Acciaiuoli, Mozzi, Bardi and Peruzzi families, which established branches in many other parts of Europe. Probably the most famous Italian bank was the Medici bank, set up by Giovanni di Bicci de' Medici in 1397 and continuing until 1494. (Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena S.p.A. (BMPS) Italy, is in fact the oldest banking organisation to have surviving banking-operations, or services). By the later Middle Ages, Christian Merchants who lent money with interest were without opposition, and Jews lost their privileged position as money-lenders. Italian bankers would take their place, and by 1327, Avignon had 43 branches of Italian banking houses. In 1347, Edward III of England defaulted on loans. Later there was the bankruptcy of the Bardi (1343 ) and Peruzzi (1346 ). The accompanying growth of Italian banking in France was the start of the Lombard moneychangers in Europe, who moved from city to city along the busy pilgrim routes important for trade. Key cities in this period were Cahors, the birthplace of Pope John XXII, and Figeac. After 1400, political forces did in fact somewhat turn against the methods of the Italian free enterprise bankers. In 1401 King Martin I of Aragon had some of these bankers expelled. In 1403, Henry IV of England prohibited them from taking profits in any way in his kingdom. In 1409, Flanders imprisoned and then expelled Genoese bankers. In 1410, all Italian merchants were expelled from Paris. In 1407, the Bank of Saint George, the first state-bank of deposit, was founded in Genoa and was to dominate business in the Mediterranean. 15th–17th centuries – Expansion Italy Between 1527 and 1572 a number of important banking family groups arose, such as the Grimaldi, Spinola and Pallavicino families, who were especially influential and wealthy, the Doria, although perhaps less influential, and the Pinelli and the Lomellini. Spain and the Ottoman Empire In 1401 the magistrates of Barcelona, then the capital of the Principality of Catalonia, established in the city the first replication of the Venetian model of exchange and deposit, Taula de canvi—the Table of Exchange, considered to be the first public bank of Europe. Halil Inalcik suggests that, in the 16th century, Marrano Jews (Doña Gracia from the House of Mendes) fleeing from Iberia introduced the techniques of European capitalism, banking and even the mercantilist concept of state economy to the Ottoman Empire. In the 16th century, the leading financiers in Istanbul