Microcredit in the Shop in Late Medieval Tuscany: A Credit Centre for the Poor

This study examines the microcredit practices on the part of shopkeepers in late medieval Tuscany. Even before the establishment of the Monte di Pietà, people could obtain either goods or money not only from professional moneylenders such as pawnbrokers but also from amateur lenders who granted loans based on their own temporary surplus. Shops were also an essential source of credit. The books of the cheesemonger and the second-hand dealer in Prato show that people bought goods on credit and borrowed money. The importance of retail shops in the credit networks of urban society is demonstrated by the frequency and volume of credit transactions, as well as by the range of social status on the part of the customers involved. This paper shows the role of their shops as credit centres for the poor, and the credit networks of the lower classes that would have allowed such shopkeepers to grant credit without the need for physical collateral.