The New Roman Empire: Banking

The decline of the Roman Empire began in the second century A.D. Once Constantine took the reigns in 306, he took nearly 20 years to restore order within the Empire. Despite the decline, the Empire held much of the wealth of the world at that time. As part an effort to restore order in the Empire, Constantine adopted Christianity as the State Religion, introducing changes by importing customs and cultures into his new religion as a unifying factor for the Roman Empire. The Council of Nicaea formulated the Nicene Creed in 325 and made Christianity the powerhouse of the new Roman Empire as the Roman Catholic Church or World Church. By 476, the political Roman Empire had fallen to repeated outside pressure, transferring the relics of the Roman Empire to the Roman Catholic Church. Political unrest continued as rising powers in Europe invaded the Roman Empire and plundered Rome.

With the rule of the Barbarians and the Byzantines, the Pope became the unquestionable leading religious figure of the time. Local power in Rome was absorbed by the Pope and the remaining possessions of the senatorial aristocracy and the local Byzantine administration in Rome were absorbed by the Roman Catholic Church. The popes of the Church became the de-facto political rulers of Rome and the surrounding regions. Emerging noble families managed to insert a leading role for themselves in the Church. The Popes declared the new Roman Empire through the Roman Catholic Church as the rule of God on earth. Rome was subjected to varying degrees of anarchy and attack until the Normans sacked Rome in 1084. Rome was rebuilt by wealthy families using wealth that came from commerce and banking as the Church began to expand its political and religious power.

Beginning around 1100, the need to transfer large sums of money to finance the Crusades stimulated the current concept of secular banking. The earliest known foreign exchange contract was created in Genoa in 1156. Power struggles by nobles and the Church continued. The Templars and Hospitallers acted as bankers in the Holy Land. Expansive, large land holdings of The Templars across Europe also emerged in the 1100-1300 time frame as the beginning of Europe-wide banking. Their practice was to take in local currency and create a demand note that would be valid at any of their castles across Europe, allowing movement of money without the usual risk of robbery while traveling. Papal bankers were the most successful of the Western world by putting other bankers out of business by force and from trading related to the Crusades. 1300 brought new power and the return of the Popes from France set the stage for a renaissance in Rome. In 1440, the modern printing press established the regular use of paper money. By 1452, the papacy was in firm control of Rome. Rome began to lose its religious character with a great number of popular feasts, horse races, parties, intrigues and licentious episodes as well as an economy rich with the presence of several Tuscan bankers. In 1499, Switzerland acquired its independence from the Holy Roman Empire.

In 1506, Pope Julius II engaged the Swiss Guard that continues to serve the Vatican to the present day. The Sack of Rome in May 1527 marked the end of the initial era of religious-based banking prosperity. Rome had been ransacked and pillaged to point of oblivion by 1540 and Loyola was installed as the point man to stop the demise of Roman Catholic Society. The Bank of Rome was reorganized as a secular organization by Ignacio López de Loyola and the Society of Jesus was founded with commission of reestablishing the stronghold of Rome in the world. Loyola arranged for the Vatican and its holdings to be defended by Swiss mercenaries, commissioned to guard the assets of Rome. Rome decided to store the gold and silver in Switzerland to avoid a repeat of the ransacking of Rome. With this move, the banking system was expanded to the Swiss and from there, an international fraternal body or society of bankers expanded to other locations in the form of "central banking" known today. This history shows the continuing structure and power of the Roman Empire and influence of the Roman Catholic Church in your life today.

The Swiss continue to prosper doing what they have done for years in banking, finance, insurance and protecting the secrets of the wealthy. The Society of Jesus, often referred to as "the Jesuit order", continues to run the day to day operations of the Vatican, the worldwide central banking system and influence multinational financial investment and holding corporations through the Swiss. By this means, the system of central banking is able to sustain and profit through a modern power structure and a global information architecture.

The public stated goals of the Jesuits are concentrated on three activities. They founded universities throughout Europe and the world, which became essential for developing and sustaining the current financial system. Jesuit teachers are rigorously trained in both classical studies and theology. The Jesuits are to convert non-Christians to Catholicism. Their third goal is to stop Protestantism from spreading and bring the strays back into the religious fold. The leaders of this Society have vowed to bring to pass whatever the papacy demands and have met with great success. The origins of the Roman Empire, Roman Catholic Church and the Jesuit Order are undeniable in the developing history of our current global monetary system while maintaining a current global influence.

Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve, http://federalreserve.gov

Wikimedia Foundation, Incorporated, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_banking

William John Lawson, The History of Banking