Medieval Capital Markets ─ Markets for Renten, State Formation and Private Investment in Holland 1300-1550

Zuijderduijn (economic and social history, Utrecht University) challenges the long-held belief that the complex economic system of Holland sprang ex nihilo in the seventeenth century. In this study he traces the political and social developments in Holland in the late Middle Ages that led to the establishment of a system for contracting debt to acquire capital for investment. He looks at both public debt, first used by the medieval counts, and personal debt which required a clear standard for proving property rights. Public debt allowed citizens more control over governmental decision making and institutions were formed to regulate the ability of both the government and private citizens to contract debt. The methods by which property owners could take out mortgages is essential to understanding the growth of banking and market capital. Zuijderduijn concludes by comparing the opportunities at that time for getting mortgages in Holland with other parts of Northwest Europe, Italy and England. This study makes an authoritative argument that both mortgages and interest loans were common by the fourteenth century. Annotation c2009 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

C.J. Zuijderduijn Ph.D. (2007) in History, Utrecht University, is a postdoc researcher at the department of Economic and Social History at Utrecht University. He publishes on the history of capital markets, and the mobility of capital in families and households.