Description
Book SynopsisThis is a full-scale study of the history of money, not merely of coinage, to have been written for medieval Europe. The book is not limited to one country, or to any one period or theme, but extracts the most important elements for the historian across the broadest possible canvas. Its scope extends from the mining of precious metals on the one hand, to banking, including the use of cheques and bills of exchange, on the other. Chapters are arranged chronologically, rather than regionally or thematically, and offer a detailed picture of the many and changing roles played by money, in all its forms, in all parts of Europe throughout the Middle Ages. Thus money is seen as having differing values for differing parts of individual societies. The book shows money moving and changing as a result of war and trade and other political, economic and ecclesiastical activities without regard for national barriers or the supposed separation between 'East' and 'West'.
Trade Review' … a major contribution to numismatic literature, and a mature achievement by a scholar whose name will be well known to most readers … It is a book to read and re-read, for it is the fruit of very wide historical learning, assimilated by an experienced monetary historian, who has thought constructively about the problems he discusses for half a life-time … Highly recommended.' Michael Metcalf, Spink's Numismatic Circular
Table of ContentsList of maps; List of tables; List of graphs; Acknowledgements; Introduction; Part I. Before the Commercial Revolution: 1. Roman-Barbarian discontinuity; 2. The appearance of the denier and the revival of trade; 3. 'Feudal' deniers and 'Viking' dirhams; 4. Saxon silver and the expansion of minting; Part II. The Commercial Revolution of the Thirteenth Century: 5. New silver c.1160–c.1330; 6. The balance of payments and the movement of silver; 7. European silver and African gold; 8. New mints; 9. Ingots of silver; 10. New money; 11. The place of money in the commercial revolution of the thirteenth century; Part III. The Late Middle Ages: 12. The victory of gold; 13. The scourge of debasement; 14. The money of Europe around 1400; 15. The bullion-famines of the Late Middle Ages; 16. Money on the eve of the price revolution; Conclusion; Appendices; Coin index; General index.
