The Christian Usurer: A Metaphorical Jew? History of the Exclusion of the Lombard Moneylenders (13th to 17th century)

M. Greilsammer

Research output: Book/ReportBookpeer-review

Abstract

Myriam Greilsammer's book traces the attitudes of both church and political authorities in the Low Countries toward the Lombards from the thirteenth century, when the Lombards first arrived, through the seventeenth century, when the archdukes opened the first monte di pietà and closed down Lombard lending operations. While many scholars have interpreted this 1618 policy as a natural, if not inevitable, evolution toward a large-scale economy with centralized institutions of credit, Greilsammer contends that this is an insufficient explanation. She argues that the establishment of monti di pietà and the exclusion of the Lombards from economic activity must also be seen as ideologically motivated. Greilsammer claims that the Lombards were “metaphorical Jews,” seen as different and as corrupting to the larger Christian society. Throughout the book, she compares attitudes toward the Lombards to medieval attitudes toward Jews, primarily in Italy, where monti di pietà were first established.
Original languageAmerican English
Place of PublicationBloomington, U.S.A
PublisherIndiana University Press, Bloomington, U.S.A.
Number of pages400
Volume1
EditionRevised and expanded version.
StateIn preparation - 2021

Publication series

NameStudies in Antisemitism

Bibliographical note

400 pages + 65 ills. (26 bl. & amp; w., 40 col.)
American Translation from French

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