Many years ago, I went to credit counseling because I was just stupid with credit card debt in my early 20s. The credit card companies instead of negotiating with me, raised my payments. I declared bankruptcy and they got nothing, instead.

I don't think that debtors in lenders were any better at negotiating in the middle ages than they are today. When you're a debtor, and you know you can get 'free money' by going to the mint, why would you bother negotiating with someone (a lender) who has an incredible amount of power over you.