LOS CAMBISTAS COMPOSTELANOS, UN GREMIO DE BANQUEROS PIONERO EN LA CASTILLA MEDIEVAL (SIGLOS XII-XV)

Abstract

The guild of money changers of the city of Santiago de Compostela was one of the first to appear and develop in the Castilian kingdom. By referring to different documentary sources such as the rules of the association which appeared between the 13th and 15th century, the agreement with other trades such as silversmiths, a landed property oath which enabled the guild to buy royal incomes, the author analyses the development of the corporation into something more than a guild. He shows how it gained legislative, executive and judicial autonomy, when it got jurisdiction in the city. Moreover, it quickly became a very powerful group due to its financial importance as a bank association, its social prestige which enabled it to sponsor religious activities and festivals and also to its political influence owing to the great number of public rulers and other local patricians who belonged to this organization.