Medieval

Question to consider:

Though the Church disapproved of charging interest on a loan, most of the contracts openly discuss interest. Why do you think they do this?

The tenth century became the mark of change for medieval Europe when Vikings and Italians revived European commerce. With the Vikings' great boats, trade became more common throughout Europe, offering great income to the Italian and Viking merchants and tradesmen. However, with the explosion of trade, medieval Europe experienced a great problem. This problem was the theological influence of the Christian Church on European tradesmen and merchants. Usury refers to charging interest on a loan, something the Christian Church forbade because morally, loans were given from the heart to help an individual during difficult times. It was considered wrong to take advantage of another Christian in such a way, and therefore the Church's prohibition meant that merchants often hid their interest through adding it to the original sum and not noting such practices explicitly . This changed however, when the Christian Church eased on these rules against charging interest through understanding the risks the investors were taking and through allowing interest to a certain level of payment before it being considered "usury". Then, the Church itself became a moneylender to help the poor in their times of need. Through the Church's changed perception of "interest as usury", it is apparent that merchants became more comfortable morally with charging interest and making a profit, but still abiding by a code, which included attending church early and including Christian references in letters and contracts. Because the Church received donations from merchants, opened its own money lending "business" and understood the risks of being an investor, contracts mentioning interest, were able to be more openly discussed.

Through source 11, which is a letter from a Norwegian merchant, devotion to the church is shown by a merchant's "code", written as a guide for good moral behaviour. The most important thing for a merchant to do is wake up early for church, therefore showing the loyalty merchants had to the church . Therefore, this behaviour might have somehow suggested that being a merchant and charging interest was acceptable, provided that the individual be an outstanding member of the Christian community.

Through abiding by a particular way of life found appropriate by the Church, merchants could more easily and comfortably come to terms with charging interest. As seen throughout the contracts, the discussion