God and Profit

What actually happened

Francesco Datini ran a multinational before the word existed: branches from Avignon to Barcelona, wool, arms, banking, and the meticulous correspondence that managed it, including hundreds of letters to and from his wife Margherita, who learned to write to argue with him properly.

Dying heirless in 1410, he left his fortune to the poor of Prato and his papers to be preserved. Preservation meant sealed sacks that were eventually walled into a staircase and forgotten until workmen found them in 1870: the most complete medieval business archive ever recovered, and the source for modern knowledge of early insurance, exchange bills, and the invention rate of commercial life.

Iris Origo's The Merchant of Prato built the modern portrait; the motto's exact wording follows her transcription.

The play to remember

Whoever keeps the records writes the history. Datini bought immortality with filing discipline, and the profits were spent centuries ago.