What was the "Brakteaten" medieval monetary system?
score:24
It appears that the author, Margrit Kennedy, has either misunderstood or is deliberately misrepresenting the situation with Medieval bracteates.
Medieval bracteates (a form of pennies) are pieces of thin silver sheet embossed on one side. They typically have a diameter of between 22 and 45 mm. Because it is struck on only one side, the coin image appears in a high relief, while the obverse remains hollow.
From the middle of the 12th century to the 14th century, bracteates were the predominant regional coin type in almost the entire German-speaking area (with the exception of the Rhineland , Westphalia and the Middle Rhine area). From a currency perspective, bracteates are typical of the regional penny currencies of the time.
In some regions, it is true that bracteates were periodically devalued and had to be exchanged for new money. In Magdeburg this happened twice a year in the 12th century. When the devalued coins were exchanged, the rate was three new coins for four old coins.
The withheld 4th coin was called strike money, and this was often the only tax revenue of the minting authority (Renovatio Monetae). Obviously, the periodic devaluation caused huge disruption for businesses and traders. The city guilds began to issue a so-called "eternal penny" ("Ewiger Pfennig") from about the mid 13th century.
The rise of the Ewiger Pfennig marked the end of the bracteate period, although they remained in use as "pilgrim coins" until the 17th century.
There is a very useful study (in German) available to download as a pdf: Versuch über die Brakteaten, insbesondere über die Böhmischen
Upvote:1
REFERENCE No. 27. Hans R. L. Cohrssen, »Fragile Money« v The New Outlook, sept. 1933, str. 40
Upvote:5
Brakeaten money was a form of seigneurage in the late Middle Ages. The term is German because it was practiced in most parts of Germany. What it means is that the sovereign, from time to time, issued new coins, forcing people to exchange their old metal coins for new ones, with the sovereign "taxing" this process by keeping say, one new coin out of four. What distinguished brakeaten money from other coins was a relatively simple design that made it possible to "recyle" them more frequently.
As onerous as it was, it was an "honest" form of taxation that was mildly deflationary (because it temporarily took money out of circulation). Wages stagnated as a result (in nominal terms), but peasants were relatively prosperous because (mild) deflation meant that their wages were rising slowly in real terms; deflation meant that their (same) money bought "more."
What changed the equation beginning with the end of the 15th century was the import of gold and silver from the New World. This initially affected Spain and Portugal but soon affected other parts of Europe. (For instance, the Holy Roman Empire was connected to Spain through King Charles V.) Now, governments could operate through deficit financing. That is, they would borrow money (when silver and gold supplies were relatively low) and pay later, when the supplies were higher, devaluing them in real terms, pocketing the difference. Lenders typically lost money on these transactions because the resulting inflation eroded the value of their loan repayments. (A similar thing happened to American bankers during the inflationary 1970s.)
Ordinary people lost out as a result. In Spain, during the 16th century for instance (the hardest hit area), their wages doubled in nominal terms (e.g. in gold coins), but prices went up four times, so their standard of living was cut in half over a century.
Source for New World: "Mexico" by Ralph Hanc**k
More post
- 📝 During the French Revolution, how did the French address non-citizens?
- 📝 How did diplomats of the Axis powers travel and communicate among themselves in World War II
- 📝 When (and where) did public polling start taking place on topics other than elections?
- 📝 What is this household object from early 1900s rural Russia?
- 📝 Why is the Vatican (Rome) the center of Christianity?
- 📝 What class / type of ship was the "Dragon" from Rotterdam c. 1732?
- 📝 How were Mercy Dogs of WWI and WWII trained to know which soldier is from their side and which one isn't?
- 📝 What was the most popular food staple among civilians during World War II?
- 📝 Pedophilia in ancient Greek and Roman culture
- 📝 How could a skilled battle commander like Napoleon Bonaparte lose to Prussians at Waterloo (Belgium) as such?
- 📝 What uniform is this?
- 📝 What were the most common reactions to Rosa Parks and the Montgomery Bus Boycott?
- 📝 How much is known about the Earl of Sandwich's sandwich?
- 📝 Why did Shirer omit information from The Rise & Fall of the Third Reich?
- 📝 How did Southern slaveholders in the United States relate to the Caribbean and Latin America?
- 📝 Where are the Native American primary source documents?
- 📝 Intersection Between Computer Science and History?
- 📝 How many vehicles were involved in Operation Gothic Serpent (Mogadishu, October 3-4, 1993)?
- 📝 Has anyone recently seen Chinese old customary greeting pose?
- 📝 What compelled Benjamin Disraeli to label 1857 revolt as a "National Revolt"?
- 📝 Is there anything to back up Mearsheimer's claims that Roosevelt pushed the Japanese to attack the United States and tried to get the US into WW2?
- 📝 Did the rule of "all communications lead to Moscow" apply during the Tsarist times?
- 📝 What was the main food source in old California?
- 📝 Did the Ottoman government rationalize the Armenian Genocide and other instances of ethnic cleansing as a response to Russian expansion?
- 📝 Why didn't Zheng He colonize the countries he explored like what the Europeans did to the New World?
- 📝 Can anyone tell me what military uniform this is?
- 📝 In what language was the first Zionist congress in Basel in 1897 held?
- 📝 What were the military justifications for the bombing of Dresden?
- 📝 When was the first time Rome was mentioned in outside records (and specifically, in Greek ones)?
- 📝 In regards to Vichy vs Free France, what was the status of Saint Martin and Saint Barthelemy?
Source: stackoverflow.com
Search Posts
Related post
- 📝 What was the "Brakteaten" medieval monetary system?
- 📝 What was the state of the German rail system in 1944?
- 📝 What was the process of early medieval urban development?
- 📝 What was the life expectancy of a Medieval European monarch?
- 📝 What was the relationship between Indian caste system and martial skills?
- 📝 What was preventing the populace from progressing in medieval times?
- 📝 What was the medieval attitude to wartime rape?
- 📝 What is the first example of a nation where the first railroad network system was somebody's master plan?
- 📝 What was the composition of Medieval European armies?
- 📝 What was the range of medieval bombards?
- 📝 What kind of clothing was worn in Mahgreb states circa the high medieval period?
- 📝 What was the name of this medieval philosophical idea?
- 📝 What was the relation of Barons to Counts/Dukes/Earls in England during the medieval ages?
- 📝 What was the main role of alcoholic drinks in ancient to medieval times?
- 📝 What was the dominant government system in the 1600s~1800s?
- 📝 Did Adolf Hitler ever address the fact that his own appearance was almost an exact opposite of what he considered the ideal Aryan appearance?
- 📝 Did medieval scholars believe the Earth was round?
- 📝 What was the historical context of the 2nd amendment to the US Constitution?
- 📝 During the breakup of the Soviet Union, on what basis was citizenship granted or withheld for each of the fifteen new republics?
- 📝 What was the typical peasant's diet like in Europe during the High Middle Ages?
- 📝 What led some people to (correctly) believe that there was no land under the ice cap at the North Pole?
- 📝 What were the acceptance criteria in universities of medieval Europe?
- 📝 What was the status of Arab Christians during the crusades?
- 📝 What was the religion of the Arabic people before conversion to Islam?
- 📝 What was the purpose of Nazi extermination camps?
- 📝 What was the internal Soviet reaction to the moon landing?
- 📝 What was the function of the walls of Jericho?
- 📝 What was the pound (unit of weight) initially equal to?
- 📝 At what point was the Byzantine Empire's decline irreversible?
- 📝 What was the reason for Soviet troops to withdraw from Yugoslavia in World War II?