Banking in Medieval Societies
- Thread starter Aulayan
- Start date
EN Guild Banking: http://www.rpgnow.com/product_info.php?products_id=4371&SRC=EnWorld
wingsandsword
Legend
In addition to the Italian bankers in the 14th century, banking also arose from the Knights Templar as far back as the 12th century.
The Knights Templar, being founded to protect holy sites in Outremer (the Christian kingdom of Jerusalem) and travellers going between Outremer and Europe, they had a major network of fortifications linking the two territories, and had accumulated vast wealth. Wealthy travellers who did not want to risk carrying a fortune on the road, nor want the encumberance of carrying wealth could visit a Templar stronghold and deposit their wealth, and would recieve a letter of credit in return, which would be honored at any other Templar stronghold for withdrawal.
The downside of this is that they became so wealthy that the cash-strapped Phillip IV of France wanted to seize the assets of Templars on French soil, so on October 13, 1307 (the origin of the superstition about Friday 13th being unlucky) he had all Templars in France arrested, and under torture (routine interrogation for the time) they confessed to various heresies and atrocities, and the Templars were disbanded and their assets forfieted. Phillip IV also levied a 50% income tax on clergy and was fond of arresting Jews and declaring all their assets forfeit, so the Templars were not his only targets.
In an interesting little footnote, the last Grand Master of the Knights Templar was burned at the stake, but before he died he laid a curse on both Pope Clement V and King Phillip IV to die within a year, and both were dead within only a few months.
They sidestepped the usury issues by charging "rent" on space in their fortresses. Want to borrow some money? Well, we'll loan you the money for free (since we can't charge for that), but also charge you rent on the space it took up in the keep since you're using the money that belongs there.
Essentially, for banking to exist you have to have an organization that is wealthy enough to lend money and fill withdrawal requests, respected enough for people to trust their fortunes to them, and powerful enough to protect their vaults against theft. With all the fantasy anachronisms in D&D, a large religious order establishing a crude banking system with letters of credit, possibly divinations to verify important transactions, and a chain of fortress/temples acting as "branches" is hardly a big step. I mean, the Romans had a relatively advanced system of plumbing and we don't see many aqueducts and toilets in the typical D&D world.
The Knights Templar, being founded to protect holy sites in Outremer (the Christian kingdom of Jerusalem) and travellers going between Outremer and Europe, they had a major network of fortifications linking the two territories, and had accumulated vast wealth. Wealthy travellers who did not want to risk carrying a fortune on the road, nor want the encumberance of carrying wealth could visit a Templar stronghold and deposit their wealth, and would recieve a letter of credit in return, which would be honored at any other Templar stronghold for withdrawal.
The downside of this is that they became so wealthy that the cash-strapped Phillip IV of France wanted to seize the assets of Templars on French soil, so on October 13, 1307 (the origin of the superstition about Friday 13th being unlucky) he had all Templars in France arrested, and under torture (routine interrogation for the time) they confessed to various heresies and atrocities, and the Templars were disbanded and their assets forfieted. Phillip IV also levied a 50% income tax on clergy and was fond of arresting Jews and declaring all their assets forfeit, so the Templars were not his only targets.
In an interesting little footnote, the last Grand Master of the Knights Templar was burned at the stake, but before he died he laid a curse on both Pope Clement V and King Phillip IV to die within a year, and both were dead within only a few months.
They sidestepped the usury issues by charging "rent" on space in their fortresses. Want to borrow some money? Well, we'll loan you the money for free (since we can't charge for that), but also charge you rent on the space it took up in the keep since you're using the money that belongs there.
Essentially, for banking to exist you have to have an organization that is wealthy enough to lend money and fill withdrawal requests, respected enough for people to trust their fortunes to them, and powerful enough to protect their vaults against theft. With all the fantasy anachronisms in D&D, a large religious order establishing a crude banking system with letters of credit, possibly divinations to verify important transactions, and a chain of fortress/temples acting as "branches" is hardly a big step. I mean, the Romans had a relatively advanced system of plumbing and we don't see many aqueducts and toilets in the typical D&D world.
Wow. Thanks for all the help. I've been flipflopping on checking out the EN Publishing product, due to the crunch material in it....but then again it's cheap so why am I complaining? I think I'll go check it out.
To all of you who went indepth, again a thanks to you. I think I may have the ruling body be a banking system in and of itself, this in itself is a rather sneaky way to ensure loyalty...until eventually a ruler starts using all the money to fund grand spectacles for himself. But that's more of a long-term approach and I'm babbling. Thanks again, everyone.
To all of you who went indepth, again a thanks to you. I think I may have the ruling body be a banking system in and of itself, this in itself is a rather sneaky way to ensure loyalty...until eventually a ruler starts using all the money to fund grand spectacles for himself. But that's more of a long-term approach and I'm babbling. Thanks again, everyone.
Plane Sailing
Astral Admin - Mwahahaha!
fusangite said:
In addition, the old testament law (exodus/deuteronomy) prohibited charging interest on loans and so the early church probably accepted that as appropriate doctrine for themselves too.
Cheers
Wilphe
Adventurer
Tonguez said:
Sounds like you should chose your dragon very well; becasue I can't see a lot of dragons being very happy when someone wanted their gold back & God help you if you wanted an overdraft...
Of course smarter or more advanced dragons might be happy to have paper money, though it would probably be a bad idea for any dragon that was aquatic, or used fire or acid attacks.
Tonguez
A suffusion of yellow
Wilphe said:
But thats the point isn't it - its mutually beneficial. The Dragon gets a Hoard and the PCs wealth is guaranteed since NO-ONE is going to take it.
Afterall Shylow the Merchant isn't going to reneg on a Dragon-arked credit note for fear of his warehouse burning down in mysterious circumstances and Sir Tristram the Dragon slayer really doesn't want three epic level adventure parties, 7 soveriegn nations, the High Temple of Om and the Lich-King Dread putting a bounty on his head because the hoard he just raided actually belong to them.
I think you will find that the EN Guild: Banking will have everything you need in it, some items it deals with: Stocks and Bonds, and Insurance, Prestige classes are: Roving Accountant (Think IRS) and Venture Capitalist (Adventurer for $$ gain), it also has fluctuations in economies and a bit on the gold standard.
Well, the very early church, I suppose. But non-observance of the Law became a pretty mainstream position pretty fast. We can date Saint Paul's writings to as early as 51 CE. And by 150 CE, the Ebionites (practitioners of the Law) were a heresy within Christianity.Plane Sailing said:
Committed Hero
Hero
Wilphe said:
Heh heh - got a specific image with the term "overdraft"
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