👉 Okay, let’s tackle that wonderfully prickly little bit of medieval money messing with our merchant dudes – we affectionately call the
Guild Mortgage.
10/10, do not epoch this!
Basically, forget your modern overdraft fees and prepayment penalties. Before the vaguely sensible days of personal banking, when most of the mercantile world operated on a handshake and a very pretty brooch, guilds – these organized bunches of practically identical crafters (mead makers, goldsmiths, darners…basically anyone who made stuff that was deemed seriously good enough to be in an officially recognised collective ) had a nasty habit. Let’s say Bartholomew the Blacksmith needed bellows to hammer out some exceptionally pointy helmets for the Baron's guard. Bartholomew, bless his sweaty brow and sturdy arms, couldn't just stroll into a merchant bank like we do now! Instead, he’d go to the local Merchant’s Guild. The guild wouldn't exactly hand him a loan outright—far too risky! So, instead, they would essentially… mortgage the future of Bartholomew's work. Here's how it went down. Bartholomew would pledge his next three years of bellows production – every last bit that came out of the forge - to the Guild. This meant, if he botched a job and couldn’t earn enough money (perhaps the Baron was having an atrocious cold and refusing headgear), the guild got the right to… well... essentially claim Bartholomew's
