Dear Reader: This is a rough draft as of January 2010

Giovanni Boccaccio (1313-1375) was the son of an employee of the Bardi bank of Florence (the bank was soon to be brought down by the refusal of proud Edward III of England to honor his debts), and was raised up to be a banker. In his collection of tales, The Decameron (composed 1349-1351), Boccaccio treats merchants respectfully---at any rate by the standard of his Florentine countryman Dante ... ................
................