This book breaks new ground by presenting a detailed description and history of one of the most famous companies of the early fourteenth century. This analysis of the Peruzzi Company produces a radical reassessment of what made the Florentine super-companies so exceptional: commodity trading, especially in grain, which required heavy capital, sophisticated organization, and an international network. But the book also exposes the limitations of their financial power, and explodes the myth that the collapse of the Peruzzi and its joint-venture partner, the Bardi, was caused by bad loans to Edward III to finance his invasions of France.