Chapter I

[I-1] J. B. Say, _Cours complet d’Economie politique pratique_, vol. vi, 1829, pp. 351-2.

[I-2] R. Torrens, _An Essay on the Production of Wealth_, 1821, Preface, p. xiii.

[I-3] Lloyd George at Portmadoc (_Times_, June 16, 1921).

[I-4] J. A. Froude, _Revival of Romanism_, in _Short Studies on Great Subjects_, 3rd ser., 1877, p. 108.

[I-5] J. N. Figgis, _From Gerson to Grotius_, 1916, pp. 21 _seqq._

[I-6] Locke, _Two Treatises of Government_, bk. ii, chap. ix, § 124.

[I-7] Nicholas Oresme, _c._ 1320-82, Bishop of Lisieux from 1377. His _Tractatus de origine, natura, jure et mutationibus monetarum_ was probably written about 1360. The Latin and French texts have been edited by Wolowski (Paris, 1864), and extracts are translated by A. E. Monroe, _Early Economic Thought_, 1924, pp. 81-102. Its significance is discussed shortly by Cunningham, _Growth of English Industry and Commerce, Early and Middle Ages_ (4th ed., 1905, pp. 354-9), and by Wolowski in his introduction. The date of the _De Usuris_ of Laurentius de Rodolfis was 1403; a short account of his theories as to the exchanges will be found in E. Schreiber, _Die volkswirthschaftlichen Anschauungen der Scholastik seit Thomas v. Aquin_, 1913, pp. 211-17. The most important works of St. Antonino (1389-1459, Archbishop of Florence, 1446) are the _Summa Theologica_, _Summa Confessionalis_, and _De Usuris_. Some account of his teaching is given by Carl Ilgner, _Die volkswirthschaftlichen Anschauungen Antonins von Florenz_, 1904; Schreiber, _op. cit._, pp. 217-23; and Bede Jarrett, _St. Antonino and Mediæval Economics_, 1914. The full title of Baxter’s work is _A Christian Directory: a Summ of Practical Theologie and Cases of Conscience_.

[I-8] See Chap. IV, p. 206.

[I-9] Benvenuto da Imola, _Comentum super Dantis Comœdiam_ (ed. Lacaita), vol. i, p. 579: “Qui facit usuram vadit ad infernum; qui non facit vadit ad inopiam” (quoted by G. G. Coulton, _Social Life in Britain from the Conquest to the Reformation_, 1919, p. 342).

[I-10] Lanfranc, _Elucidarium_, lib. ii, p. 18 (in _Opera_, ed. J. A. Giles). See also _Vita Sancti Guidonis_ (_Bollandists’ Acta Sanctorum_, September, vol. iv, p. 43): “Mercatura raro aut nunquam ab aliquo diu sine crimine exerceri potuit.”

[I-11] B. L. Manning, _The People’s Faith in the Time of Wyclif_, 1919, p. 186.

[I-12] Aquinas, _Summa Theologica_, 2^a 2^æ, div. 1, Q. iii, art. viii.

[I-13] _Ibid._, 1^a 2^æ, div. i, Q. xciv, art. ii.

[I-14] The Bull _Unam Sanctam_ of Boniface VIII.

[I-15] John of Salisbury, _Polycraticus_ (ed. C. C. I. Webb), lib. v, cap. ii (“Est autem res publica, sicut Plutarco placet, corpus quoddam quod divini muneris beneficio animatur”), and lib. vi, cap. x, where the analogy is worked out in detail. For Henry VIII’s chaplain see Starkey, _A Dialogue between Cardinal Pole and Thomas Lupset_ (Early English Text Society, Extra Ser., no. xxxii, 1878).

[I-16] Chaucer, _The Persone’s Tale_, § 66.

[I-17] _On the Seven Deadly Sins_, chap. xix (_Select English Works of John Wyclif_, ed. T. Arnold, vol. iii, 1871, p. 145).

[I-18] John of Salisbury, _op. cit._, lib. vi, cap. x: “Tunc autem totius rei publicæ salus incolumis præclaraque erit, si superiora membra se impendant inferioribus et inferiora superioribus pari jure respondeant, ut singula sint quasi aliorum ad invicem membra.”

[I-19] Wyclif, _op. cit._, chaps. ix, x, xi, xvii, _passim_ (_Works of Wyclif_, ed. T. Arnold, vol. iii, pp. 130, 131, 132, 134, 143).

[I-20] See, _e.g._, A. Doren, _Studien aus der Florentiner Wirthschaftsgeschichte_, 1901, vol. i, chaps. v, vii. His final verdict (p. 458) is: “Man kann es getrost aussprechen: es gibt wohl keine Periode in der Weltgeschichte, in der die natürliche Uebermacht des Kapitals über die besitz- und kapitallose Handarbeit rücksichtsloser, freier von sittlichen und rechtlichen Bedenken, naiver in ihrer selbstverständlichen Konsequenz gewaltet hätte, und bis in die entferntesten Folgen zur Geltung gebracht worden wäre, als in der Blütezeit der Florentiner Tuchindustrie.” The picture drawn by Pirenne of the textile industry in Flanders (_Belgian Democracy: Its Early History_, trans. by J. V. Saunders, 1915, pp. 128-34) is somewhat similar.

