The bloody birth of the bond market

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The US Treasury market - the world's largest government bond market - is worth about $32tn today, making it the largest pile of debt accumulated in history. But its roots lie in medieval Venice, a bloody military disaster and a leader who was forced to raise a loan to fund a war against the Byzantine Empire. What followed was a catastrophe involving pestilence, defeat and the brutal murder of the Doge, or leader, himself on the streets of Venice. But out of this crisis emerges a financial tool…