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Author Topic: Monetary Value During WoR
Trollope
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Member # 2020

posted 12-09-2007 12:45 PM     Profile for Trollope     Send New Private Message   Edit/Delete Post   Reply With Quote
Was English money worth anything during the Wars of the Roses? I mean, here you have two kings, Henry VI and Edward IV out and about at the same time. Didn't the value of money depend upon the stability of the crown? So, did both 'kings' coin their own money? What held the value? Was there any value? I mean if you don't know who the king really is and you are a merchant in England, whose money do you except for payment.
No, please save who was rightfully the king stuff for another discussion, that is not what these questions are intended for. I'm only interested in economic stability or instability of the period.

PS- I threw this question at Gwen a while back and I'd like to see any of your responses: If you cover your entire body with water repellent and took a bath, would you get wet?

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Fire Stryker
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Member # 2

posted 12-09-2007 01:32 PM     Profile for Fire Stryker   Author's Homepage     Send New Private Message   Edit/Delete Post   Reply With Quote
Nope.

The value of money depended on the bullion content of the coin - it didn't matter the perceived value of the king. Monetary confidence and stability being based on perceptions alone is a very modern concept, and linked to money being printed, rather than coined out of metal of intrinsic value.

What could happen is that a sudden abundance of bullion could lower the value of that type of bullion - the huge influx of New World Silver over the 16th century into Europe through Spain, dropped the real value of silver, and caused spiraling inflation as Europe pretty much had a silver-standard, although most kingdoms had bi-metalic coinage (poor to middle class people rarely handled gold).

England specifically had a very pure silver coinage in the early to mid 15th century (throughout the reign of Henry VI), but Edward IV de-valued the silver content of English coinage by @ 25%, early in his reign.

This was not due to a need to coin more money of less value to fuel the government, but was rather an effort to increase the bargain value of English wool (the industry had suffered over the years, and was the primary money-getting English export), to make it more competitive against increasing foreign woolen cloth production.

Philip the good de-valued his silver coinage in response, by something like 13%, and the gold by 6%, which did not achieve a balance, but had the happy effect for the Flemish economy of an influx of cheaper wool cloth, and a majority of the newly mined silver production in Central Europe into the Low Countries, which boosted the Flemish economy, into the early 16th century, long after his death.

[ 12-09-2007: Message edited by: Fire Stryker ]

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