Abstract
This article examines the emergence of a new legend about the alleged Jewish invention of bills of exchange and marine insurance, the two most important financial instruments of commercial capitalism in late medieval Europe, which appeared in print for the first time in a commentary of maritime law published in Bordeaux in 1647. It shows how old tropes about Jews and usury were re-elaborated to give voice to new anxieties about the expansion of credit, and of paper credit in particular. In so doing, it argues for the importance of combining inter-textual with historical analysis in order to understand both the persistence and the transformation of Christian images of Jews.
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