Preparing for old age: the portfolio of a sixteenth-century poor man

Late-medieval people looking to secure a comfortable old age, had to make sure they accumulated capital – just like today. Capital accumulation back then went quite differently though: the first pension schemes emerged in the seventeenth century (mostly within craft guilds), and savings banks did not yet exist.

How ordinary people accumulated capital and which techniques they used, is very difficult to find out: the vast majority of the population did not produce written sources. However, unique sources from the small city of Edam do allow for the reconstruction of capital accumulation. In 1462 its town government decided to reorganize its taxation system: from then on, taxes would be based on a thorough assessment of the most important assets, including real estate, livestock, money and financial instruments.

For over a century the town government frequently sent out tax inspectors, to investigate the wealth of householders in Edam and also in the surrounding villages. Householders declared their posessions, and based on this information the town government decided on a tax assessment for the coming years. A remarkable feat of the Edam sources is the inclusion of the poor: they had to declare their wealth, and were assessed – which is quite unique, since most late-medieval authorities did not bother to inquire into the poor because they did not expect them to contribute to taxes.

Lucas van Leyden, The beggars (c. 1507-1511) Rijksmuseum RP-P-OB-1728.

The beggar on the top-left is depicted with a pilgrim badge – pilgrimage was often used as a means to disguise vagrancy.

One of Edam’s poor was Hein Gertsz. Oofs: he is listed in tax registers from 1546, 1553 and 1563 – we can thus gauge his wealth on three occasions. We are unaware of the rest of his personal life: he was householder in 1546, which means he probably married between 1530-1546 (he is not yet mentioned in the 1530 tax registers). That he was most likely a married man is also indicated by him declaring possession of two beds in 1546 and 1553 – these were valuable assets the people of Edam also had to declare to the tax inspector. In 1563 he declared only one bed: was this because his children had left the parental household? If this is correct, perhaps we might regard Klaas Heinsz. Oofs – mentioned in 1563 – as his son.

It is unlikely that Hein had to sell this second bed out of poverty: in 1546 and 1553 his tax assessment resulted in him being taxed at 0,25 lb – the lowest tax bracket – but in 1563 he had moved up to 0,5 lb. Since householders with tax assessments up to 1,0 lb. must be regarded as poor, it is clear that Hein’s wealth accumulation was still quite modest. It was mainly due to him reporting more land, going from eight acres in 1546, and eleven in 1553, to 21 in 1563. The latter acreage may seem impressive, but we have to realize much of it consisted of ‘reed lands’, which was probably of fairly little use. Although Hein accumulating real estate was without much doubt in part the result of him inheriting small plots of land, it is likely he was also active in the land market: the composition of his landed property shows signs of him rearranging scattered plots of land over time.

In 1553 Hein for the first time reported revenues: three guilders per annum – the equivalent of twelve day wages of an unskilled labourer. Why Hein received this sum is unclear, but it stands to reason that he had leased out part of his real estate. In addition, he claimed someone owed him 40 guilders – so he would receive a handsome sum of money in the near future, comparable to half a year wages of an unskilled labourer. Finally, he claimed to possess another 40 guilders in ready cash.

The final year for which we have data, 1563, Hein reported to have invested in financial instruments: he received an annuity of ten guilders per annum. We do not know how he made the investment this required - buying the annuity probably cost between 160 and 200 guilders - but the two times forty guilders he reported in 1553 would already have brought him a long way. The last time we hear of Hein is in a tax register from 1569, after which he disappears from the historical record.

Peter Warnerssen, Wheel of life (1558) Rijksmuseum RP-P-1932-129).

Old age - depicted bottom-right - is about to step off, right into the grave.

Could Hein have lived off his wealth during old age? According to a conservative estimate, he might have been able to earn thirty guilders per annum by leasing his property; when we add the annuity of ten guilders, he might have earned forty guilders in total – just enough to survive, provided he continued to work as much as he could right up to his death.

So Hein was not at all a real rentier: the forty guilders he may have been able to receive during old age were barely enough to survive. What his portfolio does show, however, is that even the poor did accumulate and manage wealth: previous research showed the poor frequently bought real estate, and invested their (modest) savings in financial instruments. Saving devices such as piggy banks were also quite common in less-well-off households – this suggests strategic behaviour aimed at future expenses. Although the question remains whether Hein had a comfortable old age, what we can be sure of is him – and probably many other poor as well – trying his best to prepare for later.

Hein Gert Oofs portfolio and tax assessment.