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Private lenders are still considered to have been the dominant lenders inthe eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, although various types ofinstitutional lenders appeared from the late 1700s onwards. This paperanalyses one of the earlier and probably underestimated institutionallenders in northern Europe, the Church, using Sweden as a case study.As late as 1834, the Swedish church lent about the same amount ofmoney as all other credit institutions combined. Using a governmentsurvey from 1857 with data from 400 parishes, and accounts from 14parishes 1770–1890, we can show that all parishes had funds, withabout 80–90 per cent of the capital in loans. The funds were growing insize and lending was extensive, primarily for constructing new churchbuildings. However, the funds also played an important role in the localeconomy. The largest funds and most extensive lending were found inareas with landed estates and high levels of urbanisation, while funds inpoorer areas were considered to be poor relief funds. Lending fromchurch funds declined after the 1860s, but not rapidly. The church wasprobably seen as an attractive option when money was needed, locatedclose by and controlled by the parishioners.

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Many people, both the poor and from the middle-classes, depended on pawn-broking. We have used a unique material, the daily ledgers from a Swedish pawnshop in naval town Karlskrona, during a long period of time 1880-1950. We find that the number of loans in relation to population did decline, especially after 1910, but in no year was the value of the average loan less than that of a day's work for a day labourer, meaning that the average loans did not show signs of being the act of a very impoverished person. The main objects being pawned was clothes, and among them coats. Most of them were pawned in May, which would support an idea of seasonal pawning, rather than weekly pawning. A majority of the pawners consisted of military men and workers. Women made up a small part of the sample, between ten and twenty per cent. In general, workers pawned mostly clothes and shoes, but they also pawned rings. Likely, the national context does affect when shifts and changes occur.