ABSTRACT
The lending business of the lower nobility represents a remarkable phenomenon of the economic and political history of the Bohemian lands in the second half of the 16th and the early 17th centuries. Making use of their client relationships with the aristocrats, who were financially exhausted by the costs of self-representation within the spirit of new Renaissance lifestyle, some knights made staggering fortunes from financial deals. One of the pioneers of systematic financial transactions of Bohemian lower nobility was Petr Doudlebský of Doudleby (d. 1550). This knight multiplied his property thanks to investments in loans, having constantly increased their volume by repeatedly lending all available financial means including the interest revenue. While Doudlebský’s activities heralded the behaviour of later knightly financiers, his lifestyle showed atypical features. Petr’s transactions are therefore analysed in this text with regard to his origin, family ties and personal life. Staying unmarried and without issue, and not having to the care for securing his children, he showed no interest in building his own domain. Apart from loyal clerical service to the magnate family of the lords of Rosenberg, he found the main content of his bachelor life in intensively increasing his movable assets.
