Mount of piety

Obligation of the Monte di Pietà della Citta di Firenze, issued 21. October 1719

In 1462, the first recorded Monte di Pietà was founded in Perugia. Between 1462 and 1470, an estimated forty more were developed.[8] The Franciscan Marco di Matteo Strozzi preached about the benefits of a Monte di Pietà in combating usury. He left a set of memoirs that outlined his goal to rid the city of Jewish money lenders and to replace them with Christian pawn shops which allowed the poor to acquire cheap credit.[9]

In Rome, Pope Sixtus V (1585–90) founded in 1585 the local Monte di Pietà in via dei Coronari. Moved later near Campo de' Fiori to the piazza bearing its name, it still exists.[10]

The first institution was started in 1361 by the Bishop of London, Michael Northburgh, who left 1,000 marks of silver for the establishment of a bank that should lend money on pawned objects, without interest, providing that the expenses of the institution be defrayed from its foundation capital. He had the monies deposited in a chest in the body of St Paul's and directed that if in any case at the end of the year the sums borrowed were not repaid, then the preacher at Paul's Cross should in his sermon declare that the pledge would be sold within fourteen days, if not redeemed forthwith.[11] The capital was eventually consumed, and the bank closed.[12]

Malta's Monte di Pietà was set up in 1598, initially under the name Monte di Sant'Anna. It was merged with the Monte della Redenzione degli Schiavi in 1787, becoming known as the Monte di Pietà e Redenzione. The Monte di Pietà is still in operation today as part of the Inland Revenue Department.[13]

The Brussels Mont de Piété, first founded in 1618, is still an active institution.[14] The founder was Wenceslas Cobergher, who went on to establish fifteen such institutions in different towns in the Spanish Netherlands in the years between 1618 and 1633, financed by the provision of annuities in return for direct capital investment.[15] Prior to this date the provision of consumer credit was largely in the hands of Lombards whose loans were at high rates of interest. Criticism of the Monts de Piété as themselves usurious institutions that both borrowed and lent at interest were countered by the Jesuit moral theologian Leonardus Lessius in an appendix to the 1621 edition of his De justitia et jure.[16]

A massaro or massaio had the duty of overseeing the daily interactions between the borrowers that came to the Monte di Pietà and the other employees. If the item was believed to be the legal property of the borrower two assistants called scrivani collected the pawn from the borrower. After examining and recording details about the condition of the object, it would then be passed to assessors who would evaluate the item's value. The massaro would then make three copies of a numbered receipt that identified the owner's name, the type of object being pawned, the condition of the object, the object's value, the amount of the loan and the date.[17] Generally, the loan would not exceed two-thirds of the object's value. Of the three receipts, one would be given to the owner-borrower, another would be kept in the massaro's record book and one would be attached to the item.

The monetary funds would then be supplied by the cashier to the borrower. This employee had the duty of keeping their own records of the money collected, loaned and the interest on each loan. During the first year of operations, the Monte di Pietà did not grant loans more than twenty-five lire to people who lived in the city and ten lire to people who lived in the rural area five miles from the city. This restriction was expected to increase as more funds were acquired from voluntary and involuntary donations. If a borrower wanted to regain his pawned item, he would have to return the receipt to the massaro. The cashier would then calculate the interest that was earned on the item and the borrower would have to pay the interest in order to redeem their pawn. This interest collection provided one of the sources of revenue for the daily functions, operations, and salaries of the Monte di Pietà.[18]

The Monte di Pietà's employees were responsible for keeping track of the daily operations of the organization. Strict regulation dictated both their work and personal life. For example, fines were imposed for improper or dishonest behaviour. The actual space of the "Monte di Pietà was regarded as a pious and religious house" and therefore stage plays, dances, games and other festivities were forbidden.[19]

The employees’ salaries came from the income generated by the interest payments on loans. The massaro earned 120 florins per year, the cashier was paid 80 florins, the massaro's two assistants received 30 florins each, the assessors received 40 florins each, and the two servants earned 24 florins each.[20]

The Monte di Pietà accumulated capital from members of the patrician class,[21] middle class,[22] corporate groups, guilds,[23] fines resulting from lawsuits and Communed ordered resources.[24] One of the most creative strategies that preachers used in Florentine to acquire more capital for their “monte” was to declare Palm Sunday as a day for donations in the form of alms.[25] The “monte” was supposed to be gathered from "gifts or donations in honour of a person’s love for God".[26] Some scholars hypothesize that members of the artisan class and widows would freely give some money towards the “monte” upon hearing a sermon condemning usury and proclaiming the need to help the poor.[27]

While some monetary deposits were voluntary, some people had no choice in funding the capital for the “monte”. For example, Monna Margherita da Poppi of 1497 gave 40 lire to the Monte di Pietà as part of her sentence in a legal matter. The Monte di Pietà was in charge of keeping this money from her until she was married. In this case, the organization of the Monte di Pietà was a dowry fund which became popular during the mid-sixteenth century.[28] More revenues for the “monte” were acquired from the state through ordered fines.[29]