Page 3 (1/2)

At the period of which we speak, Antwerp counted a its inhabitants

nearly a thousand merchants from other countries, each of whom had his own

attendants; one chronicle estiers engaged in commerce at five thousand[4] Twice a day these e, not only for purposes of trade

and for infor

operations

To convey an idea of the amount of wealth at the disposal of the houses of

Antwerp, it suffices to say that the king of Portugal obtained in one day

in this city a loan of three land contracted a debt of seventy er, left at his death legacies aold crowns, a sum which for that period would

seem fabulous, if the fact were not established by indisputable docu with each other had

carried luxury to such a height that ed

to publish edicts, in order to restrain the lavish expenditure This was

not done on account of the foreign inhabitants of the place, but for the

advantage of many noble families and the people of the middle classes, who

were tenificence which

reater part of the Italian merchants from Lucca, Genoa, Florence, and