The rules were just drafted up recently so feel free to poke holes in them.
Loans & Debts
Nobles were regularly in debt, especially the lower barons and knightly gentry who could not entirely afford the ostentatious lifestyles to which they aspired (suffice to say the average baron doesn’t live like the average king, even if he wants to).
To give a most notorious example of the gravity of the issue, in the 1320’s essentially the mass majority of the Kingdom of Denmark was mortgaged off to foreign loan-sharks, mostly from the Holy Roman Empire; Denmark was thus split between its most powerful nobles and a cadre of foreigners who profited from the royal bankruptcy.
As the example suggests, debt is a serious issue. It was as much a part of medieval life just as serfdom was, just as loans and mortgages are a regular part of life today.
To this end, we wish for players to know that having to borrow loans to achieve their goals is expected of them. All it requires is a little planning and you should be able to usually pay off your debts in reasonable timeframes. Beware the consequences of a mountain of debt, however.
Interest rates are annual, going up every year by that amount.
Ex. a rate of 100% of a £200 loan is £400 the next year and then £600 the following year, then 800, 1000, etc.
You can only take one of each loan per year, and you can only take a max of 4 loans a year, no matter their size.
Loans are expected to be paid before they reach 300% in interest. Large loans (the second list) are expected to be paid before they reach 200% in interest. If this date comes and passes and the debts have not been filled, the party must default. If you default, if the king/parliament does not bar the usurers, then you will be forced (you can of course resort to violence) to mortgage off all your lordships and assets until you have either paid off your debts or you have nothing left to give. If the king/parliament restrains the usurers, the faction (king or parliament) will face opposition in all other matters from the commons for a few years.
The local banks and usurers in England will offer these basic loans & rates under normal circumstances:
£200 w/ 15% interest rate per annum
£500 w/ 15% interest rate per annum
£1000 w/ 15% interest rate per annum
£2000 w/ 15% interest rate per annum
£5000 w/ 15% interest rate per annum
£10,000 w/ 15% interest rate per annum
Additionally, there are larger loans that are accessible to the king but not normally for the average noble:
£25,000 w/ 15% interest rate per annum
£50,000 w/ 15% interest rate per annum
£75,000 w/ 15% interest rate per annum
£100,000 w/ 15% interest rate per annum
£200,000 w/ 15% interest rate per annum
£500,000 w/ 15% interest rate per annum
Parties who owe total interest rates per year which amount to more than 200% of their yearly income will usually be barred from acquiring more loans. Even the king.
Consequences
If yearly interest is at 100% or more of yearly income, all militia/levy rolls are reduced by -2
If yearly interest is at 200% or more of yearly income, all militia/levy rolls are reduced by -4
If yearly interest is at 300% or more of yearly income, all militia/levy rolls are reduced by -2
If yearly interest is at 400% or more of yearly income, all militia/levy rolls are reduced by -6
If yearly interest is at 500% or more of yearly income, all militia/levy rolls are reduced by -8
You may, under extraneous debt, mortgage off lordships (ie, provinces) in your possession to repay debts, valued to 200% of their yearly income. The King can purchase these mortgaged lordships for 10x their yearly income or else “no one” owns them.
The King can at any time, with parliamentary consent, declare debts void for any individual. However, if he does so for himself or for more than a couple large magnates, at moderator discretion, the banks will completely bar off future loans from the whole of England and diplomatic relations abroad will deteriorate greatly.
Furthermore, the commons (in parliament) will by large majority oppose any and all proposals made or seen to be led/proposed by individuals with outstanding debt (like 10x your yearly income or more), especially the king.
If the king (ie, the royal treasury) falls into outstanding debt, he will lose all legitimacy and will lose any partiality the militias and levies have for him and will suffer the same penalties as mentioned above.
Lastly, during wartimes, attempts to take out loans by lords seen to be on the losing side of a fight (either against the king or the king has lost his seat and more than half of England is against him) will be usually denied.
It shouldn’t have to be said, but these rules are not absolute (if you don’t want to make any effort, they are) - creative or clever ways around these rules that are substantiated by relevant medieval history will likely be rewarded.
Taking Out Loans and Keeping Track of Them
Loans will be taken out, repaid, and/or defaulted upon in the “Lombard Banks” thread in the “The Land, Hills and Forests” subforum. We also want you to keep track of your loans in your vault/finance threads (how much exactly, when exactly, how much of it is repaid if any, and its rate of interest); you the player are expected to keep track of how much you owe, and how much that increases by the interest rate at which you agreed upon when you borrowed. For example, if you borrowed £15,000 at an interest rate of 15% per year, if you repay three years later, you must pay £21,750.
We recommend having a separate fieldset or contentbox (etc) for keeping track of your loans/debts in each of your yearly update posts.
Example format that would work just fine:
It may be helpful to list them in order of when you took them out.
Last edited by Dirty Chai; February 12, 2017 at 05:45 AM.
It won't be. The ban on lending money is anachronistic right now, in fact Edward III funded his later campaigns with the help of merchants like Michael de la Pole. The Italian and Flemish bankers are on the raise, too.
Loans & Debts
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