Religion and the Rise of Capitalism

De Regimine Principum, lib. II, cap. I-VII, where the economic foundations of a State are discussed. ↩

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. ↩

Gratian, Decretum, pt. II, causa XII, Q. I, c. II, § 1. ↩

A good account of St. Antonino’s theory of property is given by Ilgner, Die Volkswirthschaftlichen Anschauungen Antonins von Florenz, chap. X. ↩

“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). ↩

Henry of Ghent, Aurea Quodlibeta, p. 42b (quoted Schreiber, Die volkswirthschaftlichen Anschauungen der Scholastik seit Thomas v. Aquin, p. 135). ↩

Gratian, Decretum, pt. 1, dist. LXXXVIII, cap. XI. ↩

Aquinas, Summa Theol., 2^a 2^æ, Q. LXXVII, art. IV. ↩

Aquinas, Summa Theol., 2^a 2^æ, Q. LXXVII, art. IV. 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.” ↩

Henry of Langenstein, Tractatus bipartitus de contractibus emptionis et venditionis, I, 12 (quoted Schreiber, Die volkswirthschaftlichen Anschauungen der Scholastik seit Thomas v. Aquin, p. 197). ↩

See here. ↩

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. ↩

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. ↩

Bruno Kuske, Quellen zur Geschichte des Kölner Handels und Verkehrs im Mittelalter, vol. III, 1923, pp. 197⁠–⁠8. ↩

Early English Text Society, The Coventry Leet Book, ed. M. D. Harris, 1907⁠–⁠13, p. 544. ↩

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. ↩

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. ↩

Hist. MSS. Com., MSS. of Marquis of Lothian, p. 27; Selden Soc., Leet Jurisdiction in the City of Norwich, p. 35. ↩

Aquinas, Summa Theol., 1^a 2^æ, Q. XCV, art. II. ↩

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.” ↩

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 (Die volkswirthschaftlichen Anschauungen der Scholastik seit Thomas v. Aquin, 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.” ↩

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, Die volkswirthschaftlichen Anschauungen der Scholastik seit Thomas v. Aquin, pp. 217⁠–⁠23. Its interest consists in the attempts to maintain the principle of the just price, while making allowance for practical necessities. ↩

Henry of Langenstein, Tractatus bipartitus de contractibus emptionis et venditionis, I, 11, 12 (quoted Schreiber, Die volkswirthschaftlichen Anschauungen der Scholastik seit Thomas v. Aquin, pp. 198⁠–⁠200). ↩

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