Panel 01 - Signature panel (Two money-changers behind their bancus)
© Stuart Whatling, 2008
Description:
The money-changers who occupy the donor panels of this window are not
to be confused with the much-despised money-lenders (an activity proscribed
for Christians). At a time when every district had its own currency, trade-oriented
towns like Chartres with their major regional fairs were dependent on
money-changers, who could establish rates of exchange between the many
different species of coin in circulation. The tables, or banco
on which they conducted their business is, of course, the origins of the
modern English word "bank".
