A History of Money

This book presents a detailed history of money from Charlemagne’s reform in approximately AD 800 to the end of the Silver Wars in 1896. It also offers a summary of twentieth century events and an analysis of how the past relates to present problems. The book examines how virtually all modern difficulties associated with money have had precedents in the past. It discusses how a mercantile system developed alongside a simple, metallic, medieval coinage, in a way which has important lessons for the countries now emerging from central planning. It covers the great periods of monetary disputes, Henry VIII and Sir Thomas Gresham, Isaac Newton’s Great Recoinage of 1696, Ricardo and the Bullion Committee Report, the battle between the Banking and Currency schools, and the much neglected but increasingly relevant issues of bimetallism and European monetary union in the late nineteenth century.