A story close to reality?

The story you read is, of course, fiction. But if you find it disturbingly close to reality and wants to know who Fabian is in real life, a good starting point is a study of the activities of the English goldsmiths in the ages 16 and 17.

For example, the Bank of England began in 1694. King William of Orange was in financial difficulties as a result of a war with France. Goldsmiths "lent him" 1.2 million pounds (a staggering amount in those days) with certain conditions:

The interest rate would be 8%. It must be remembered that the Constitution stated that charging interest was punishable by death.

The king was to grant the goldsmiths a charter for the bank that gave them the right to issue credit.

Before this, their operations issuing receipts for more money than you had on deposit were totally illegal. The king's letter made ​​it legal.

In 1694 William Patterson obtained the Charter for the Bank of England.