\paperw5085 \margr0\margl0\ATXph16380 \plain \fs20 \pard\tx3255\tx6525\tx9780\ATXts240\ATXbrdr0 \f1 \fs22 It was during this period that Italian bankers, especially \ATXnt901 Flo
rentines\ATXnt0 , began to exert an influence over the English wool market. To obtain control over the precious raw material they introduced modern banking and accountancy methods, including letters of credit payable abroad to travellers, the clergy and
merchants, nonnegotiable letters of exchange, and double entry bookkeeping. The Frescobaldi family thus had the power to obtain a royal concession for the exploitation of the mines in Devon. Other families, such as the Bardi and the Peruzzi, had settl
ed in England to manage the papal revenues. They were thus in a position to lend the royal Treasury large sums of money at good interest rates. Moreover, they could buy up the entire wool output of the Cistercian monasteries one or two years in advance
of shearing, thus elbowing out their Flemish rivals who did not have the same available capital.
