L'ospedale di Sant'Andrea di Vercelli nei decenni a cavallo tra Due e Trecento. L'acquisizione di patrimoni connessi con l'esercizio del credito e i suoi riflessi archivistici

The article examines some compact groups of documents, consisting in a large number of papers, acquired by the hospital of Sant’Andrea di Vercelli in the course of its activities in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. The connection of these documentary groups with the credit activities carried out by subjects at different levels of the social scale and the role of the hospital as a collector of credit assets is highlighted. This in a period (about 1280-1330) characterized by bitter political clashes and by the need of the parties in competition to drain resources to finance the struggles, with the consequent accumulation of outstanding credits and the transfer, at the end of the process, of land assets in the hands of creditors or those (religious and charitable institutions) who had inherited the wealth of them.