I just finished a pretty good book, “The Pillars of the Earth”, and it made me wonder when Christians began to charge usury on a loan. In this book, set in the 13th century, Christains had to go to the Jewish community to borrow money. It made me wonder the following:
Who was responsible for the change?
Were there any interesting politics involved?
When did this change occur?
Why and How did it occur?
Thanks!
Here you can find lots of stuff about usury
Not directly answering the OP, but back when usury prohibitions were in effect, they were often evaded by disguising a loan as a different type of financial transaction. One common one was a currency exchange, an activity which had no theological context.
Say that the general exchange rate for guilders and florins was 5 guilders = 1 florin. Suppose I offered to exchange you 4000 guilders for 1000 florins. My offer appears to be a bad deal, but there is a special clause; the exchange will not be simultaneous. I will give you the 4000 guilders today and you will give me the 1000 florins a month from today. While no usury laws have been broken, the effect is the same as if I loaned you 4000 guilders for a month with a 25% interest charge.