Insuring life, insuring debt: Life insurance in sixteenth-century Spain

Abstract

The rise of life insurance policies remains to be researched, since it is often assumed to represent a technique that emerged in the 18th century. Using existing legislation, especially the Insurance Contracting Ordinances of the Consulate of Castile in Bruges of 1568, this article demonstrates how the practice of creating life insurance policies appears habitual in Spain two centuries earlier. Particular attention is paid to the insurance policies of the Spaniard Juan Henríquez, the leading insurance broker in Antwerp in 1562 and 1563, as well as the 174 policies housed in the archive of the Consulate of Burgos between the years 1566-1605. Most of them were created by lenders of ducats who demanded, as a guarantee of payment, the signing of a life insurance policy by those who received the money––a system that continues to exist in today’s banking practices.