forgotten loan made in 1562

de bene esse: literally, of well-being, morally acceptable but subject to future validation or exception

On May 8, 1562, the people of Mittenwalde lent 400 guilders – the equivalent of £88 million today – to Berlin with the expectation it would be repaid within five years at an interest rate of six per cent a year.

Add in 450 years of compound interest, and the town’s 8,000 residents are rubbing their hands together in glee at the thought of a repayment of trillions of euros.

The German town of Mittenwalde has asked Berlin (shown here) to repay a loan made 450 years ago

The debt might have been forgotten for ever had local archivist Vera Schmidt not uncovered the loan agreement in some dusty files at the town hall.

With it was a note from 1893 detailing discussions then about getting Berlin to hand over the money it owed.

The original paperwork bears the crest of Berlin-Cölln – as the German capital was then called – and the signature of the spendthrift Elector of the city, Joachim II, who needed the money to settle a tax bill


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2180315/German-town-told-Berlin-You-owe-trillions-long-forgotten-loan-1562.html#ixzz21x9K1yzE