Piotr Skarga's Mount of Piety in Cracow. The Sixteenth-Century Answer to the Problem of Poverty and Debt

Abstract

The problem of poverty and accumulating debt of the households is present for many centuries. People who were trying to save themselves from financial problems by loaning money on abusive interest rates aroused Piotr Skarga's interest in XVI^th century. He popularized institutions such as The Brotherhood of Charity, st. Nicolaus Chest, The Brotherhood of st. Lazarus. Mount of Piety is to be distinguished among them, which held a particular interest in people with problem of debt and poverty. The idea of bank, which would lend faithful people in need loan in order to enhance their financial situation or to create a profitable small business, Skarga borrowed from Italy. In Italy the idea had been present already in XIII century. In Poland this kind of banks, thanks to Skarga, were established among others in Warsaw, Łowicz, Pułtusk, Zamość. The most famous one is the one in Cracow, which was operating in 1584-1953. There people would lend money with no interest-rates on jewelry or broadcloth. There was a variety of pawns, starting from parts of clothing to dinner sets. All the rules of the bank functioning were set by Skarga. The first 300 years of functioning of the bank until the commemorative 1884 were the times of ups and downs. The institution did not go astray from the main idea of helping people with a high interest-rate debts to pull through. That is why the institution is called the predecessor of micro-financing, because just like micro-financing the bank helped many people in times of need.