[I-21] In Jan. 1298/9 there was held a “parliament of carpenters at Milehende, where they bound themselves by a corporal oath not to observe a certain ordinance or provision made by the Mayor and Aldermen touching their craft,” and in the following March a “parliament of smiths” was formed, with a common chest (_Calendar of Early Mayor’s Court Rolls of the City of London, 1298-1307_, ed. A. H. Thomas, 1924, pp. 25, 33-4).

[I-22] The figures for Paris are the estimate of Martin Saint-Léon (_Histoire des Corporations de Métiers_, 3rd ed., 1922, pp. 219-20, 224, 226); those for Frankfurt are given by Bücher (_Die Bevölkerung von Frankfurt am Main im XIV und XV Jahrhundert_, 1886, pp. 103, 146, 605). They do not include apprentices, and must not be pressed too far. The conclusion of Martin Saint-Léon is: “Il est certain qu’au moyen âge (abstraction faite des villes de Flandre) il n’existait pas encore un prolétariat, le nombre des ouvriers ne dépassant guère ou n’atteignant même pas celui des maîtres” (_op. cit._, p. 227 n.). The towns of Italy should be added, as an exception, to those of Flanders, and in any case the statement is not generally true of the later Middle Ages, when there was certainly a wage-earning proletariat in Germany also (see Lamprecht, _Zum Verständnis der wirthschaftlichen und sozialen Wandlungen in Deutschland vom 14. zum 16. Jahrhundert_, in the _Zeitschrift für Sozial- und Wirthschaftsgeschichte_, vol. i, 1893, pp. 191-263), and even, though on a smaller scale, in England.

[I-23] _The Grete Sentence of Curs Expouned_, chap. xxviii (_Select English Works of Wyclif_, ed. T. Arnold, vol. iii, p. 333). The passage contains comprehensive denunciations of all sorts of combination, in particular, gilds, “men of sutel craft, as fre masons and othere,” and “marchauntis, groceris, and vitileris” who “conspiren wickidly togidre that noon of hem schal bie over a certeyn pris, though the thing that thei bien be moche more worthi” (_ibid._, pp. 333, 334).

Wyclif’s argument is of great interest and importance. It is (1), that such associations for mutual aid are unnecessary. No special institutions are needed to promote fraternity, since, quite apart from them, all members of the community are bound to help each other: “Alle the goodnes that is in thes gildes eche man owith for to do bi comyn fraternyte of Cristendom, by Goddis comaundement.” (2) That combinations are a conspiracy against the public. Both doctrines were points in the case for the sovereignty of the unitary State, and both were to play a large part in subsequent history. They were used by the absolutist statesmen of the sixteenth century as an argument for State control over industry, in place of the obstructive torpor of gilds and boroughs, and by the individualists of the eighteenth century as an argument for free competition. The line of thought as to the relation of minor associations to the State runs from Wyclif to Turgot, Rousseau, Adam Smith, the Act of the Legislative Assembly in 1792 forbidding trade unions (“Les citoyens de même état ou profession, les ouvriers et compagnons d’un art quelconque ne pourront ... former des règlements sur leurs prétendus intérêts communs”), and the English Combination Acts.

[I-24] _Kayser Sigmunds Reformation aller Ständen des Heiligen Römischen Reichs_, printed by Goldast, _Collectio Constitutionum Imperialium_, 1713, vol. iv, pp. 170-200. Its probable date appears to be about 1437. It is discussed shortly by J. S. Schapiro, _Social Reform and the Reformation_, 1909, pp. 93-9.

[I-25] Martin Saint-Léon, _op. cit._, p. 187. The author’s remark is made _à propos_ of a ruling of 1270, fixing minimum rates for textile workers in Paris. It appears, however, to be unduly optimistic. The fact that minimum rates were fixed for textile workers must not be taken as evidence that that policy was common, for in England, and probably in France, the textile trades received special treatment, and minimum rates were fixed for them, while maximum rates were fixed for other, and much more numerous, bodies of workers. What is true is that the medieval assumption with regard to wages, as with regard to the much more important question of prices, was that it was possible to bring them into an agreement with an objective standard of equity, which did not reflect the mere play of economic forces.

[I-26] “The Cardinals’ Gospel,” translated from the _Carmina Burana_ by G. G. Coulton, in _A Mediæval Garner_, 1910, p. 347.

[I-27] Printed from the _Carmina Burana_ by S. Gaselee, _An Anthology of Medieval Latin_, 1925, pp. 58-9.

[I-28] Innocent IV gave them in 1248 the title of “Romanæ ecclesiæ filii speciales” (Ehrenberg, _Das Zeitalter der Fugger_, 1896, vol. ii, p. 66).

