 The issue was a concrete one in the fourteenth century, and several scholars were asked similar or even identical questions, which allows us to place Gregory’s determination in a historical context. One writer gave a liberal response to the first question, that the mere fact that the loan was forced made the creditor’s receiving of 5% interest licit, while the same author considered the second transaction an acceptable contract of sale and not a purchase of a loan. A more conservative author, on the other hand, viewed the 5% as usury, unless it constituted a spontaneous gift from the commune to the citizen and as long as the citizen did not intend to profit. In this case, the gift could not be purchased licitly by another, naturally, for the unforced buyer would surely be a usurer.