http://www.hyw.com/Books/History/Money__I.htm

I doubt it's authenticity, so I thought I'd bring it up here for review.

M.

I'd have a hard time believing that a dyed wool tunic (250-350d) would cost more than an expensive sword (100-200d).

It's a part of the background material for an online game, the "ducats" used are the game currency and not an historical currency. The webpages usefullness from a historical point of view is nonexistent.

Well my face is red...didn't realize it was a game page. That will teach me to post while tired :eek:

M.

For more than most people want to know, and a handy reference to currency and exchange:

Handbook of Medieval Exchange, Peter Spufford, Royal Historical Society, London, 1986.
ISBN: 0-86193-105-X

JSA

All talk of money for Medieval Europe is nonsence. The unit of money was the silver penny struck at 240 to the pound of silver.All other forms of money were just units of account, mark, shilling,ecu, florin , unless they were marked specificaly as gold.i.e. gold florin, gold ducat,etc The Florentines River Arno gold mines were still being worked, and Venice and the other Itaian city-states got it in trade with the Byzentines and Arabs. The gold mines of antiquity in thrace and the Carpathians were worked out.
And all this is still meaningless, as there was very little to buy in the year 1000 ir whenever, and we cannot possibly know what it took in the was of pain and labour tto get a penny.We are too far away time.

Charlemagne set up that system, but I am unsure if it remained that way for the whole of the middle ages.

M.

There is also a big difference depending on which side of the Renaissance of the Twelfth Century you are on. Before then, towns and a money economy are scarce; after then, they are common.

We have fairly reliable statistics on average wages and the cost of food in England back to the year 1250!

If 12 pence makes a shilling, and 20 shillings makes the pound, where do "marks" fit in? The closest thing I know of marks and money are German marks, which may or may not be what they're talking about.

M.

If you have any interest in medieval commerce at all the following two books by Peter Spufford are an excellent place to start; "Power and Profit: The Merchant in Medieval Europe" and "Money and its Use in Medieval Europe".

Dear M.,

On Wednesday 7 January 2009, you wrote:

If 12 pence makes a shilling, and 20 shillings makes the pound, where do "marks" fit in? The closest thing I know of marks and money are German marks, which may or may not be what they're talking about. M.

The English mark was a unit of account equal to two-thirds of a pound sterling, which works out to 160 pence, or thirteen and one-third shillings, or 13s 4d.

A quick Wikipedia search suggests that there's no direct connection between the English mark and the German mark, although there does seem to be a (rather tenuous) historical connection through a shared ancestor in the ancient common-Germanic system of weights. But this is a conclusion based on information from Wikipedia, so take it with a grain of salt.

Best,

Mark Millman

I can see where that distinction would come in handy in some income-based legal codes. Thanks.

M.