Tickets: Free; advance registration is encouraged but not required.
Deirdre Jackson, Assistant Curator of Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts
Medieval bankers and merchants pioneered financial instruments that would be vital to the rise of modern global commerce. Commercial activities still in place today were routinely carried out, including bank transfers, the extension of credit, and the exchange of foreign currency. Even so, money was widely recognized as problematic within medieval culture. Focusing on some of the outstanding manuscripts, artworks and artifacts on display, this lecture by Deirdre Jackson, Assistant Curator of Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts, and on-site curator of the exhibition, explores the ambivalence evoked by the burgeoning economy. The exhibition Medieval Money, Merchants, and Morality will be open at 5:00pm for program attendees.
Merchant and King from Jacobus de Cessolis, Book of the Customs of Men and the Duties of Nobles, or The Book of Chess, translated into French by Jean de Vignay, France, probably Paris, 1350–60. The Morgan Library & Museum, MS G.52, fol. 33v (detail)