Word: florins
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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Protestantism played a subsidiary role in yet another revolution that challenged the church: the emergence of capitalism. By the 14th century the roots of modern banking could be found in northern Italy, where Florence's gold coin (the florin) and Venice's (the ducat) became, in effect, international currencies. But banking and Catholicism were then uneasy partners: the church condemned usury -- defined then as any interest on loans -- in language harsher than bishops today use to denounce contraception. The reformers were more lenient. Gradually Europe's great centers of commerce were established in predominantly Protestant Holland and England. Innovation followed...