Making money in the middle ages

History — Middle Ages. People of ancient times used to exchange products for trades and this system was known as the barter. There are evidences of barter system since BC. However, as the trade and business began to increase, ancient people started using Cowrie and Cowry Shells as a means of exchange. Yet, barter system still was prevalent. The first metal coins were founded around BC and since then, people started acknowledging and enjoying the comforts of coins and currency. While makinh had gained a special place in the market, people midle used miney ancient method of barter system for simple exchanges. During the medieval period too, people used barter system for various chores ,oney coins were also used as money in the Middle Ages. During the medieval period making money in the middle ages Europe, feudalism gained its roots as the major political, judicial and economic. This political system offered immense powers in the hands of the members of nobility which included the kings, the barons, the lords, the vassals and the peasants or serfs at the. In addition, there were religious leaders who were playing the important role of bringing unity among the masses of Europe through their religious movements.

To try and go through the description of all the British forms of coins spanning from the 5 th century to the 15 th century would give way to an entirely new website. Nonetheless, I will try to give a basic overview of the different types of coins you would see in western Europe during the middle ages. Throughout medieval times you saw currency primarily in the form of several metals, gold, silver, copper, and bronze. After the seventh century you no longer would find bronze or pure copper coins until the mid 15 th century in western Europe. This is of course excluding Sicily which held onto its copper coinage for the purpose of creating a smaller valued currency necessary for urban living. This is arguably one of the main reasons that Sicily was able to flourish in western Europe during times other kingdoms dwindled and suffered from afflicted economies. Although gold was generally a staple part of the coinage in western Europe in the middle ages, the quantities in gold were in a decline starting in the fourteenth century. Gold was less available due to the rarity of the metal and the hoarding practices of kings, barbarians and other wealthy groups of the middle ages. It was also less useful as a currency to the everyday middle class persons. Eventually, it came to be known that 1 soldius would equal 3 trientes and hence 12 real deniers would equal 3 trientes. Later on by the early eight century, the relationship between pence, shillings and pounds had finally arose. This relationship would carry on throughout the middle ages. The solidus, soldo, sueldo, sou, shilling or schilling would equal a dozen denarii, dinheros, deniers, pennys or pfenings, and the libra, lira, livre, pound, or pfund came to mean a score of such dozen. The people who created these coins are refereed to as moneyers, or mints. Mints have existed as long as there has been coins to make. In the third century guilds were formed for the mints. Normally if you were a mint for a lord or king you had to be a mint forever, as well as your children. By the eleventh century mints held key positions in towns across western Europe. After all, they were the ones actually making the currency and forgeries were rampant. Like wealthy merchants they owned property and real estate. This lasted for centuries until near the end of the middle ages when mints were returned to their usual meager status as lower class laborers. Throughout the middle ages one form of wealth and currency was goods for trade.

The Pragmatics of Money in Society

In the Middle Ages most people lived on a manor. It was a village with a castle, a church and some land around it. The king gave land to his most important noblemen and bishops. They promised to give the king soldiers for his armies. The lowest people of society were the peasants. They didn’t have their own land, but they got land from the lords. The lords also gave them protection. In return, the peasants had to fight for them. This was called the feudal system. Peasants worked on the land and produced the goods that the lord needed. But they did not lead a very nice life. They had to pay a lot of taxes and give the lord much of what they harvested.

Introduction

Despite economic dislocation in urban and extraction economies, including shifts in the holders of wealth and the location of these economies, the economic output of towns and mines developed and intensified over the period. The 12th and 13th centuries saw a huge development of the English economy. Economic growth began to falter by the end of the 13th century, owing to a combination of over-population, land shortages and depleted soils. This campaign was followed by fierce military operations known as the Harrying of the North in —70, extending Norman authority across the north of England. William’s system of government was broadly feudal in that the right to possess land was linked to service to the king, but in many other ways the invasion did little to alter the nature of the English economy. Agriculture formed the bulk of the English economy at the time of the Norman invasion. In the century prior to the Norman invasion, England’s great estates, owned by the king, bishops, monasteries and thegns , had been slowly broken up as a consequence of inheritance, wills, marriage settlements or church purchases. The pre-Norman landscape had seen a trend away from isolated hamlets and towards larger villages engaged in arable cultivation in a band running north—south across England. The Normans initially did not significantly alter the operation of the manor or the village economy. The biggest change in the years after the invasion was the rapid reduction in the number of slaves being held in England. The Normans also established the royal forests. In Anglo-Saxon times there had been special woods for hunting called «hays», but the Norman forests were much larger and backed by legal mandate. The Norman forests were subject to special royal jurisdiction; forest law was «harsh and arbitrary, a matter purely for the King’s will». Although primarily rural, England had a number of old, economically important towns in Some towns, such as York, suffered from Norman sacking during William’s northern campaigns.

The Royal Mint Museum uses cookies to ensure we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue to use our website we assume that you are happy to receive these cookies. Find out. Up until the s, English coins were struck between a pair of hand-held dies. The pile, or lower die, had a spiked end to enable it to be driven firmly into a block of wood; a blank was placed on top of the pile and koney it was held the trussel or upper die. The maling then received blows from a hammer, causing the blank to be impressed with the obverse and reverse designs. Dies were produced on average at the rate of two trussels to one pile, for the trussel by sustaining the direct blows of the hammer was subjected to greater wear and tear. It was therefore the custom for the trussel to bear the reverse design, since this was simpler and more easy to replace than the royal portrait which by now normally appeared on the obverse. Yet even the portrait may not have been that difficult to reproduce, being constructed by small chisel-like punches showing crescents, pellets, wedges and bars. Written accounts of the minting process from this time are few and far between but a document of lists out a stage mooney. Close The Royal Mint Museum uses cookies to ensure we give you the best experience on our website. Hand-held coinage dies of the midth century. The Middle Ages Up until the s, English coins were struck between a pair of hand-held dies.