The Patriarch and the Moneychangers: Usury, Speculation, and the Old Testament Story of Joseph in Medieval France

In the late Middle Ages, interpreters of the Old Testament considered Joseph a model of provident administration of resources and virtuous behavior in the marketplace. According to the biblical narrative (Gen. 37–50), Joseph was able to predict seven years of abundance followed by seven of famine, and he stored wheat for seven years on behalf of the pharaoh, and then resold it to the people of Egypt during the time of dearth. This paper argues that in thirteenth-century France Joseph’s behavior evoked the activity and attitude of contemporary usurers and greedy merchants, whose speculations were the object of state regulations and ferocious critiques. The frequent fluctuations in food supplies encouraged conversations among theologians and lawmakers about the moral implications of speculative practices: Was it legitimate to sell wheat during a famine? Was it fair to buy it at the market price and then wait to resell it in times of scarcity? By comparing theological treatises, literary texts, and visual sources, I show how medieval authors and readers removed the presence of money from Joseph’s story, proposed new interpretations of scripture to discharge any accusation of financial speculation, or praised Joseph’s ability to predict market fluctuations. The windows of the trades in the cathedral of Chartres, for example, used Joseph to rescue the controversial reputation of moneychangers and celebrate their craft. A careful examination of the medieval reception of Joseph’s story contributes to reconstructing the intellectual atmosphere of medieval Paris, the history of biblical interpretation, and the overlapping areas between economic and intellectual history and between literary and visual sources.