The Golden Compasses

The History of the House of Plantin-Moretus

[p. 454]

Chapter 18
Loans^1.

There was another problem that occasioned the masters of the Golden Compasses much worry, bringing Plantin in particular many a sleepless night and hanging over him like an enduring sword of Damocles.

This problem was the slowness with which invested capital yielded a return. Books published might or might not make a profit, but it was months and sometimes years before the money came back. In the meantime staff and suppliers had to be paid, and sometimes further resources might have to be committed to buy new material and finance new projects. A large concern like the Officina Plantiniana required a large and continual investment of capital, especially in the critical period of its foundation and first expansion. The Moretuses were not unaffected by this problem,^2. but they did not need to invest so much money in new plant and they had the personal resources to be able to absorb minor expansions and recessions, and cope with the matter of equipment, without too much difficulty. When loans were

1. A sound and interesting though not exhaustive study: R.M. Kingdon, ‘Christopher Plantin and his backers, 1575-90. A study in the problems of financing business during war’, Mélanges d'Histoire économique et sociale en Hommage au Professeur Antony Babel, 1963, pp. 303-316. Data in Rooses, Musée, p. 210.

2. In 1642 the firm was encumbered with loans at interest to a total of 68,335 fl. 3 st.; in 1651 this sum was reduced to 34,995 fl. 15 st. In these 9½ years 33,339 fl. 8 st. were thus discharged and the firm was relieved of a burden of 1,667 fl. interest per year. Cf. p. 462. In 1658 and 1662, however, these loans had once more risen to 87,907 fl. and 107,628 fl. (cf. Vol. I, p. 222, note 4). In the second half of the seventeenth century the Moretuses occasionally borrowed money from their workmen's sick fund (cf. M. Sabbe, ‘De Plantijnsche werkstede’, p. 614).

[p. 455]

necessary they were able to support the interest charges easily and pay back the capital.^1. The problem was most noticeable when the estate came to be bequeathed,^2. but the well-conceived testaments of the successive masters and the intelligent family sense of succeeding generations of Moretuses made possible arrangements that satisfied individual heirs without imperilling the financial structure of the officina.^3. It was on Plantin that the problem of the supply of capital bore most heavily.

It was undoubtedly borrowed capital that enabled the poor bookbinder to set himself up as a printer in 1555, and in the following years he had to borrow money ceaselessly. Of all the aspects of Plantin's activities this is the hardest to trace. Loans were only occasionally recorded in the regular accounts, as these were concerned with production costs and sales.^4. Only in the period of the partnership (1563-67) did Plantin deem it necessary to keep careful if summarized record of the inflow of capital and the amortizing of debts.^5. There are few references, direct or indirect, to this sort of transaction in the correspondence, but what is most regrettable is the fact that the main sources of information were systematically destroyed, except for a very few documents. For every loan there was a written iou signed by Plantin - the cedulle or obligation - occasionally used as a bill of exchange. When the debt had been paid the iou was destroyed or cancelled. By chance a few of these papers, with the name of the debtor - Plantin - scored out, have been preserved.^6.

1. As is clear from the ease with which in 1641-51 the considerable sum of 33,339 fl. was paid off.

2. The considerable loans noted in 1642 and in 1658-62 are probably connected with repayments to heirs and with other transactions subsequent to the deaths of Balthasar I Moretus and Maria de Sweert.

3. Cf. Vol. I, pp. 202-203.

4. In the ledgers about transactions with private individuals or non-professional booksellers, loans and their conditions were only occasionally recorded. An exception is found in Arch. 19 (Ledger of non-booksellers, 1572-89). Rooses's exposition in Musée, p. 210, is based on the data contained in this ledger. Occasional references in Arch. 36, e.g., pp. 139, 140, 141, 163, 167, 168 (1570-73).

5. In Arch. 3. Cf. Appendix 1.

6. And are mainly gathered together in Arch. 98. Kingdon's exposition is principally supported by these documents; also some in Arch. 116.

[p. 456]

Enough information is available, however, to give an idea of the extent and significance of the transactions. Before 1563 and after 1567, Plantin had to obtain the finance he needed purely by his own efforts. In the intervening years he was in partnership with influential financiers who largely provided the necessary capital, either from their own resources or by persuading other backers to invest in the enterprise. The period 1563-67, about which there is most information, can be taken as the least representative of Plantin's tribulations in the money market.

