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Medieval - "All the moneyers who were in England should be mutilated"
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<p>[QUOTE="FitzNigel, post: 2636478, member: 74712"]Hello John - I'm not sure I have an answer for you. It seems the practice of minting in anything other than silver disappears in Europe around the 8th/9th centuries (excepting Byzantine territories), and I suspect the belief arose that a coin could only hold value if it contained silver (gold was then added later). Debasements were often purposeful, particularly in France, as a means for the king to pay for wars. Different denominations would also develop with debased deniers (black money) and pure silver coins (white money). The exception is England which maintained a high fineness of silver in their coinage until the reign of Henry VIII. In the case of Henry I, is was likely not mismanagement, more than a sheer lack of silver in Europe. Very few coins from the early 12th century can be found, and most of those are debased because of the silver was draining out to Italy and the Middle East through trade. It wasn't until new silver deposits were discovered that the problem of debasement lets up (only to reappear in the 15th century as the supply of silver dries up,again)[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>
[QUOTE="FitzNigel, post: 2636478, member: 74712"]Hello John - I'm not sure I have an answer for you. It seems the practice of minting in anything other than silver disappears in Europe around the 8th/9th centuries (excepting Byzantine territories), and I suspect the belief arose that a coin could only hold value if it contained silver (gold was then added later). Debasements were often purposeful, particularly in France, as a means for the king to pay for wars. Different denominations would also develop with debased deniers (black money) and pure silver coins (white money). The exception is England which maintained a high fineness of silver in their coinage until the reign of Henry VIII. In the case of Henry I, is was likely not mismanagement, more than a sheer lack of silver in Europe. Very few coins from the early 12th century can be found, and most of those are debased because of the silver was draining out to Italy and the Middle East through trade. It wasn't until new silver deposits were discovered that the problem of debasement lets up (only to reappear in the 15th century as the supply of silver dries up,again)[/QUOTE]
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