The Manufactures And Commerce Of
This Part Of Spain Continued To Flourish From This Time Till The Union Of
The Crowns Of Castile And Arragon, Which Event Depressed The Latter
Kingdom.
In 1380, a Catalan ship was wrecked on the coast of Somersetshire,
on her voyage from Genoa to Sluys, the port of Bruges:
Her cargo consisted
of green ginger, cured ginger, raisins, sulphur, writing paper, white
sugar, prunes, cinnamon, &c. In 1401, a bank of exchange and deposit was
established at Barcelona: the accommodation it afforded was extended to
foreign as well as native merchants. The earliest bill of exchange of which
we have any notice, is one dated 28th April, 1404, which was sold by a
merchant of Lucca, residing in Bruges, to a merchant of Barcelona, also
residing there, to be paid by a Florence merchant residing in Barcelona. By
the book of duties on imports and exports, compiled in 1413, it appears,
that the Barcelonians were very liberal and enlightened in their commercial
policy; this document also gives us a high idea of the trade of the city of
Barcelona. A still further proof and illustration of the intelligence of
the Barcelona merchants, and of the advantages for which commerce is
indebted to them, occurs soon afterwards: for about the year 1432 they
framed regulations respecting maritime insurance, the principal of which
were, that no vessel should be insured for more than three quarters of her
real value, - that no merchandize belonging to foreigners should be insured
in Barcelona, unless freighted in a vessel belonging to the king of
Arrogan:
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