Medieval Sourcebook:
Monetary Regulations of the Carolingians, 750-817
Acts of the Synod of Pippin, c. 750.
C.5. And concerning money, we decree that in weighing there shall not be more than
twenty-two solidi in one pound, and of these twenty-two solidi the moneyer shall receive
one solidus and shall return the rest to the owner.
Capitulary of Frankfort on the Legality of Coinage, 794.
C.5. Know well our edict about the denarii, that in all places, in all states, and
in all markets, the new denarii shall pass and be received by all. But if they have the
nomisma of our name and are of pure silver and of full weight, and if any one refuse them
in any place in negotiating a purchase or a sale, if he be a free man, he shall make
amends to the king with fifteen solidi. But if he be servile, and if it be his olwn
business, let him lose that business, or be stripped and publicly beaten in the presence
of the people. However, if he do it by order of his master, then the master shall pay
fifteen solidi, if it be proved against him.
Capitulary of Aix-la-Chapelle on the Value of Commodities, 797.
C.11. Be it noted how much the solidi of the Saxons ought to be worth; that is, a
yearling ox of either sex, just as it is sent to the byre in autumn, one solidus; likewise
in the spring, when it leaves the byre, one solidus; and from that time, as its age
increases, so will it increase in price. Let those near to us give forty bushels of corn
and twenty of rye for one solidus, but in the north thirty bushels of oats and fifteen of
rye for one solidus. But for one solidus let those near to us give one and a half sigla of
honey; but in the north let them give two sigla of honey for one solidus. Also they shall
give as much good barley as rye for one solidus. Twelve denarii of silver shall make a
solidus. And they are to estimate all other things according to that scale.
Capitulary of Diedenhofen Concerning False Money, 805.
C.18. Because in many places false money is made, contrary to justice and
against our edicts, we command that money be made in no other place than our palace,
except we command otherwise. But those denarii which are now current shall be accepted if
they are of proper weight and of good metal.
Capitulary of Aix-la-Chapelle Concerning Adulterers of Money, 817.
C.19. Concerning false money, we have ordered that he who has been proved to have
struck it shall have his hand cut off. And he who does not obey this, if he be free, shall
pay sixty solidi; if he be serf, let him have sixty lashes.
Source.
From: J. P. Migne, ed., Patrologiae Cursus Completus, (Paris, 1862), Vols. XCVI,
p. 1518, XCVII, pp. 194, 202, 287, reprinted in Roy C. Cave & Herbert H. Coulson, A
Source Book for Medieval Economic History, (Milwaukee: The Bruce Publishing Co., 1936;
reprint ed., New York: Biblo & Tannen, 1965), pp. 131-132.
Scanned by Jerome S. Arkenberg, Cal. State Fullerton. The text has been modernized by
Prof. Arkenberg.
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