Introduction: Cardinal Cajetan on "Cambium" Or Exchange Dealings (On Exchanging Money (1499)) (Essay‪)‬

Thomas de Vio (1469-1534), of the Dominican Order, better known as Cardinal Cajetan, scarcely needs an introduction. He is the author of the officially approved commentaries on the Summa of Thomas Aquinas, which are easily available in the magnificent Leonine edition of this magnum opus. Cajetan is even more famous as the papal legate whom Leo X (1513-1521) dispatched to Germany in a futile effort to bring Luther back into the Roman fold and to prevent the break that was to tear asunder the unity of the Western Church. In this capacity, Cajetan even made the stage on Broadway and appeared in John Osborne's play, "Luther," as the slippery and worldly cardinal who tried to coax Luther to retract in exchange for a full pardon and release from his vows. Whether or not such a role was in line with Cajetan's character is a different matter. Far from being a slick and wily churchman, Cajetan was a learned theologian, well versed in scholastic dialectics, who was perhaps the most scholarly member of the College of Cardinals during the pontificates of Leo X, Adrian VI, and Clement VII. If his mission proved a failure, probably no one else would have succeeded. Cajetan was a prolific writer. Besides the commentaries on the Summa, already mentioned, he wrote numerous philosophical and theological works, and his advice was often sought on controversial questions. In the last years of his life, he devoted himself entirely to biblical exegesis and came out with interpretations that were often far ahead of his own time. In response to requests for clarification of the issues involved, Cajetan also wrote three short treatises, or opuscules, on socioeconomic problems: one on usury; a second on the montes pietatis, which he bitterly opposed; and a third on cambium, or exchange dealings. In a brief study like this, it is impossible to tackle all three of these subjects, and we must therefore strictly confine ourselves to only one of them. We have picked the third because it deals with a topic that involves special difficulties and requires acquaintance with banking practices on which we have written extensively before.