After 1567 Plantin's former partners repeatedly came to the assistance of their ex-associate.^1. The printer also appealed for financial help to members of his family (Jan Moretus), friends and acquaintances,^2. colleagues in the trade,^3. and his own employees.^4. From time to time he managed to persuade such financiers as Gaspar van Zurich, and later Louis Perez,^5. to lend him money. It cannot have been mere coincidence that many of these backers belonged to the sect called the Family of Love or to the Barrefeltists, religious affinity obviously drawing them closer together financially.^6. Plantin also sought finance in other foreign parts, finding it in Paris, Rouen,^7. Liège,^8. and

1. Among others Goropius Becanus and Charles ‘Van denBerghen’ (Karel van Bomberghen: Jan Moretus has first recorded him in the ledger [Arch. 19] under his real name, but later - probably in 1585, at the capitulation of Antwerp to Alexander Farnese - had erased this and turned it into ‘Van den Berghen’. Plantin's former partner and creditor was not greatly esteemed by the Spanish authorities, being a Calvinist leader.)

2. Among others Abraham Ortelius: Rooses, Musée, p. 210.

3. Including Jean Laurent, bookseller at Tournai, who in 1572 lent 500 fl. and in 1573 another 432 fl. (Arch. 19, f^o 8). Ferdinand Ximenez from Cologne, who lent a quite considerable amount of capital, was perhaps also a bookseller: Kingdon, op. cit., p. 312.

4. Namely Cornelis Kiliaan, who in 1579 lent his employer 200 fl. (Arch. 19, f^o 123).

5. And others, such as Ferdinando de Sevilla and P. van der Goes: Rooses, Musée, p. 210.

6. As was thoroughly dealt with and emphasized, with reasons, by Kingdom, op. cit., pp. 313-315. However, the present author believes that this tendency should not be exaggerated: it should not be thought that there was a sort of monetary power (and money market) organized on a religious basis. Plantin found it easier to get money out of these people because both parties had come to know and to trust each other. Moreover, the Van Bomberghens themselves were not members of the Family of Love but convinced Calvinists.

7. In 1572; cf. Vol. I, p. 77.

8. In 1576-77; cf. Vol. I, p. 87.

[p. 457]

at Frankfurt. In the last of these places Plantin pledged typographical material to secure a loan.^1.

Interest had to be paid on these loans. It could vary greatly. For large amounts advanced by financiers for a period of years the rate was usually 6¼%.^2. Smaller lenders might charge more^3. - or less.^4. For the Frankfurt loan, with punches and matrices deposited as security, the rate was only 4 %. With good reason Professor Kingdon has expressed surprise at the relative ease with which Plantin was able to obtain large loans at comparatively low interest rates in so troubled a period as the second half of the sixteenth century. All the same they had to be repaid. The precise extent of the transactions cannot be determined, but the figures for 1563-67^5. and the partial data for 1572-89^6. convey some impression of the colossal sums, for the time, that Plantin had to raise, and the fearful burden that their amortization must have placed on his shoulders.^7. Little wonder that in a time of recession and a moment of despair the great printer wrote: ‘Car l'imprimerie est ung vray abisme ou goufre auquel par ung labeur assidu et une constance ferme et asseurée il convient perpétuellement entendre luy jecter en la gueule et fournir tout ce qu'il est nécessaire

1. Cf. p. 89.

2. Rooses, Musée, p. 210 (who generalizes far too much and presupposes payment of an interest of 6¼ % for all the loans entered into by Plantin); Kingdon, op. cit., pp. 306-307.

3. In 1559 Antonio d'Antonio Vincent asked 10 % for a loan of 200 fl. (Arch. 38, f^o 53); in 1572 J. Laurent asked 10 % and 8 % in 1573 (Arch. 19, f^o 8; cf. also Kingdon, op. cit. p. 301, who only knew of the 1573 transaction [he places it erroneously in 1579]). Claude le Prestre contented himself with 7¾% in February 1572 (Arch. 36, p. 167). C. Kiliaan obtained 7½ % in 1579 (Arch. 19, f^o 123).

4. Bonaventura Boudeckers asked only 5 % for a loan of 380 fl. in March 1573 (Arch. 36, p. 168).

5. In 1566 receipts of liquid money consisted of drawings on capital to more than fifty per cent; in the same year Plantin had to pay off 1,516 fl. 13 st. in old debts. Cf. Appendix 1.

6. Plantin borrowed from Gaspar van Zurich 13,872 fl. in 1572, from Luis Perez 12,000 fl. in 1576; after the Spanish Fury (November 1576) to this was added a loan of 2,876 fl. 8 st. In 1578 he borrowed 1,815 fl. 18 st. and in 1582 a further 3,600 fl. from Perez. The total of the sums borrowed and still owed by Plantin in and about 1583 amounted to 20,326 fl. 4½ st. For these and other examples see Rooses, Musée, p. 210.

7. Cf. also, p. 391.

[p. 458]

ou autrement il dévore et engloutist son maistre mesmes et tous ceux qui s'en meslent avec luy.’^1. And in his letters of later years the need for ready money and the difficulty of finding working capital were stressed over and over again, like a sad refrain endlessly repeated.

1. Corr. III, no. 438 (Plantin to de Çayas, 22nd November 1572).