The mediaeval knight was a country squire and was rarely forced to pay for materials in money. His estates produced everything that he and his family ate and drank and wore on their backs. The bricks for his house were made along the banks of the nearest river. Wood for the rafters of the hall was cut from the baronial forest. The few articles that had to come from abroad were paid for in goods-in honey-in eggs-in fagots.
中世纪的骑士同时也是拥有田产的乡绅，少有出现必须付钱购买某种物品的情形。他们的庄园里能够出产供他和他的家人吃、喝、穿的一切物品。修筑城堡所需的砖块是在最近的河边制造的，大厅的檩梁直接从自己拥有的森林采伐。有少量物品来自国外，但也是拿庄园出产的蜂蜜、鸡蛋、柴捆去交换的。
But the Crusades upset the routine of the old agricultural life in a very drastic fashion. Suppose that the Duke of Hildesheim was going to the Holy Land. He must travel thousands of miles and he must pay his passage and his hotel-bills. At home he could pay with products of his farm. But he could not well take a hundred dozen eggs and a cart-load of hams with him to satisfy the greed of the shipping agent of Venice or the inn-keeper of the Brenner Pass. These gentlemen insisted upon cash. His Lordship therefore was obliged to take a small quantity of gold with him upon his voyage. Where could he find this gold? He could borrow it from the Lombards, the descendants of the old Longobards, who had turned professional moneylenders, who seated behind their exchange-table (commonly known as"banco" or bank) were glad to let his Grace have a few hundred gold pieces in exchange for a mortgage upon his estates, that they might be repaid in case His Lordship should die at the hands of the Turks.
可十字军东征却把古老农业社会的陈规打了个天翻地覆。请设想一下，如果希尔德海姆公爵想要去圣地，那他必须跋涉上几千英里的路程。一路上，他不得不支付自己的交通费、伙食费。如果在家里，他可以拿田庄里的农产品去给人家。现在可糟了，他总不能载着100打鸡蛋和整车火腿上路，好随时满足某个威尼斯船主或布伦纳山口旅店主的口腹之欲呀！这些绅士们坚持要收现金。因此公爵不得不被迫带上少量的金子去开始旅程。可他能到哪儿去搞到这些金子呢？他可以从老隆哥巴德人的后裔伦巴德人那里去借。他们悠然惬意地端坐在兑换柜台后面（柜台被称为"banco"，它就是银行"bank"一词的由来），早已经变成职业的放债人了。他们倒很乐意借给公爵大人几百个金币，可为保险起见必须用公爵的庄园作抵押。这样，万一公爵大人在征讨土耳其人时有个三长两短，他们的钱才不至于打了水漂