Background
He returned home 32 years later a rich man, and formed a large import and export firm with branches in Avignon, Florence, Pisa, Genoa, Barcelona, Valencia, Mallorca, and Ibiza, and correspondents in all the major cities of Europe. He traded in armor, wool, cloth, silk, leather, spices, dyes, works of art, luxury articles, and slaves; at one point in his career he opened a bank. His ports of call extended to the Black Sea and the Barbary Coast.
Datini carefully refrained from taking any part in politics but became an influential member of his community because of his great wealth. When he died in Prato on Aug. 16, 1410, he left his house and his fortune amounting to 70,000 gold florins (about $270,000) to Prato's poor. A singular clause in his will instructed his executors to collect and preserve all his papers in his house. They consist of some 150,000 letters, over 500 account books and ledgers, 300 deeds of partnership, 400 insurance policies, and several thousand bills of lading, letters of advice, bills of exchange, and checks; they constitute a unique record of medieval trade. The personal letters offer a strikingly vivid picture of life in the 14th century.
Francesco Datini's importance lies in the fact that, though he accepted the rulings of the Church and of custom, he represented the dawn of a new age. His spirit of enterprise, commercial methods, international connections, and intense individualism made him a precursor of the great merchants of the Renaissance.