1,721,036 research outputs found
The Social Significance of Monetization in the Early Middle Ages*
No full textIn 1057, the ecclesiastical reformer Peter Damian (d. 1072/3) explained in a letter to his fellow cardinal bishops how a lump of debased silver might be remade into different coins but still remain a dangerous forgery, in the same way as a corrupt priest would always be tainted by his abuses.1 The image was presumably effective, for the same author used similar monetary metaphors on several other occasions. By doing so he tapped into a long Christian tradition developed in the Bible and subsequently in the writings of Ambrose, Augustine, Gregory the Great and others
Money and Coinage in the Middle Ages
No full textThis volume is the first in a new series entitled Reading Medieval Sources, examining different genres of sources in the Middle Ages, and this book focuses on ways of studying medieval money, and the most direct manifestation of money: coinage. It is intended to introduce readers to a range of approaches to a subject that has, traditionally, been seen as somewhat specialised domain of highly technical study which often seems to sit at some remove from the mainstream of historical and archaeological research. One important aim of the chapters offered is to show ways in which money can be incorporated into analysis of the Middle Ages more broadly, both for particular periods and in specific thematic contexts such as art, literature and economic analysis
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Small Change in the Early Middle Ages
No full textCoined money is a familiar part of day-to-day life, and has been for millennia in many societies. In the early Middle Ages, however, it worked rather differently. People across the former Roman Empire and beyond continued to think in terms of monetary units of account, but the supply and use of actual coin became highly uneven. Access to low-value coinage, small change, was particularly attenuated in western Europe, where gold and silver pieces predominated. This volume explores how people and societies dealt with changes to monetary systems. It looks at the experiences of different groups in society, from those who struggled with regimes that used only high value coins, to the elites who tended to benefit from those same conditions. The ten contributions to this volume consider diverse geographical areas from Byzantine Egypt to Italy, Francia, and Britain, identifying parallels and divergences among them. The chapters draw on cutting-edge archaeological and historical research to give a panorama of the latest thinking on early medieval money and coinage.</jats:p
Money and Coinage in the Middle Ages
Full text linkThis volume is the first in a new series entitled Reading Medieval Sources, examining different genres of sources in the Middle Ages, and this book focuses on ways of studying medieval money, and the most direct manifestation of money: coinage. It is intended to introduce readers to a range of approaches to a subject that has, traditionally, been seen as somewhat specialised domain of highly technical study which often seems to sit at some remove from the mainstream of historical and archaeological research. One important aim of the chapters offered is to show ways in which money can be incorporated into analysis of the Middle Ages more broadly, both for particular periods and in specific thematic contexts such as art, literature and economic analysis
Money and Coinage in the Middle Ages
Full text linkThis volume is the first in a new series entitled Reading Medieval Sources, examining different genres of sources in the Middle Ages, and this book focuses on ways of studying medieval money, and the most direct manifestation of money: coinage. It is intended to introduce readers to a range of approaches to a subject that has, traditionally, been seen as somewhat specialised domain of highly technical study which often seems to sit at some remove from the mainstream of historical and archaeological research. One important aim of the chapters offered is to show ways in which money can be incorporated into analysis of the Middle Ages more broadly, both for particular periods and in specific thematic contexts such as art, literature and economic analysis
Traders, coins and authority in the eleventh-century Rhineland:The toll tariff of Koblenz
Full text linkTolls imposed on trade represent an important point of intersection between trade, coined money, and authority. In this chapter, I re-examine one of the earliest and most detailed post-Roman toll tariffs, the toll tariff of Koblenz in the Rhineland, which was first put into writing in the eleventh century. I argue that the distinction this tariff draws between tolls levied in kind and tolls levied in coin reflect not different zones of monetisation, as previously suggested, but rather the practicalities of how the toll was imposed at different moments in the merchant trading cycle. However, this sensitivity to market considerations was embedded within a particularist, negotiated and non-market logic of extraction that dominated the Koblenz toll as a whole
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