of memoirs that outlined his goal to rid the city of Jewish money lenders and to replace them with Christian pawn shops which allowed the poor to acquire cheap credit. In Rome, Pope Sixtus V (1585–90) founded in 1585 the local Monte di Pietà in via dei Coronari. Moved later near Campo de' Fiori to the piazza bearing its name, it still exists. England The first institution was started in 1361 by the Bishop of London, Michael Northburgh, who left 1,000 marks of silver for the establishment of a bank that should lend money on pawned objects, without interest, providing that the expenses of the institution be defrayed from its foundation capital. He had the monies deposited in a chest in the body of St Paul's and directed that if in any case at the end of the year the sums borrowed were not repaid, then the preacher at Paul's Cross should in his sermon declare that the pledge would be sold within fourteen days, if not redeemed forthwith. The capital was eventually consumed, and the bank closed. Malta Malta's Monte di Pietà was set up in 1598, initially under the name Monte di Sant'Anna. It was merged with the Monte della Redenzione degli Schiavi in 1787, becoming known as the Monte di Pietà e Redenzione. The Monte di Pietà is still in operation today as part of the Inland Revenue Department. Belgium The Brussels Mont de Piété, first founded in 1618, is still an active institution. The founder was Wenceslas Cobergher, who went on to establish fifteen such institutions in different towns in the Spanish Netherlands in the years between 1618 and 1633, financed by the provision of annuities in return for direct capital investment. Prior to this date the provision of consumer credit was largely in the hands of Lombards whose loans were at high rates of interest. Criticism of the Monts de Piété as themselves usurious institutions that both borrowed and lent at interest were countered by the Jesuit moral theologian Leonardus Lessius in an appendix to the 1621 edition of his De justitia et jure. Organization Employees A massaro or massaio had the duty of overseeing the daily interactions between the borrowers that came to the Monte di Pietà and the other employees. If the item was believed to be the legal property of the borrower two assistants called scrivani collected the pawn from the borrower.