Banknotes in the form of slips of paper or bank slips were not means of payment in the Early Modern period but simply a promise of payment by the bank that had brought them into circulation. They became popular in the mid-17th century when the London goldsmiths first offered a wide range of modern banking services. Merchants and aristocratic landowners maintained an account with the goldsmith, which they used both for overdraft credit and for transfers.

The so-called goldsmith bankers discounted bills of exchange, IOUs and state papers (Discount), i.e. they cashed credit papers be…