Markets and Mentalites
We cannot say which came first, the “more” or the greater permission to pursue it. We can, however, explore the ways permission and reality intertwined. Commercial freedom came far more quickly to men than to women.
Martin Luther's rebellion against the Pope in the sixteenth century went beyond a challenge to centralized authority and institutional corruption. The new Protestant sects widened the eye of the needle, preaching that a wealthy man could squeeze through as long as he was Godly in his pursuit of manly goals. As Luther's most influential successor, John Calvin, put it:We shall not rush forward to seize wealth or honors by unlawful actions, by deceitful and criminal acts, by rapacity and injury of our neighbors, but shall confine ourselves to the pursuit of those interests which will not seduce us from the path of innocence.53
The Calvinists preached hard work, frugality, and savings, and were happy to borrow or to lend at virtuous rates of interest.
The Reformation itself should not be given too much credit for the waves of commercialization associated with its spread. Catholic Italian cities had once been the centers of European trade. Jews, as well as Protestants, were innovators in trade and banking. In fact, many different minority ethnic and religious groups were in the economic vanguard, perhaps because they combined solidarity among themselves with a more calculating attitude towards their clients.54 Still, Protestantism was kind to merchants, and vice versa. By the seventeenth century, the map of Europe revealed a distinct correlation between economic and ideological predispositions. Protestant Holland, England, and Scotland were, rich in port facilities, prospering with trade. France, with fewer maritime resources, and a large and less integrated economic hinterland, remained predominantly Catholic, with a Protestant population just large enough to excite religious tension.
In the late sixteenth century, the most prosperous and successful French Protestants were driven into exile.The growth of trade required the growth of credit. Even Catholic rules began to be interpreted with greater latitude. It became allowable to charge interest if the client was not a Christian, if the money was needed to fight a Christian war, if the lender was running a risk, or if the borrower’s goal was to make a profit. Usury was effectively redefined as charging an excessively high interest rate. Calvin confidently stated that it was acceptable for merchants to lend money to one another at rates no higher than 5 percent.55
After 1640, denunciations of money lenders dwindled in Britain, lingering a bit longer in France.56 The weakening of moral sanctions against interest almost certainly contributed to the development of a more efficient capital market, with rates determined by the forces of supply and demand. The reins loosened, the horses of trade galloped on. They did not, however, run roughshod over all ethical constraints or traditional customs. Their highway was carefully fenced by restrictions on women in particular.
In agriculture, differences in men’s and women’s wages could be partially explained by differences in their physical strength. But women were less ‘‘productive’’ at commerce and trade only because such pursuits were labeled inappropriate and unfeminine. Women who flouted those labels faced cultural as well as economic sanctions. Women lacked any official voice within the Church, and religious views continued to emphasize women’s susceptibility to sin.
Men could not be completely absolved. Officially, at least, the market for sexual services became more restricted. In the sixteenth century, municipal brothels in France were shut down, and public disapproval intensified.57 Early Protestants strongly disapproved of sexual self-indulgence. But the moral double standard remained in place.
Martin Luther waxed eloquent on the subject of women’s insatiable lust.58 When Oliver Cromwell and his Puritan fellows gained control of the English state in the 1640s they made adultery a capital crime, carefully stipulating that men (only) could escape execution if they could prove they did not know that their fellow-fornicator was a married woman.59At least some of the Protestant sects that emerged in England created new opportunities for women to contest their subordinate position in the church. The Quakers became explicit advocates of women's rights to education. On the whole, however, Protestantism had more favorable consequences for commerce than for women. Buying cheap and selling dear could be considered a divine occupation for a man, his wife, or his widow, but not for a single woman. A successful businessman could point to commercial success as evidence of his own virtue. A wife could point to her family’s success, but not her own.
The morality tale remained the central narrative of human existence. John Bunyan’s popular Pilgrim’s Progress, published in 1678, told the story of Christian struggling to stay on the path to salvation. His tempters include Mr. Money-Love and Sir Having Greedily, as well as Mrs. Love-the-Flesh and Madame Wanton.60 In the story, Christian prevails with the help of others such as Goodwill. After considerable delay his wife Christiana and their four sons, accompanied by a neighbor, Mercy, also make the journey.