Your Money or Your Life: Economy and Religion in the Middle Ages

I purchased this book for a class on medieval cathedral architect for my second year college studies. My professor had us read this book over the weekend as prep for our final test. It's a very easy digestible book in terms of language, though one may need to look up and infer certain terminologies used in medieval times as Le Goff references them in his book. This book details the medieval history and treatment of usurers and their impact and relationship to the medieval economy. Usury is the lending of money at interest. Le Goff details the religious implications of practicing usury and how usurers were an "evil necessity," as placated by the Christian Church. Usurers, in the kindest words of the Church, had their own place in hell. This was due to how usurers violated several Christian mortal sins by charging interest for lending money. According to the Church, they made money by selling God's resource - time. In comparison to other workers, usurers made money even when they were asleep and were compared to as oxes, lions, and other foul comparisons in terms of how they survived. Le Goff also goes into slight detail on how the Church turned a blind eye towards the usurers and even gives them respite for their sins if they confessed and returned the money they "stole." However, a good chunk of this book is spent in detailing how vilified usurers were at that time and that they played a significant role in the birth of capitalism. This book was a short and informational read and I applaud the Le Goff for doing all the research for this book.