Napier, Florentine History , I 597, says:⁠—

“The

Arte del Cambio

, or moneytrade, in which Florence shone preeminent, soon made her bankers known and almost necessary to all Europe.⁠ ⁠… But amongst all foreign nations they were justly considered, according to the admission of their own countrymen, as hard, griping, and exacting; they were called

Lombard dogs