prices given by any ancient writer, since the varying factors necessary to be estimated are so many, viz., (1) the weight of the coin, (2) its purity, (3) the value of the monetary metal at the time, (4) the value of the commodity sold in relation to other things, (5) the question whether the commodity was in its normal state as regards supply and demand; to all these may be added (6) the difficulty of determining whether the figures have not been altered.[1] After the fall of the Western empire, the various barbarian sovereigns adopted silver as their principal coinage, combined with the greatest diversity in the systems adopted. On the revival of the empire under Charlemagne an effort was made by him to establish a general system of currency, based on the silver pound as a unit, and thus corresponding to the unit of weight. This system was introduced into England, and thence into Scotland, but the rapid decay of the Carlovingian empire prevented any uniformity being preserved in these different countries, while the different debasements in each produced widely divergent systems, which will require separate notice.
English Depreciations.—The first debasement undergone by the English silver coinage was in 1300, when Edward I. reduced the amount of metal in the coins by 1 per cent., or, in other words, 20 shillings and 3 pence were coined out of the Tower pound instead of 20 shillings as previously.[2] This was the prelude to a series of changes which were carried out during the next three centuries, and which terminated in 1600, when the pound troy of silver was coined into 62 shillings; since that time the silver coinage has not been debased, the reduction carried out in 1816, by which 66 shillings were coined from the troy pound, being accompanied by a limitation of its use in discharging debts to a maximum amount of £2, as well as by the abolition of the public right of coining silver at the mint. The period extending from 34th Henry VIII. to 6th Edward VI. (1543–1552) has been specially noted by Lord Liverpool as a time of peculiar interference with the fineness of the metal.[3] The old proportion of 11 oz. 2 dwts. of metal to 18 dwts. of alloy, was altered to 10 oz. of metal per pound, then to 6 oz. or one-half, 4 oz. or one-third, and finally in 1551 to 3 oz. of pure metal and 9 oz. of alloy. A tendency to reformation began under Edward VI., and was finally carried out under Elizabeth in the recoinage of 1560, which has been fully described by Mr Froude.[4] Various proposals to depreciate the silver currency have been made since then, and one of these, as above mentioned, was accepted in 1600. The most remarkable of the unsuccessful schemes for debasing the standard was that of Lowndes, which was advanced in 1695, when the discussions preparatory to the recoinage of 1696 were being carried on. Lowndes's plan was to coin the pound troy of standard silver into 77s. 6d., thus debasing it 25 per cent.. He was resisted by Locke, who, in his Further Considerations concerning Raising the Value of Money, contributed materially to the development of monetary theory; and the recoinage was, mainly in consequence of his efforts, in combination with those of Newton and Montague, based on thoroughly sound principles.[5] The first English gold coinage, so far as has been clearly proved, was that of 1257, in the reign of Henry III., when a small number of gold pennies were coined at the ratio of 10 to 1 to the existing silver coins. Previously to this date the need of gold for business transactions could not have been felt, as the commerce of the country was necessarily limited. It is probable that for the few transactions of foreign trade a species of gold coins issued by the Greek emperors at Constantinople, and thence called byzants, were used.[6] Another gold coin, known as a florence, from the place where it was first coined, was also used after 1250. The regular series of English gold coinage begins in 1344, when Edward III. coined, in imitation of the foreign coin just mentioned, a large number of florins at the rate of 50 to the Tower pound. The gold coinage was, however, for a long period a secondary part of the monetary system, and suffered a series of changes, the last of which took place in 1717.[7] The present English coinage system is regulated by the Coinage Act of 1870,[8] which amends and consolidates previous Acts on the subject. The schedule to that Act, which is reproduced at p. 484 of the present volume, gives full information as to existing coins, their weight, fineness, “remedy,” &c.
Scotch Depreciations.—The coinage of Scotland was derived from the primitive Carlovingian system through the medium of England, and for a long period remained the same as at first. The pressure under which the resources of Scotland suffered during the constant wars with England, as well as perhaps the example of their close ally France, led the Scottish sovereigns to debase their coins out of all proportion to the English system. This was the reason for the prohibition of Scotch coins as currency by tale in England, the variation in course of time being so great that in 1600 the pound of silver, which contained about three pounds sterling English, was made into thirty-six pounds Scotch, the latter being thus twelve times as much debased. After the union of the crowns in 1603 no steps were taken to assimilate the two systems, which continued as before till the complete union of the two countries in 1707. At the latter date a complete recoinage on the basis of the English system was carried out, thus rendering the coinage of both countries exactly similar. This most valuable reform was at first viewed with suspicion by the Scotch people, and a large amount of the old Scotch currency was hoarded or exported.