[I-29] For Grosstête see Matthew Paris, _Chronica Majora_, vol. v, pp. 404-5 (where he is reported as denouncing the Cahorsines, “whom in our time the holy fathers and teachers ... had driven out of France, but who have been encouraged and protected by the Pope in England, which did not formerly suffer from this pestilence”), and F. S. Stevenson, _Robert Grosseteste, Bishop of Lincoln_, 1899, pp. 101-4. For the bishop of London and the Cahorsines see Matthew Paris, _Chron. Maj._, vol. iii, pp. 331-2. A useful collection of references on the whole subject is given by Ehrenberg, _op. cit._, vol. ii, pp. 64-8.

[I-30] _Registrum Epistolarum J. Peckham_, vol. i, p. 18, July 1279 (translated by Coulton, _Social Life in Britain from the Conquest to the Reformation_, p. 345).

[I-31] For cases of clerical usury see Selden Society, vol. v, 1891, _Leet Jurisdiction in the City of Norwich_, ed. W. Hudson, p. 35; _Hist. MSS. Comm., MSS. of the Marquis of Lothian_, 1905, p. 26; and Th. Bonnin, _Regestrum Visitationum Odonis Rigaldi_, 1852, p. 35. See also note 88 (below).

[I-32] The Chapter of Notre-Dame appears to have lent money at interest to the citizens of Paris (A. Luchaire, _Social France at the time of Philip Augustus_, translated by E. B. Krehbiel, 1912, p. 130). For the bishop’s advice to the usurer see _ibid._, p. 166.

[I-33] From a letter of St. Bernard, _c._1125, printed by Coulton, _A Mediæval Garner_, pp. 68-73.

[I-34] Aquinas, _De Regimine Principum_, lib. ii, cap. i-vii, where the economic foundations of a State are discussed.

[I-35] Aquinas, _Summa Theol._, 2^a 2^æ, Q. lxxxiii, art. vi. For St. Antonino’s remarks to the same purpose, see Jarrett, _St. Antonino and Mediæval Economics_, p. 59.

[I-36] Gratian, _Decretum_, pt. ii, causa xii, Q. i, c. ii, § 1.

[I-37] A good account of St. Antonino’s theory of property is given by Ilgner, _Die Volkswirthschaftlichen Anschauungen Antonins von Florenz_, chap. x.

[I-38] “Sed si esset bonus legislator in patria indigente, deberet locare pro pretio magno huiusmodi mercatores ... et non tantum eis et familiæ sustentationem necessariam invenire, sed etiam industriam, peritiam, et pericula omnia locare; ergo etiam hoc possunt ipsi in vendendo” (quoted Schreiber, _Die volkswirthschaftlichen Anschauungen der Scholastik seit Thomas v. Aquin_, p. 154).

[I-39] Henry of Ghent, _Aurea Quodlibeta_, p. 42_b_ (quoted Schreiber, _op. cit._, p. 135).

[I-40] Gratian, _Decretum_, pt. 1, dist. lxxxviii, cap. xi.

[I-41] Aquinas, _Summa Theol._, 2^a 2^æ, Q. lxxvii, art. iv.

[I-42] _Ibid._ Trade is unobjectionable, “cum aliquis negotiationi intendit propter publicam utilitatem, ne scilicet res necessariæ ad vitam patriæ desint, et lucrum expetit, non quasi finem, sed quasi stipendium laboris.”

[I-43] Henry of Langenstein, _Tractatus bipartitus de contractibus emptionis et venditionis_, i, 12 (quoted Schreiber, _op. cit._, p. 197).

[I-44] See Chap. II, § ii.

[I-45] Examples of these stories are printed by Coulton, _A Mediæval Garner_, 1910, pp. 212-15, 298, and _Social Life in England from the Conquest to the Reformation_, 1919, p. 346.

[I-46] The facts are given by Arturo Segre, _Storia del Commercio_, vol. i, p. 223. For a fuller account of credit and money-lending in Florence, see Doren, _Studien aus der Florentiner Wirthschaftsgeschichte_, vol. i, pp. 173-209.

[I-47] Bruno Kuske, _Quellen zur Geschichte des Kölner Handels und Verkehrs im Mittelalter_, vol. iii, 1923, pp. 197-8.

[I-48] Early English Text Society, _The Coventry Leet Book_, ed. M. D. Harris, 1907-13, p. 544.

[I-49] Wyclif, _On the Seven Deadly Sins_, chap. xxiv (_Works of Wyclif_, ed. T. Arnold, vol. iii, pp. 154-5). The word rendered “loan” is “leeve” [? leene] in the text.

[I-50] For examples of such cases see _Early Chancery Proceedings_, Bdle. lxiv, nos. 291 and 1089; Bdle. xxxvii, no. 38; Bdle. xlvi, no. 307. They are discussed in some detail in my introduction to Thomas Wilson’s _Discourse upon Usury_, 1925, pp. 28-9.

[I-51] _Hist. MSS. Com., MSS. of Marquis of Lothian_, p. 27; Selden Soc., _Leet Jurisdiction in the City of Norwich_, p. 35.

[I-52] Aquinas, _Summa Theol._, 1^a 2^æ, Q. xcv, art. ii.

[I-53] _On the Seven Deadly Sins_, chap. xxiv (_Works of Wyclif_, ed. T. Arnold, vol. iii, p. 153): “Bot men of lawe and marchauntis and chapmen and vitelers synnen more in avarice then done pore laboreres. And this token hereof; for now ben thei pore, and now ben thei ful riche, for wronges that thei done.”

