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even the idea of "declaring bankruptcy" is a modern regulated construct. In medieval times, if you "declare bankruptcy" your family and dependents get sold int
by barkingcat 4y ago
even the idea of "declaring bankruptcy" is a modern regulated construct.
In medieval times, if you "declare bankruptcy" your family and dependents get sold into slavery and your wife is sold off to the highest bidder who will buy your debt.
In many previous times, if you couldn't pay debts you'd just be killed.
- jrumbut 4y agoThis idea of auctioning off someone's wife seemed (seems) unlikely to me in a medieval European context (since divorce was hard to come by). What I found was actually weirder: > In medieval Italy and southern France, it was common for the cedens to stand nude but for his shirt and strike a stone with his posterior ('vituperii lapis') while declaring 'cedo bonis'." The patent purpose of this ceremony was as much to satisfy the anger and frustration of creditors as to publicize the debtor's bankruptcy. http://www.mgh-bibliothek.de/dokumente/b/b071148.pdf http://www.mgh-bibliothek.de/dokumente/b/b071148.pdf
- santoshalper 4y agoThe medieval version of "I Declare Bankruptcy!!!"
- lazide 4y agoWell, those 'previous times' where you just got killed ran concurrent too those slavery times. And if you borrow money from the wrong people today, it can still happen.
- spaceman_2020 4y agoThey literally had debtor’s prisons when Charles Dickins was still writing!