Credit for the Poor, Investments for the Rich? Different Strategies for Investing and Saving Money in Medieval Tirol

Abstract This paper provides an overview of the various financial resources that existed in medieval Tirol to meet financial needs, using notary registers and court records from the 14 th century as sources. These provide ample evidence of an active capital and land market in rural areas, which offered various ways of saving and investing money. Saving and investment behaviour was crucial for coping with external adversities such as harvest failure, but also with life events (marriage, bringing up children, retirement), and households sought to manage these risks. The results show that the poor and the rich behaved differently when it comes to investing and saving, and that their behaviour was strongly influenced by access to different financial instruments.