Money+and+coinage

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=﻿Money and Coinage of the Middle Ages=

Have you ever wondered "What was money like in Medival Times"? If so, I am here to tell you about it. Originally, before money, people traded to get what they needed. Then, eventually, the first coin was created in Lydia, which is in present-day Turkey, around 610-600 BC. Coins and money soon rapidly came into effect, being heavily used by the time the Middle Ages started.

Types of Coins
The most common kind of coin in the Middle Ages was the penny. The penny, like the American penny, was a rather small coin. In the 13th century, a larger coin was created and it was known as the "groat" in England. The word "groat" means big, and it was generally known as the "big penny". It was worth 4 pennies.

Eventually, the money system in Medival England consisted of the penny (pence), shilling, and pound. The system worked like this: 12 pence=1 shilling and 20 shillings=1 pound. English coinage was heavily influenced by the Viking invaders in c. 870. According to the Encyclopedia Britannica, by the year 1000, more than 70 mints were operating in Britain; London, Winchester, Lincoln, and York were the largest. Coins around this time had the king's portrait on the obverse, and on the reverse a cruciform design. This design had been used for a long time before the Middle Ages.

Although all the new coins in Europe around this time were made out of silver, the remaining gold ones from Roman times and new ones from Byzantium and Islam still remained in circulation. No gold coins had been struck in the West ever since the fall of the Roman Empire. The first new gold coins were struck in Florence, Italy, in 1252, and were called //florins//. Previously, gold coins had been created as a part of events, and for collectors, but this had been the first time since the Roman Empire that gold coins had been minted for use as money. After gold coins were introduced, there were three types of coins: gold, silver, and a debased coin also known as the "billon". In general, the //florin// was the most widely used gold coin. It was gradually suceeded by the Italian ducat. The English gold coin was called the noble, and its value was set at 1/3 of a pound. The noble was first struck by Henry VII in the 1480s.

How People Earned Money
Most people received money by selling what others made. These people were very poor. There were many jobs, and they all received different amounts of money. There were many kinds of merchants, who sold goods. Some merchants were retail, such as bakers, and received average to good pay. Others were international traveling merchants, who received high pay from selling fancy products, such as clothes. There were also members of institutions, such at clergymen, who recieved a lot of money from benefices. This money came from many sources, such as tithes, taxes, tolls, investments, and sale of goods. Journeymen recieved good money and worked on contracts for people.

Noblemen could also have many different incomes and standards of living. E. L. Skip Knox says " At the lowest end, a nobleman might be little more than a comfortable peasant, having a single farm that he worked himself. At the high end, a noble would have estates far and wide, each one generating income (and costs!). In addition he might have investments (in Italy many nobility entered into commerce). He might also have natural resources to exploit: fish from his streams, or timber from his forest. That same forest might provide charcoal for ovens that in turn supported a foundry. He might have mines producing copper or salt or silver. He owned mills and got a percentage of what was milled there. In addition to all these, the peasants on his estates paid rents and donatives ("gifts" in kind such as livestock or foodstuffs; the days of forced labor were largely gone from western Europe)." Obviously, there were many ways that higher classes could get money, and they were very wealthy.

Credit
The Knights Templar developed a system of credit as a way that pilgrims to the Holy Land could avoid carrying money. Pilgrims deposited their valuables with a local Templar preceptory before leaving, and they recieved a letter with the value of the deposit. Once they got to the Holy Land, they turned in that document and recieved money. This was considered an "early form of banking," as quoted on Wikipedia.

The system of credits and banking expanded to merchants in the late Middle Ages. Instead of carrying their merchandise with them and going on a bunch of long trips over the year, they all went together to a big fair instead. These were called the Champagne Fairs; however, by the 14th century they were declining and they were replaced by family-owned businesses and partnerships that learned how to do business at a distance.

In conclusion, the coins and money of this era were not exactly like the ones today, but they suited the people of those times. As the world changed, money did too, resulting in today's modern system. I hope I answered your questions, and I hope you learned something interesting about medieval coins and money.



Back to the Encyclopedia of the Middle Ages
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