[I-54] _E.g._, Ægidius Lessinus, _De Usuris_, cap. ix, pt. i: “Tantum res estimatur juste, quantum ad utilitatem possidentis refertur, et tantum juste valet, quantum sine fraude vendi potest.... Omnis translatio facta libera voluntate dominorum juste fit;” Johannes Buridanus, _Quæstiones super decem libros Ethicorum Aristotelis_, v, 23: “Si igitur rem suam sic alienat, ipse secundum suam estimationem non damnificatur, sed lucratur; igitur non injustum patitur.” Both writers are discussed by Schreiber (_op. cit._, pp. 161-71 and 177-91). The theory of Buridanus appears extraordinarily modern; but he is careful to emphasize that prices should be fixed “secundum utilitatem et necessitatem totius communitatis,” not “penes necessitatem ementis vel vendentis.”

[I-55] St. Antonino, _Summa Theologica_, pars ii, tit. i, cap. viii, § 1, and cap. xvi, § iii. An account of St. Antonino’s theory of prices is given by Ilgner, _Die volkswirthschaftlichen Anschauungen Antonins von Florenz_, chap. iv; Jarrett, _St. Antonino and Mediæval Economics_; and Schreiber, _op. cit._, pp. 217-23. Its interest consists in the attempts to maintain the principle of the just price, while making allowance for practical necessities.

[I-56] Henry of Langenstein, _Tractatus bipartitus de contractibus emptionis et venditionis_, i, 11, 12 (quoted Schreiber, _op. cit._, pp. 198-200).

[I-57] For these examples see _Cal. of Early Mayor’s Court Rolls of the City of London_, ed. A. H. Thomas, pp. 259-60; _Records of the City of Norwich_, ed. W. Hudson and J. C. Tingey, vol. i, 1906, p. 227; _Cal. of Early Mayor’s Court Rolls_, p. 132; J. M. Wilson, _The Worcester Liber Albus_, 1920, pp. 199-200, 212-13. The question of the legitimacy of rent-charges and of the profits of partnership has been fully discussed by Max Neumann, _Geschichte des Wuchers in Deutschland_ (1865), and by Ashley, _Economic History_. See also G. O’Brien, _An Essay on Mediæval Economic Teaching_ (1920), and G. G. Coulton, _An Episode in Canon Law_ (in _History_, July 1921), where the difficult question raised by the Decretal _Naviganti_ is discussed.

[I-58] _Bernardi Papiensis Summa Decretalium_ (ed. E. A. D. Laspeyres, 1860); lib. v, tit. xv.

[I-59] _E.g._, Ægidius Lessinus, _De Usuris_, cap. ix, pt. ii: “Etiam res futuræ per tempora non sunt tantæ estimationis, sicut eædem collectæ in instanti, nec tantam utilitatem inferunt possidentibus, propter quod oportet, quod sint minoris estimationis secundum justitiam.”

[I-60] O’Brien (_op. cit._) appears, unless I misunderstand him, to take this view.

[I-61] _Politics_, I, iii, _ad. fin._ 1258^b. See _Who said “Barren Metal”?_ by E. Cannan, W. D. Ross, etc., in _Economica_, June 1922, pp. 105-7.

[I-62] Innocent IV, _Apparatus_, lib. v, _De Usuris_.

[I-63] For Italy, see Arturo Segre, _Storia del Commercio_, vol. i, pp. 179-91, and for France, P. Boissonade, _Le Travail dans l’Europe chrétienne au Moyen Age_, 1921, pp. 206-9, 212-13. Both emphasize the financial relations of the Papacy.

[I-64] _E.g._, Council of Arles, 314; Nicæa, 325; Laodicea, 372; and many others.

[I-65] _Corpus Juris Canonici_, Decretal. Greg. IX, lib. v, tit. xix, cap. i.

[I-66] _Ibid._, cap. iii.

[I-67] _Ibid._, Sexti Decretal, lib. v, tit. v, cap. i, ii.

[I-68] _Ibid._, Clementinarum, lib. v, tit. v, cap. i.

[I-69] The passages referred to in this paragraph are as follows: _Corp. Jur. Can._, Decretal. Greg. IX, lib. v, tit. xix, cap. ix, iv, x, xiii, xv, ii, v, vi.

[I-70] _A Formulary of the Papal Penitentiary in the Thirteenth Century_, ed. H. C. Lea, 1892, Nos. xcii, clxxviii (2), clxxix.

