Medieval Sourcebook:
William of Malmesbury:
Counterfeit Money in the Time of King Stephen, 1140
The extent to which good money could be debased under a bad king was sufficient to
ruin the work of a man like Henry I. This temporary condition was remedied after "the
nineteen long winters" by Henry II who took up the work of his grandfather, Henry I.
Dearth of money in Stephen's time, 1140: . . . Dearth of provisions, too, increased by
degrees, and the scarcity of good money was so great, from its being counterfeited, that,
sometimes out of ten or more shillings, hardly a dozen pence would be received. The king
himself was reported to have ordered the weight of the penny, as established in King
Henry's time, to be reduced, because, having exhausted the vast treasures of his
predecessor, he was unable to provide for the expense of so many soldiers. All things,
then, became venal in England; and churches and abbeys were no longer secretly, but even
publicly exposed to sale.
Source.
From: J. A. Giles, ed., William of Malmesbury's Chronicle of the Kings of England, (London: H. G. Bohn, 1847), Book II, p. 511;reprinted in Roy C. Cave & Herbert H.
Coulson, eds., A Source Book for Medieval Economic History, (Milwaukee: The Bruce
Publishing Co., 1936; reprint ed., New York: Biblo & Tannen, 1965), p. 139.
Scanned by Jerome S. Arkenberg, Cal. State Fullerton. The text has been modernized by
Prof. Arkenberg.
This text is part of the Internet
Medieval Source Book. The Sourcebook is a collection of public domain and
copy-permitted texts related to medieval and Byzantine history.
Unless otherwise indicated the specific electronic form of the document is copyright.
Permission is granted for electronic copying, distribution in print form for educational
purposes and personal use. If you do reduplicate the document, indicate the source. No
permission is granted for commercial use.
© Paul Halsall, October 1998
halsall@murray.fordham.edu
The Internet History Sourcebooks Project is located at the History Department of Fordham University, New York. The Internet
Medieval Sourcebook, and other medieval components of the project, are located at
the Fordham University Center
for Medieval Studies.The IHSP recognizes the contribution of Fordham University, the
Fordham University History Department, and the Fordham Center for Medieval Studies in
providing web space and server support for the project. The IHSP is a project independent of Fordham University. Although the IHSP seeks to follow all applicable copyright law, Fordham University is not
the institutional owner, and is not liable as the result of any legal action.
© Site Concept and Design: Paul Halsall created 26 Jan 1996: latest revision 15 November 2024 [CV]
|
