ABSTRACT
The bankrupts were imprisoned in the Rathaus, but they were well-attended by their servants and wives; their families continued to live in style, as the creditors freely complained; and the creditors themselves were divided as to how they should proceed. Not least, the bankrupts themselves were far too important to be treated as common – or uncommon – criminals. The Hochstetters were not mere wholesale traders but important industrialists and financiers, who occupied the centers of far-flung capital networks that included princely houses. Negotiations resumed on 1 November 1529, but an outbreak of epidemic disease prevented most of the foreign creditors from attending, and the commission recessed until 6 January 1530. Bankruptcy records reveal that other sources of money expanded this initial investment.
