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 1100 - 1299 |
 1500 - 1599 |
© Roy Davies & Glyn Davies, 1996 & 1999.
Maintained by Roy Davies.Based on the book: A History of Money from Ancient Times to the Present Day by Glyn Davies, rev. ed. Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 1996. 716p. ISBN 0 7083 1351 5. (Page numbers in the 3rd edition published in 2002 may be slightly different).
| 1319-1331 | Parts of India and Japan issue paper money |
|---|---|
|
These are short-lived imitations of Chinese currency.
p 182 |
|
| 1337 - 1453 | Hundred Years War between England and France |
|
In the early stages of the war the net balance of ransom, loot, bounty and
plunder favours the English. Later, when the tide began to turn new, unpopular
taxes are introduced to finance the English war effort.
p 164-165 |
|
| 1344 | The Weight of the Penny is Reduced |
|
To reduce the temptations offered to illegal exporters of coin, the weight of
the penny, which has remained almost unchanged for 200 years, is slightly
reduced.
p 164 |
|
| 1348-1350 | The Black Death ravages Europe |
|
This is followed by several other outbreaks of plague over the next hundred
years, causing a reduction in the size of the population and a collapse in
economic growth.
p 159-161 |
|
| 1351 | Statute of Labourers |
|
This stipulates the maximum rates of pay in England at pre-plague levels for
the main occupations and restricts mobility of labour.
p 162 |
|
| 1351 | Another Reduction in the Weight of the Penny |
|
Edward III makes a more substantial reduction than the one he made in 1344.
p 164 |
|
| 1351 | Restrictions on the Export of English Bullion and Coins |
|
Anxieties over the unofficial drain of gold and silver bullion and coinage to
the Continent cause the government to tighten the provisions of the Statute of
Stepney 1299, but without much effect.
p 163 |
|
| 1352 | The Statute of Purveyors |
|
The English parliament is unhappy about the reductions in the weight of the
penny and expresses the hope that the king will no more tamper with the coinage
than with the standards of weights and measures.
p 164 |
|
| 1355 | Nicole Oresme's De Origine Natura Jura et Mutationibus Monetarum is published |
|
Oresme, the greatest economic thinker of the Middle Ages, argues that the
quantity of precious metal in circulation determines the value of the currency.
Later, in 1370, he becomes chaplain and adviser to King Charles V of France.
p 228-229 |
|
| 1356 | Battle of Poitiers |
|
King John II of France is captured by the English who demand a ransom of 3
million crowns (£500,000) but in the end they accept a little less than
half the amount. Part of the ransom is used in building Windsor Castle.
p 165 |
|
| 1377-1399 | Reign of Richard II |
|
In 1377 Richard II imposes an unpopular flat rate poll tax followed by similar
taxes in 1379 and 1381.
p 159, 166-167 |
|
| 1381 | The Peasants' Revolt |
|
The uprising, belatedly caused in large part by anger at the poll tax, is
suppressed.
p 167 |
|
| 1381 | Richard Aylesbury opposes ban on the export of bullion |
|
He argues that a legal ban is unnecessary provided total commodity exports at
least balance imports.
p 225 |
|
| 1401 | Bank of Barcelona founded |
|
p 233 |
|
| 1403 | Charging interest on loans is ruled legal in Florence |
|
Despite the traditional Christian prohibition of usury, Italian banks such as
the Lombards, who have agents in the main economic centres of Europe, have been
making charges for loans. The lawyer and theologian Lorenzo di Antonio Ridolfi
wins a case which legalises interest payments by the Florentine government.
p 219-220 |
|
| 1407 | Bank of St George, Genoa, founded |
|
p 548 |
|
| 1440 | Gutenberg invents the modern printing press |
|
Although Europe already knew of the use of paper money in China, the printing
press design is subsequently modified, by Leonardo da Vinci among others, for
use in minting coins nearly two centuries before printed banknotes are produced
in the West.
p 178-179 |
|
| 1448 | Hyperinflation in China |
|
The Ming note nominally worth 1,000 cash has a market value of only
three.
p 183 |
|
| c. 1450 | Portuguese start voyages along the coast of Africa |
|
In the 14th and 15th centuries Europe suffers from a "Great Bullion Famine."
This is partially alleviated as the Portuguese open up a new route for
sub-Saharan gold via Ghana and Mali.
p 175,176,186 |
|
| 1452-1519 | Life of Leonardo da Vinci |
|
Among Leonardo's drawings are designs for a press to produce more uniform coins
quickly using a water driven mill. This innovation is widely adopted and the
new money is termed milled money.
p 178-179 |
|
| 1453 | Fall of Constantinople |
|
The capture of Constantinople by the Ottoman Turks and the disruption caused to
existing trade routes is a motivating factor in the subsequent European voyages
of exploration.
p 174,176 |
|
| c. 1455 | China abandons paper money |
|
There are no known references to paper money being in circulation after this
date. Thus after well over 500 years of experience with paper currencies,
during which there have been repeated episodes of inflation and currency
reform, China ceases to use paper money.
p 183 |
|
| 1455-1485 | The Wars of the Roses |
|
By the end of these wars the English currency has suffered badly from wear and
tear, clipping and counterfeiting of coins.
p 173,190 |
|
| 1487 | Fuggers Bank founded in Augsburg |
|
The increased availability of gold from Africa and later, after the discoveries
of Columbus, the Caribbean, raises the relative value of silver and
consequently the Fuggers profit greatly by financing European silver mines.
p 186,552 |
|
| 1489 | Henry VII slashes Mint charges and issues the first gold sovereigns |
|
By reducing the mint charges Henry encourages people to bring gold and silver
to the mints, causing a huge increase in their output of coins in the following
years. Up to 1489 the English pound has simply been a unit of account. Now,
with the issue of the sovereign, it is also a coin.
p 191 |
|
| 1492 | Columbus discovers America |
|
In less than a decade after Columbus's first voyage the size of the world known
to Europeans is more than doubled. Within a generation it is more than trebled.
However, the discovery of highly profitable new trade routes to the already
well-known trading centres of India and China is a more important motivation
than the discovery of new lands.
p 175-176,185 |
|
| 1494 | First book on double entry bookkeeping is published in Italy |
|
Double entry bookkeeping has been in use for probably well over a century in
Italy before the publication of the Summa de Arithmetica, Geometrica,
Proportioni et Proportionalita by Friar Luca Pacioli.
p 234-236 |
|
| 1498 | Proclamation against "Roman" coins |
|
During the Wars of the Roses good domestic currency was extremely rare in
England and use was made of illegally imported European and Irish coinage,
almost all of which was also grossly underweight. By this proclamation Henry
VII tries to prohibit the use of groats and half-groats issued by the Holy
Roman Emperor.
p 192 |
|
| 1498 | Vasco da Gama reaches India |
|
The development of new, long-distance trade routes involving new modes of
transport as a result of the voyages of Vasco da Gama and Columbus stimulates
the development of capital and foreign exchange markets, and the use of bills
of exchange. The pooling of resources to reduce the risks of trade with
far-away destinations leads to the development of new experimental forms of
equity capital from which the joint-stock company eventually evolves.
p 176-177 |
|
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