Retirement planning might seem like a thoroughly modern concern, with pensions, investments and annuities forming part of today’s financial toolkit. But these financial tools are much older than they appear. In the later Middle Ages, people were already exchanging lump sums for steady income streams – and, in cities like Vienna, these arrangements underpinned entire urban economies.

Less expected, perhaps, is who helped make this system work. Alongside merchants and elites, communities of nuns quietly emerged as some of the city’s most reliable financial operators.

Annuities existed in several forms, each suited to different needs. At their core, these contracts involved one party providing a lump sum in exchange for a regular payment, usually secured on property or urban revenues. The most common type in medieval Vienna – my area of research – was the perpetual annuity, which generated a fixed annual return without a set end date and could be transferred or sold.

Alongside these stood life annuities, which paid people an income for their lifetime. This arrangement provided security in old age and helped with managing inheritance. There were also public annuities issued by civic authorities, through which the city itself raised funds by promising regular payments backed by its revenues.

These different forms of annuity supported........

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