DEBT LITIGATION IN LATE MEDIEVAL AND EARLY MODERN CASTILE

In the late 15th century and early 16th century, Castilian financial development was a widespread phenomenon in which a large part of the Castilian population took part. Both legislators and moralising theorists endeavoured to guide the expansion of credit through the development of a legal and ethical framework as a point of reference for a desired behaviour. Nevertheless, problems arising from unpaid loans and credit sales and the consequent debt litigation developed into a conflict that, in many cases, could be channelled thanks to the action of new and reformed Castilian institutions.