[I-71] _Raimundi de Penna-forti Summa Pastoralis_ (Ravaisson, _Catalogue Général des MSS. des Bibliothèques publiques des Departements_, 1849, vol. i, pp. 592 _seqq._). The archdeacon is to inquire: “Whether [the priest] feeds his flock, assisting those who are in need and above all those who are sick. Works of mercy also are to be suggested by the archdeacon, to be done by him for their assistance. If he cannot fully accomplish them out of his own resources, he ought, according to his power, to use his personal influence to get from others the means of carrying them out.... Inquiries concerning the parishioners are to be made, both from the priest and from others among them worthy of credence, who, if necessary, are to be summoned for the purpose to the presence of the archdeacon, as well as from the neighbours, with regard to matters which appear to need correction. First, inquiry is to be made whether there are notorious usurers, or persons reputed to be usurers, and what sort of usury they practise, whether any one, that is to say, lends money or anything else ... on condition that he receive anything above the principal, or holds any pledge and takes profits from it in excess of the principal, or receives pledges and uses them in the meantime for his own gain; ... whether he holds horses in pledge and reckons in the cost of their fodder more than they can eat ... or whether he buys anything at a much lower price than it is worth, on condition that the seller can take it back at a fixed term on paying the price, though the buyer knows that he (the seller) will not be able to do so; or whether he buys anything for a less price than it is worth, because he pays before receiving the article, for example, standing corn; or whether any one, as a matter of custom and without express contract, is wont to take payment above the principal, as the Cahorsines do.... Further, it is to be inquired whether he practises usury cloaked under the guise of a partnership (_nomine societatis palliatam_), as when a man lends money to a merchant, on condition that he be a partner in the gains, but not in the losses.... Further, whether he practises usury cloaked under the guise of a penalty, that is to say, when his intention in imposing a penalty [for non-payment at a given date] is not that he may be paid more quickly, but that he may be paid more. Further, whether he practises usury in kind, as when a rich man, who has lent money, will not receive from a poor man any money above the principal, but agrees that he shall work two days in his vineyard, or something of the kind. Further, whether he practises usury cloaked by reference to a third party, as when a man will not lend himself, but has a friend whom he induces to lend. When it has been ascertained how many persons in that parish are notorious for usury of this kind, their names are to be reduced to writing, and the archdeacon is to proceed against them in virtue of his office, causing them to be cited to his court on a day fixed, either before himself or his responsible official, even if there is no accuser, on the ground that they are accused by common report. If they are convicted, either because their offence is evident, or by their own confession, or by witnesses, he is to punish them as he thinks best.... If they cannot be directly convicted, by reason of their manifold shifts and stratagems, nevertheless their ill fame as usurers can easily be established.... If the archdeacon proceed with caution and diligence against their wicked doings, they will hardly be able to hold their own or to escape--if, that is ... he vex them with trouble and expense, and humiliate them, by frequently serving citations on them and assigning several different days for their trial, so that by trouble, expense, loss of time, and all manner of confusion they may be induced to repent and submit themselves to the discipline of the Church.”

[I-72] E. Martène and U. Durand, _Thesaurus novus Anecdotorum_, 1717, vol. iv, pp. 696 _seqq._

[I-73] Pecock, _The Repressor of over-much blaming of the Clergy_, ed. C. Babington, 1860, pt. i, chap. iii, pp. 15-16. His words show both the difficulties which confronted ecclesiastical teaching and the attempts to overcome them. “I preie thee ... seie to me where in Holi Scripture is yoven the hundrid parti of the teching upon matrimonie which y teche in a book mad upon _Matrimonie_, and in the firste partie of _Cristen religioun_.... Seie to me also where in Holi Scripture is yoven the hundrid part of the teching which is yoven upon usure in the thridde parti of the book yclepid _The filling of the iiij tables_; and yit al thilk hool teching yoven upon usure in the now named book is litil ynough or ouer litle for to leerne, knowe and have sufficientli into mannis behove and into Goddis trewe service and lawe keping what is to be leerned and kunnen aboute usure, as to reeders and studiers ther yn it muste needis be open. Is ther eny more writen of usure in al the Newe Testament save this, Luke vi, ‘Geve ye loone, hoping no thing ther of,’ and al that is of usure writen in the Oold Testament favourith rather usure than it reproveth. How evere, therfore, schulde eny man seie that the sufficient leernyng and kunnyng of usure or of the vertu contrarie to usure is groundid in Holi Scripture? Howe evere schal thilk litil now rehercid clausul, Luke vi, be sufficient for to answere and assoile alle the harde scrupulose doutis and questiouns which al dai han neede to be assoiled in mennis bargenyngis and cheffaringis togidere? Ech man having to do with suche questiouns mai soone se that Holi Writt geveth litil or noon light thereto at al. Forwhi al that Holi Writt seith ther to is that he forbedith usure, and therfore al that mai be take therbi is this, that usure is unleeful; but though y bileeve herbi that usure is unleeful, how schal y wite herbi what usure is, that y be waar for to not do it, and whanne in a bargeyn is usure, though to summen seemeth noon, and how in a bargeyn is noon usure though to summen ther semeth to be?”

Pecock’s defence of the necessity of commentaries on the teaching of Scripture was the real answer to the statement afterwards made by Luther that the text, “Love thy neighbour as thyself,” was an all-sufficient guide to action (see Chap. II, p. 99). Examples of teaching as to usury contained in books such as Pecock had in mind will be found in Myrc’s _Instructions for Parish Priests_ (Early English Text Society, ed. E. Peacock and F. J. Furnivall, 1902), the _Pupilla Oculi_, and _Dan Michel’s Ayenbite of Inwyt_ (Early English Text Society, ed. R. Morris, 1866).

