Administering Usury. The Spread of interesse in Canon Law and Local Leg- islation (12th-14th Century)

The ban on usury has been a pivotal element in the development of medieval theological and legal reflection on the economy and administration of both the church and the societas christiana. As a consequence, scholarship has thoroughly studied its specific terminology, trying to isolate the elements that came to constitute an emerging economic vocabulary. This article con-tributes to such debate by analysing the introduction and diffusion of the term interesse. It therefore focuses on its dissemination in 12(th)- and 13(th) -cen-tury canonistic texts, and on its reception within local synodal and civic leg-islation until the first decade of the 14th century, aiming at identifying the strategies employed to administer the prohibition of usury.