Free Republic

Modern banking has its auspicious beginnings in the early to mid Middle Ages. Primitive banking transactions existed before, but until the economic revival of the thirteenth century they were limited in scope and occurrence. By the dawn of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, bankers were grouped into three distinct categories: the pawnbrokers, the moneychangers, and the merchant bankers. But with these economic specializations came religious denunciation and backlash. However, these bankers persevered and a new industry was born. After the collapse of the Roman Empire in the late fifth century, there followed centuries of deep economic depression, sharp deflation of...

Two battle axes used in hand-to-hand fighting at the Battle of Grunwald over 600 years ago have been found by detectorists during a sweep of the famous battle site in northern Poland. The find, which has astonished archaeologists, is all the more important as the melee weapons are in remarkably good condition. According to Dr. Szymon Dreja, director of the Museum of the Battle of Grunwald, the discovery of the battle axes are an archaeological sensation. "In seven years of our archaeological research we have never had such an exciting, important and well-preserved find," he stressed. According to the director,...