[I-74] _The Catechism of John Hamilton, Archbishop of St. Andrews_, 1552, ed. T. G. Law, 1884, pp. 97-9. Under the seventh commandment are denounced: “Fyftlie, al thay that defraudis or spoulyeis the common geir, aganis the common weill for lufe of their awin pryvate and singulare weill. Saxtlie, all usuraris and ockiraris synnis aganis this command, that wil nocht len thair geir frelie, bot makis conditione of ockir, aganis the command of Christe. Sevintlie, all thay quhilk hais servandis or work men and wyll nocht pay theim thair fee or waige, accordyng to conditioun and thair deservyng, quilk syn, as sanct James sayis, cryis vengeance before God. Auchtlie, all thai that strykis cowyne of unlauchful metall, quhair throuch the common weil is hurt and skaithit. The nynte, all Merchandis that sellis corruppit and evyll stufe for gude, and gyf thay or ony uther in bying or sellyng use desait, falsate, parjurie, wrang mettis or weychtis, to the skaith of thair nychtbour, thay committ gret syn agane this command. Nother can we clenge fra breakyng of this command all kyndis of craftis men quhilk usis nocht thair awin craft leillalie and trewlie as thai suld do.... All wrechis that wyl be ground ryche incontynent, quhay be fraud, falset, and gyle twynnis men and thair geir, quhay may keip thair nychbour fra povertie and myschance and dois it nocht. Quhay takis ouer sair mail, ouer mekle ferme or ony blake maillis fra thair tennands, or puttis thair cottaris to ouir sair labouris, quhair throw the tenentis and cottaris is put to herschip. Quha invies his nychbouris gud fortune, ouir byis him or takis his geir out of his handis with fair hechtis, or prevenis him, or begyles him at his marchandis hand.” The detail in which different forms of commercial sharp practice are denounced is noticeable.

[I-75] See _e.g._ Matt. Paris, _Chron. Maj._, vol. iii, pp. 191-2, for the case of a priest who, for refusing to give Christian burial to an excommunicate usurer, is seized by order of the Count of Brittany and buried alive, bound to the dead man. See also _Materials for the History of Thomas Becket_, vol. v, p. 38.

[I-76] Harduin, _Acta Conciliorum_, vol. vii, pp. 1017-20; “Anno prædicto [1485], diebus Mercurii et Jovis prædictis, scilicet ante Ramos Palmarum, ibidem apud Vicanum, in claustro ecclesiæ de Vicano; coram domino archiepiscopo, et mandato suo, personæ infrascriptæ, parochiani de Guorgonio, qui super usuraria pravitate erant quam plurimum diffamati; coram domino propter hoc vocati abjuraverunt: et per mandatum domini summas infrascriptas, quas se confessi fuerunt habuisse per usurariam pravitatem, per juramentum suum restituere promiserunt, et stare juri super his coram eo. Bertrandus de Faveriis abjuratus usuras, ut præmittitur, promisit restituere centum solidos monetæ antiquæ: quos, prout ipse confessus est, habuerat per usurariam pravitatem....” Thirty-six more cases were treated in this way.

[I-77] Villani, _Cronica_, book xii, chap. lviii (ed. 1823, vol. vi, p. 142): Villani complains of the conduct of the inquisitor: “Ma per attignere danari, d’ogni piccola parola oziosa che alcuno dicesse per iniquità contra Iddio, o dicesse che usura non fosse peccato mortale, o simili parole, condannava in grossa somma di danari, secondo che l’uomo era ricco.”

[I-78] Constitutions of Clarendon, cap. 15: “Placita de debitis, quæ fide interposita debentur, vel absque interpositione fidei, sint in justitia regis.” On the whole subject see Pollock and Maitland, _History of English Law_, 2nd ed., 1898, vol. ii, pp. 197-202, and F. Makower, _Constitutional History of the Church of England_, 1895, § 60.

[I-79] _Cal. of Early Mayor’s Court Rolls of the City of London_, ed. A. H. Thomas, pp. 44, 88, 156, 235; Selden Soc., _Borough Customs_, ed. M. Bateson, vol. ii, 1906, pp. 161 (London) and 209-10 (Dublin); _Records of Leicester_, ed. M. Bateson, vol. ii, 1901, p. 49. For similar prohibitions by manorial courts, see _Hist. MSS. Com., MSS. of Marquis of Lothian_, p. 28, and G. P. Scrope, _History of the Manor and Barony of Castle Combe_, 1852, p. 238.

[I-80] _Annales de Burton_, p. 256; Wilkins, _Concilia_, vol. ii, p. 115; _Rot. Parl._, vol. ii, p. 129_b_.

[I-81] _Cal. of Letter Books of the City of London_, ed. R. R. Sharpe, vol. H, pp. 23-4, 24-5, 27, 28, 200, 206-7, 261-2, 365; _Liber Albus_, bk. iii, pt. ii, pp. 77, 315, 394-401, 683; Selden Soc., _Leet Jurisdiction in the City of Norwich_, p. 35; _Hist. MSS. Com., MSS. of Marquis of Lothian_, pp. 26, 27.

