How was the wealth of medieval lords kept?

by complex_question

As a lord in, for example, France in the High Middle Ages, I get income from taxes or my personal domain. Let's imagine I don't go to war and want to save it for the future. In what form would I stockpile this wealth? Would I just keep a big pile of gold or other metals? Would I be able to purchase some sort of real estate? Would I be able to lend it with interest (a loan or "bond")?

This is maybe a weird question but the common image of a treasury as a pile of gold pieces seems naive to me...

Thank you for your answers!

dharmatree

There is no short answer to this question^^.

Changes and exchanges

Insurances (securitas), bill of exchange, loans and usury existed during medieval time, but the "global" market was -obviously- very different from what we know. Usury and loans were -at least in France and Italy- reserved to Jews.

On a side note, money was -more or less- made with gold or silver, meaning its value was defined by the amount of gold or silver in it. In XIIIth century France two main currencies were made at that time: the livre tournois (from Tours) and the livre parisis (from Paris). Now, the livre parisis wasn't the "official" currency and was worth 1.25 time the livre tournois.

Powerful and wealthy lords and merchants weren't like Uncle Scrooge bathing in coins but used registries (compto nostro [what's in], compto vostro [what's out]). Of course this led to a development of notaries and tabellions but most of all bankers and the banking system - and therefore bill of exchange.

Treasures did exist (whether it was a weapon, an art piece, a real estate) and lords did invest in what they thought would prove to be profitable.

Lords

Now as a landlord, your wealth would come from what you extract from the land, gaining your income from the work of the serfs by collecting a certain amount then sell it to a merchant to invest once more. So exploitation -in every sense of the word- of the lands was in order, financial viability was a (general) concern. Even more, vassals had to give their lord a small share of their revenues, the tenure, the concession of the land, was granted by the suzerain to his vassal, forming -another- bond between them (I'm not going into too much details, but different types of tenure existed, even with clergy, military and peasantry).

For the lords, the go-to person was the praepositi, provost. Their role was created (or reaffirmed) during the XIth century and they had the charge to collect money for the king, which would pay back his different services (army, personnel, church donations...), rellying on his treasury attendants and baillifs. On a smaller scale, small domains would function on the same model.

For instance Mahaut d'Artois's accounts from 1311 to 1323 are well known: Comptes de Mahaut, fille de Robert II, comtesse de Bourgogne et d'Artois, Paris, BNF, Ms. FR 8551 [read on line].

See also: DUCEPPE-LAMARRE François, « Copier des comptes au début du règne de la comtesse Mahaut d’Artois (1302-1329) », Comptabilités, 2, 2011 [read on line].

Societal changes

Of course lords and merchants were in a societal -yet quiet- competition, the emergence of the bourgeoisie during the XIIIth century led to communes (independent or free cities), unbalancing the three estates of the realm (Oratores ["those who pray"], Bellatores ["those who fight"] and Laboratores ["those who work"]). On the other hand, lords ands rulers had laws to diminish the influence of merchants, for instance sumptuary laws were used to diminish their public influence (they couldn't appear richer than the nobility).

For instance Philippe Le Hardi's sumptuary law in 1279: DUPLES-AGIER Henri, « Ordonnance somptuaire inédite de Philippe le Hardi » in Bibliothèque de l'école des chartes, Tome 15, 1854, pp. 176-181.

Se also: KRAEMER Pierre, Le luxe et les lois somptuaires au Moyen Âge, Thèse de doctorat en sciences juridiques, Paris, 1920.

Was the European Central Middle Ages a capitalist society?

Yes and no. As said above, medieval society was very far from what we know, but yes money, goods and people were circulating. The enrichment of italian, eastern french and german cities was the result of a long shift from the mediterranean trade to the North Sea.

Further readings

BALDWIN John Wesley, Masters, Princes and Merchants: The Social Views of Peter the Chanter and his Circle, Princeton, Princeton University Press, 1970.

CARUS-WILSON Eleanora Mary, Medieval Merchants Venturers, Collected Studies, London, Methuen, 1954.

ELLUL Jacques, Histoire des Institutions : Tome 3 – Le Moyen Âge, Paris, PUF, 2013.

HUNT Edwin, The medieval Super-Companies. A Study of the Peruzzi Company of Florence, New York, Cambridge University Press, 1994.

LE GOFF Jacques, Marchands et banquiers du Moyen Âge, Paris, PUF, 2013.

POSTAN Michael Moĭssey, MILLER Edward (eds.), The Cambridge Economic History of Europe, III. Economic Organization and Policies in the Middle Ages, 1963. London, Cambridge Univeristy Press, 1963.

POWER Eileen, POSTAN Michael Moĭssey (dir.), Studies in English Trade in the XVth Century, London, Routledge & K. Paul, 1951 [o.e.1933].

DE ROOVER Raymond, Money, Banking and Credit in Mediaeval Bruges, Cambridge (Mass.), Routledge, 2000 [o.e. 1948].

--, The Rise and Decline of Medici Bank, Cambridge (Masss.), New York University Press, 1963

---, The Bruges Money Market around 1400, Bruxelles, KVAB, 1968

STRAYER Joseph Reese, The administration of Normandy under St. Louis, Cambridge (Mass.), 1932 (Monographs of the Mediaeval Academy of America, n°6).