"Princes still did not enjoy the good credit of the best merchants or of the wealthy towns. Princely loans, as recorded by historians, tended to be very high interest rates . . . For example, Frederick the Fair of Austria, 1286-1330, borrowed at 80% interest. In 1319 the Angevin King of Naples, Robert of Anjou, 1275-1343, borrowed at 30% from Florentine bankers. With good security the rate of interest was much less. In 1328, for example, the Duke of Cambrai borrowed in Florence with precious jewels as collateral at 15%. In 1364 the Countess of Bar pawned her gold coronet for a loan of 50%.
Philip the Fair (IV) of France, 1285-1314, borrowed heavily at unstated rates, but instead of repaying his bankers he banished them, canceled his own debts and decreed that the principal of all other debts must be paid to the Crown, His principal creditor, the Order of Knights Templar, which had become largely a banking organisation, was utterly destroyed. Edward II of England, 1313-1377, likewise repudiated his debts, rate unstated, and ruined his Florentine bankers, These episodes did not improve the credit of princes."
Philip the Fair (IV) of France, 1285-1314, borrowed heavily at unstated rates, but instead of repaying his bankers he banished them, canceled his own debts and decreed that the principal of all other debts must be paid to the Crown, His principal creditor, the Order of Knights Templar, which had become largely a banking organisation, was utterly destroyed. Edward II of England, 1313-1377, likewise repudiated his debts, rate unstated, and ruined his Florentine bankers, These episodes did not improve the credit of princes."