Cover -- Half Title -- Series Information -- Title Page -- Copyright Page -- Dedication -- Table of contents -- About the editors -- Contributors -- Foreword -- Preface -- Acknowledgments -- Chapter 1 Introduction to interest and debt -- Introduction -- The interest-bearing debt: conceptual...

"This is the first comprehensive study of loans and debts in Central European countries in the Middle Ages and Early Modern Period. It outlines the issues of debts and loans in the Czech lands, Poland and Hungary, with respect to the influence of Austria and Germany. It focuses on the role of...

"With the spread of interest-based transactions, major problems such as inequality, poverty and debt-based slavery have emerged. Those who practiced professions such as usury have, despite the negative connotations attributed to them, contributed extensively to the construction of the...