Rural Credit Markets in Eighteenth-Century France: Contracts, Guarantees and Land

This chapter looks at the significance of land in relation to credit in early modern France with special reference to the eighteenth century. Through a close examination of notarial contracts covering loans and credit practices, this chapter first presents the characteristics of the early modern French rural credit markets. Particular emphasis is placed on the various types of contracts available to agents in which land served as collateral. Obligations and rentes (annuities) are of particular relevance. Focusing on the credit market of a small rural community in Alsace, this chapter analyses in detail the meaning and evolution of landed guarantees over time. It argues that the significance of land as collateral decreased throughout the eighteenth century mostly because the local credit market was disrupted by a group of new investors from the emerging bourgeoisie. Socially and often geographically strangers to the local community, they began to extend credit and demanded not only stronger guarantees to secure their investments but also set rigid deadlines for repayment.