Family, marriage and moneychanging in medieval Bruges

Abstract

The work of the late Raymond de Roover revealed the technical complexity of the Bruges financial world in general and that of Bruges moneychangers in particular. But de Roover overlooked the social underpinnings of this world, specifically how marriage and inheritance customs could affect business organization. By returning to financial documents left by two fourteenth-century Bruges moneychangers used by de Roover, and others unknown to him, this article reveals the family and business history of the moneychanger Willem Ruweel. Ruweel, who was not a Bruges native, acquired control of his exchange through his marriage to Margaret van Ruuslede whose family belonged to the commercial elite of the city. Their marriage created in Flemish law a type of limited partnership, in which all property was held in common under the control of Willem, but guaranteed Margaret her dowry and half their common property in case of her husband's death or business failure. The union was advantageous for them both. Margaret's dowry gave Willem a source of capital for his investments and some protection in the event of bankruptcy; Margaret gained employment as the manager of the exchange. Misfortune struck when Willem's faculty investments brought on bankruptcy and seizure of his assets in the summer of 1370. But the same law that ordered the scale of Willem's property to satisfy his creditors guaranteed that the exchange would remain Margaret's. Her sons inherited in turn, and it remained Ruweel property until shortly after 1400.