Benjamin of Tudela shows us that city frequented by all nations, Christian and Mohammedan.

"One meets there merchants from Africa, from Italy, Egypt, Palestine, Greece, Gaul, Spain, and England, so that one sees men of all languages, with the Genoese and the Pisans." Among all these merchants the richest were those who dealt in textile stuffs.

They were literally the bankers of the time, and their heavy wagons were often laden with the sums levied by the popes in England or France.
Their arrival at a castle was one of the great events.

They were kept as long as possible, everyone being eager for the news they brought.

It is easy to understand how close must have been their relations with the nobility; in certain countries, Provence for example, the merchants were considered as nobles of a second order.[5] Bernardone often made these long journeys; he went even as far as France, and by this we must surely understand Northern France, and particularly Champagne, which was the seat of commercial exchange between Northern and Southern Europe.
He was there at the very time of his son's birth.