Irish Depreciations.–No coined money existed in Ireland before the English invasion in 1170. The English colony, as a matter of course, used the same coinage as the mother-country, but on several occasions inferior money was introduced, as being good enough for a subject country. At the recoinage of 1560 it was proposed to send the bad coins that were called in to Ireland, but to this Elizabeth refused to assent. From 1689 to 1825 the nominal value of the coinage was 8 per cent. higher in Ireland than in England. In the latter year Irish money was reduced to the English standard,[9] from which time the United Kingdom has possessed a perfectly uniform system of metallic money.
French Depreciations.—The monetary system established by Charlemagne throughout his dominions soon disappeared in Italy and the German provinces. It continued to exist in France proper. The general state of confusion, however, and the weakness of the central authority, led to local issues by the various feudal lords. “At the accession of Hugh Capet as many as a hundred and fifty are said to have exercised this power.”[10] The increase of the power of the Capetian kings enabled them to restrict this freedom of coinage, and to reserve to themselves this profitable function, the seigniorage on the process of coining being a special branch of the royal revenue. They were unfortunately not inclined to confine their gains to this legitimate source. The French coinage was recklessly debased during the many centuries from Philip I. (ob. 1108) to Louis XV. (ob. 1774). The management of the mint under Louis IX. was always regarded as a model for imitation,[11] but even in his time the livre, originally a pound, was debased to less than one-fourth of its primitive value. The dealings with the currency were still more unscrupulous during the protracted wars with England, the result being that at the accession of Louis XI. (1461), when the English had been finally expelled from France, the livre was only about one-fifteenth of its original value. Nor did the depreciation of the currency rest here. The period of something over a century, extending from 1497 to 1602, presents a remarkable series of changes in a downward direction, no less than nineteen depreciations having taken place, many of them consisting of changes in the fineness of the metal.[12] There is in this respect a remarkable analogy between this epoch of French coinage and the English period from 1543 to 1552.
The history of French depreciations did not terminate, as that of the English ones did, with the close of the 16th century; under Louis XIV. the livre was only one-half of what it had been under Henry IV. The final result was that in 1789 the livre had come to be only one seventy-eighth of its weight in the time of Charlemagne. At the Revolution it was converted into the franc, at the rate of 81 livres to 80 francs.[13] It is not, however, to be supposed that the changes in the French currency were always towards debasement. The terrible evils arising from the debased coinage led to a general outcry, which in some cases was so strong as to force the king of the time to reform the monetary standard; one striking instance occurred in the reign of Philip IV.,[14] whose dealings with the currency led to his receiving the epithet of “le faux monnoyeur.”
Depreciations in other Countries.—The very brief notice of the depreciations in the originally uniform currencies of England and France which has just been given is sufficient to establish the general tendency, and throws light enough on the resulting consequences: a similar course was followed in the other countries of Europe, but the details are too unconnected to be conveniently presented. A few facts will suffice. Thus, the German florin “was originally a gold coin of the value of about 10 shillings of our present money; it is now become a silver coin of the value of
- ↑ As to the various elements requisite for a proper estimate of mediæval prices, see Cibrario, Della Economia Politica del Medio Evo, 1. iii. c. 8.
- ↑ The Tower pound, which was three-quarters of an oz. troy less than the troy pound, was used in England until the 18th of Henry VIII. (1527), when it was replaced by the troy weight. This should be always remembered in considering the precise amount of depreciation at any given time.
- ↑ Coins of the Realm, ch. xiii.
- ↑ Hist. of Eng., vii. p. 2.
- ↑ Macaulay's account of this recoinage, which is written in his typical manner, has made this episode of English monetary history very generally known.
- ↑ Lord Liverpool, Coins of the Realm, p. 47.
- ↑ The third great English recoinage was that of the gold coin, which took place in 1773–1775. It is commonly known as the recoinage of 1774.
- ↑ 33 & 34 Vic. c. 10.
- ↑ A survival of this older system is to be found in many charges on Irish lands, which are reduced to English money by deducting one-thirteenth from the nominal amount.
- ↑ Hallam, Middle Ages, i. p. 206.
- ↑ Stephen, Lectures on French History, i. p. 459.
- ↑ Tooke and Newmarch, Hist. of Prices, vol. vi. p. 374. The views there given are based on those of M. Levasseur, who had specially studied the question.
- ↑ The silver franc was made to weigh exactly 5 grammes.
- ↑ Stephen, Lect. on French Hist., i. p. 482.