[I-82] _Rot. Parl._, vol. ii, pp. 332_a_, 350_b_.

[I-83] R. H. Morris, _Chester in the Plantagenet and Tudor Reigns_, 1894 (?), p. 190.

[I-84] Early Chancery Proceedings, Bdle. xi, no. 307; Bdle. xxix, nos. 193-5; Bdle. xxxi, nos. 96-100, 527; Bdle. lx, no. 20; Bdle. lxiv, no. 1089. See also _Year Books and Plea Rolls as Sources of Historical Information_, by H. G. Richardson, in _Trans. Royal Historical Society_, 4th series, vol. v, 1922, pp. 47-8.

[I-85] Ed. Gibson, _Codex Juris Ecclesiastici Anglicani_, 2nd ed., 1761, p. 1026.

[I-86] 15 Ed. III, st. 1, c. 5; 3 Hen. VII, c. 5; 11 Hen. VII, c. 8; 13 Eliz. c. 8; 21 Jac. I, c. 17.

[I-87] _Cal. of Early Mayor’s Court Rolls of City of London_, ed. A. H. Thomas, pp. 1, 12, 28-9, 33-4, 44, 52, 88, 141, 156, 226, 235, 251. The cases of the smiths and spurriers occur on pp. 33-4 and 52. In the fifteenth century a gild still occasionally tried to enforce its rules by proceedings in an ecclesiastical court (see Wm. H. Hale, _A Series of Precedents and Proceedings in Criminal Causes_, 1847, nos. xxxvi and lxviii, where persons breaking gild rules are cited before the Commissary’s court).

[I-88] Canterbury and York Soc., _Registrum Thome Spofford_, ed. A. T. Bannister, 1919, p. 52 (1424); and Surtees Society, vol. cxxxviii, _The Register of Thomas of Corbridge, Lord Archbishop of York_, ed. Wm. Brown, 1925, vol. i, pp. 187-8: “6 kal. Maii, 1303. Wilton.’ Littera testimonialis super purgacione domini Johannis de Multhorp, vicarii ecclesie de Garton’, de usura sibi imposita. Universis Christi fidelibus, ad quos presentes littere pervenerint, pateat per easdem quod, cum dominus Johannes de Multhorp’, vicarius ecclesie de Garton’, nostre diocesis, coram nobis Thoma, Dei gracia, etc., in visitacione nostra super usura fuisset notatus, videlicet, quod mutuavit cuidam Jollano de Briddale, ut dicebatur, xxxiij s. iiij d., eo pacto quod idem vicarius ab eo reciperet per x annos annis singulis x s. pro eisdem, de quibus eciam dictum fuit quod prefatus Jollanus dicto vicario pro octo annis ex pacto satisfecit et solvit predicto; eundem vicarium super hoc vocari fecimus coram nobis et ei objecimus supradicta, que ipse inficians constancius atque negans se optulit in forma juris super hiis legitime purgaturum. Nos autem eidem vicario purgacionem suam cum sua sexta manu vicariorum et aliorum presbiterorum sui ordinis indiximus faciendam, quam die Veneris proxima ante festum apostolorum Philippi et Jacobi (April 26), anno gracie mºcccº tercio, ad hoc sibi prefixo, in manerio nostro de Wilton’ super articulo recipimus supradicto, idemque vicarius unacum dominis Johanne, rectore ecclesie B.M. juxta portam castri de Eboraco, Johanne et Johanne, de Wharrum et de Wyverthorp’ ecclesiarum vicariis ac Roberto, Johanne, Alano, Stepheno et Willelmo, de Nafferton’, Driffeld’, Wetewang’, Foston’ et Wintringham ecclesiarum presbiteris parochialibus fidedignis, de memorato articulo legitime se purgavit; propter quod ipsum vicarium sic purgatum pronunciamus et inmunem sentencialiter declaramus, restituentes eundem ad suam pristinam bonam famam. In cujus rei testimonium sigillum nostrum presentibus est appensum.”

[I-89] _Early Chancery Proceedings_, Bdle. xviii, no. 137; Bdle. xix, no. 2155; Bdle. xxiv, no. 255; Bdle. xxxi, no. 348. See also A. Abram, _Social England in the Fifteenth Century_, 1909, pp. 215-17. In view of these examples, it seems probable that a more thorough examination of the _Early Chancery Proceedings_ would show that, even in the fifteenth century, the jurisdiction of the ecclesiastical courts in matters of contract and usury was of greater practical importance than has sometimes been supposed.

[I-90] Surtees Soc., vol. lxiv, 1875 (_Acts of Chapter of the Collegiate Church of Ripon_) contains more than 100 cases in which the court deals with questions of contract, debt, etc. The case which is dismissed “propter civilitatem causæ” occurs in 1532 (Surtees Soc., vol. xxi, 1845, _Ecclesiastical Proceedings from the Courts of Durham_, p. 49).

[I-91] Chetham Soc., vol. xliv, 1901, _Act Book of the Ecclesiastical Court of Whalley_, pp. 15-16.

[I-92] Surtees Soc., vol. lxiv, 1875, _Acts of Chapter of the Collegiate Church of Ripon_, p. 26.

