Guest Author - Helen B. Wharton

Prior to the Renaissance, the position in society that people held was essentially the same as their parents, and grandparents, before them. But that was about to change.

Power was the prerogative of the nobility. Nobles were wealthy in land but not necessarily in money, although that was a possibility. The ruler held control of all land. In return for loyalty, support during war and providing men to fight, the King would grant large tracts of land or manors to the nobility. Nobles, who held the land, provided protection to serfs and peasants in return for working the land and a share of whatever the land provided.

As a result of the Crusades many lower class people, who had never been more than a few miles from their birthplace in their entire lives, discovered far away places and different ways of life. New ideas, foods and spices were introduced to Europe and people wanted more of them. As a result the lives of the wealthy and powerful, as well as the peasants changed forever.

A new middle class developed through trade and commerce. These people were not born wealthy and powerful but became wealthy, during their lifetime, through their own work. Those who brought back food, spices, and cloth, among other things, found a ready market and so began a new merchant class. Merchants could invest a portion of what they had earned through importing these goods, into another trading expedition and gradually increase their own wealth.

Early bankers began as merchants, dealing in the sale of goods. The Medicis, in Florence, were an example of this. When a customer could not afford to pay in full, they might be extended a line of credit. This was the beginning of the banking industry. As the merchant began to make more money from the interest paid on the credit, than for the original goods, their "product" became money.
The Fuggers in Germany started in this same way.

As Europe turned away from an agrarian economy and became more urban merchants, traders and bankers became more wealthy and powerful than the nobility. No longer were people destined to live the same lives their ancestors had.