tested by a series of crises. Read more Basel · OriginsAccounts, writing and the culture of the record
The financial institutions of the late medieval city depended on writing. The municipal accounts, the registers of rents, the records of the Kaufhaus, the accounts of the Stadtwechsel, the protocols… Read more Basel · OriginsThe Kaufhaus: the city's warehouse and customs house
In the late fourteenth century, the city established a central warehouse and customs house, the Kaufhaus. Read more Basel · OriginsThe municipal exchange of 1504
The financial institution that crowned the medieval development of Basel was established shortly after the city's accession to the Confederation. Read more Basel · OriginsThe rural territory as a portfolio
The rural territory that the city acquired in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries deserves a closer look from a financial perspective. Read more Basel · OriginsCredit, trust and civic virtue
The financial institutions of late medieval Basel, the municipal treasury, the annuity market, the Kaufhaus and the Stadtwechsel, rested on a common foundation: trust. Read more Basel · OriginsBasel and Geneva compared: municipal finance and fairs
The comparison with Geneva, which the companion volume examines, shows different paths to the same destination. Read more Basel · OriginsThe Council of Basel (1431–1449) as a Financial Event — conclusion
The Council of Basel, which met from 1431 to 1449, brought several thousand visitors to a city of ten thousand inhabitants and made it for almost two decades the centre of the Latin Church. Read more Basel · OriginsA general council in a provincial city
In the summer of 1431, the city of Basel became the meeting place of a general council of the Latin Church. Read more Basel · OriginsThe conciliar movement and the choice of Basel
The Council of Basel was the product of the conciliar movement, which had emerged from the crisis of the Great Western Schism. Read more Basel · OriginsThe course of the Council
The Council pursued three main objectives: the reconciliation of the Hussites, the reform of the Church and the union with the Greek Church. Read more Basel · OriginsThe economy of a council
The arrival of a general council transformed the economy of Basel. At its height in the mid-1430s, the Council brought several thousand people to the city: prelates with their households, envoys with… Read more Basel · OriginsSafe conduct, protection and the neutrality of the host
The first condition of any international assembly is the safety of its participants. The Council of Basel met in the shadow of a notorious breach of this condition. Read more Basel · OriginsThe Council as a market for legal services
A general council was, among other things, a great court of law and a market for legal services. Read more Basel · OriginsThe geography of payments
The participants of the Council came from all over Latin Christendom: from France, the Empire, Italy, Spain, Portugal, England, Scotland, Poland, Hungary, Bohemia and Scandinavia. Read more Basel · OriginsThe Church as a financial system
To understand the financial stakes of the Council, it is necessary to recall the scale of the financial system that the papacy had built in the fourteenth century. Read more Basel · OriginsThe finances of the Council itself
A general council was an expensive institution. It had to pay for its chancery, its courts, its envoys and its administration. Read more Basel · OriginsItalian bankers in Basel
The Council brought the Italian banking houses to Basel. The papacy was the largest international financial organisation of the Middle Ages. Read more Basel · OriginsPaper, scribes and the preparation of printing
The Council was an enormous consumer of paper. Its chancery issued thousands of documents, its sessions produced protocols and decrees, its theologians wrote treatises, and its members corresponded… Read more Basel · OriginsAeneas Silvius Piccolomini and the image of Basel
Among the participants of the Council was a young Sienese humanist, Aeneas Silvius Piccolomini, who came to Basel in 1432 as secretary of a cardinal and later served the Council and Felix V in… Read more Basel · OriginsFelix V, Savoy and Geneva
The election of Amadeus VIII of Savoy as Felix V connects the Council of Basel with the history of Geneva. Read more Basel · OriginsConciliarism and the constitution of international institutions
The Council of Basel failed, but its ideas survived. The conciliar theory, which held that the Church as a whole, represented by a general council, was superior to the pope, was one of the sources of… Read more Basel · OriginsHosting an international institution: a balance sheet
The experience of the Council allows an early balance sheet of the benefits and costs of hosting an international institution. The benefits were immediate and visible. Read more Basel · OriginsBasel after the Council
The years that followed the departure of the Council were difficult for Basel. The Armagnac invasion of 1444 had devastated the surroundings of the city. Read more Basel · OriginsWhat the Council left behind
When the Council left Basel in 1448, the city returned to its provincial dimension. The visitors departed, the revenues from lodgings and consumption declined, and the Italian bankers moved on. Read more Basel · OriginsUniversity, Fair Privilege and Confederation (1460–1501) — conclusion
In the four decades from 1460 to 1501, Basel made three decisions that defined its future. Read more Basel · OriginsThree decisions that shaped a city
In the four decades that followed the Council, Basel took three decisions that defined its future. In 1460, it opened a university, the first on the territory of present-day Switzerland. Read more Basel · OriginsThe bull of Pius II
The initiative to found a university in Basel came from the city. In 1459, the council sent a petition to Pope Pius II, the former Aeneas Silvius Piccolomini who had known Basel as a young secretary… Read more Basel · OriginsFinancing a university
A medieval university was expensive. It had to pay its professors, provide lecture halls and lodgings for students, maintain a library and organise examinations and ceremonies. Read more Basel · OriginsLaw at the university
The faculty of law of the University of Basel taught both canon law and Roman law from its foundation. Read more Basel · OriginsThe beginnings of printing
The years following the foundation of the university saw the arrival in Basel of the art of printing with movable type, invented by Johannes Gutenberg in Mainz around 1450. Read more Basel · OriginsSebastian Brant and the ship of fools
The first great literary success of Basel printing was a book about folly that contained a critique of money. Read more Basel · OriginsThe imperial fair privilege of 1471
In 1471, the Emperor Frederick III granted Basel the privilege of holding two annual fairs. Read more Basel · OriginsThe Burgundian Wars and the trial of Peter von Hagenbach
The second half of the fifteenth century was dominated, in the region of the Upper Rhine, by the ambitions of the Duke of Burgundy, Charles the Bold. Read more Basel · OriginsThe Swabian War and the Peace of Basel
The last war that preceded Basel's accession to the Confederation was the Swabian War of 1499, fought between the Confederates and the Swabian League, supported by the Emperor Maximilian I. Read more Basel · OriginsThe accession of 1501
The Swabian War demonstrated to Basel that it could not remain indefinitely between the Empire and the Confederation. Read more Basel · OriginsThe choice between Empire and Confederation
The decision of 1501 was not self-evident and was debated within the city. Basel had belonged to the Empire for five centuries. Read more Basel · OriginsThe Upper Rhine network after 1501
The accession to the Confederation did not sever Basel's ties with the Upper Rhine cities. Read more Basel · OriginsWhat accession meant for the economy of Basel
The accession to the Confederation changed the economic position of Basel in several ways. Read more Basel · OriginsPensions, mercenaries and the moral debate
The accession to the Confederation brought Basel into a political system in which the sale of military service was a central economic activity. Read more Basel · OriginsThe Rhine border takes shape
The accession of 1501 transformed the meaning of the border around Basel. Before 1501, the city was surrounded by territories that belonged, like the city itself, to the Empire: the Habsburg… Read more Basel · OriginsThe Basel of 1501
At the moment of its accession, Basel was a city of about ten thousand inhabitants, governed by a council dominated by the guilds, with a university, a flourishing printing industry, paper mills, an… Read more