[I-93] Hale, _op. cit._ (note 87 above), no. ccxxxviii.

[I-94] See Chap. III, p. 161.

[I-95] For parishes, see S. O. Addy, _Church and Manor_, 1913, chap. xv, where numerous examples are given. For a gild which appears to have acted as a bank, see _Hist. MSS. Com._, 11th Report, 1887, Appx., pt. iii, p. 228 (_MSS. of the Borough of King’s Lynn_), and for other examples of loans, H. F. Westlake, _The Parish Gilds of Mediæval England_, 1919, pp. 61-3, _Records of the City of Oxford_, ed. Wm. H. Turner, 1880, p. 8, _Statutes of Lincoln Cathedral_, ed. C. Wordsworth, pt. ii, 1897, pp. 616-17, and G. Unwin, _The Gilds and Companies of London_, 1908, p. 121. For a hospital, see _Hist. MSS. Com._, 14th Report, Appx., pt. viii, 1895, p. 129 (_MSS. of the Corporation of Bury St. Edmunds_), where 20_d._ is lent (or given) to a poor man to buy seed for his land. A statement (made half a century after the Dissolution) as to loans by monasteries is quoted by F. A. Gasquet, _Henry VIII and the English Monasteries_, 7th ed., 1920, p. 463; specific examples are not known to me.

[I-96] W. H. Bliss, _Cal. of Papal Letters_, vol. i, pp. 267-8.

[I-97] For the early history of the _Monts de Piété_ see Holzapfel, _Die Anfänge der Montes Pietatis_ (1903), and for their development in the Low Countries, A. Henne, _Histoire du Règne de Charles-quint en Belgique_, 1859, vol. v, pp. 220-3. For proposals to establish them in England see S.P.D. Eliz., vol. cx, no. 57 (printed in Tawney and Power, _Tudor Economic Documents_, vol. iii, sect. iii, no. 6), and my introduction to Thomas Wilson’s _Discourse upon Usury_, 1925, pp. 125-7.

[I-98] Camden Soc., _A Relation of the Island of England about the Year 1500_ (translated from the Italian), 1847, p. 23.

[I-99] Lyndwood, _Provinciale_, sub. tit. _Usura_, and Gibson, _Codex Jur. Eccl. Angl._, vol. ii, p. 1026.

[I-100] Pecock, _The Repressor of over-much blaming of the Clergy_, pt. iii, chap. iv, pp. 296-7: “Also Crist seide here in this present proces, that ‘at God’ it is possible a riche man to entre into the kingdom of heuen; that is to seie, with grace which God profrith and geueth ... though he abide stille riche, and though withoute such grace it is ouer hard to him being riche to entre. Wherfore folewith herof openli, that it is not forbodun of God eny man to be riche; for thanne noon such man schulde euere entre heuen.... And if it be not forbode eny man to be riche, certis thanne it is leeful ynough ech man to be riche; in lasse than he vowe the contrarie or that he knowith bi assay and experience him silf so miche indisposid anentis richessis, that he schal not mowe rewle him silf aright anentis tho richessis: for in thilk caas he is bonde to holde him silf in poverte.” The embarrassing qualification at the end--which suggests the question, who then dare be rich?--is the more striking because of the common-sense rationalism of the rest of the passage.

[I-101] Trithemius, quoted by J. Janssen, _History of the German People at the close of the Middle Ages_, vol. ii, 1896, p. 102.

[I-102] _Cal. of Early Mayor’s Court Rolls of the City of London_, ed. A. H. Thomas, pp. 157-8.

[I-103] See A. Luchaire, _Social France at the time of Philip Augustus_ (translated by E. B. Krehbiel), pp. 391-2, where an eloquent denunciation by Jacques de Vitry is quoted.

[I-104] _Topographer and Genealogist_, vol. i, 1846, p. 35. (The writer is a surveyor, one Humberstone.)

[I-105] See e.g. Chaucer, _The Persone’s Tale_, §§ 64-6. The parson expresses the orthodox view that “the condicioun of thraldom and the firste cause of thraldom is for sinne.” But he insists that serfs and lords are spiritually equal: “Thilke that thou clepest thy thralles been goddes peple; for humble folk been Cristes freendes.”

[I-106] Gratian, _Decretum_, pt. ii, causa x, Q. ii, c. iii, and causa xii, Q. ii, c. xxxix.

[I-107] _Summa Theol._, 1^{a} 2^{ae}, Q. xciv, art. v, § 3.

[I-108] An article of the German Peasants’ program in 1525 declared: “For men to hold us as their own property ... is pitiable enough, considering that Christ has delivered and redeemed us all, the lowly as well as the great, without exception, by the shedding of His precious blood. Accordingly it is consistent with Scripture that we should be free.” (The program is printed in J. S. Schapiro, _Social Reform and the Reformation_, 1909, pp. 137-42.) The rebels under Ket prayed “that all bondmen may be made free, for God freed them all with His precious blood-shedding” (printed in Bland, Brown, and Tawney, _English Economic History, Select Documents_, pt. ii, sect. i, no. 8).