Das besondere Objekt: Die Kipper- und Wipperzeit von 1618 bis 1623

Claims Supported by This Source

1. This period is positioned as the greatest inflation in the history of the Holy Roman Empire. The debasement of currency, starting from the outbreak of war in 1618, continued until 1623, but the origins of the crisis lie decades earlier.
2. The 1559 Augsburg Imperial Minting Ordinance created a legal framework for weight, content, and inspection, but it set the Münzfuß (standard) for small and medium denomination coins too high and did not adequately consider the high production costs of small change like Groschen, Schilling, Batzen, Kreuzer, Pfennig, and Heller. Minting about 23 kg of silver into Thalers yielded a profit of over 14½ Gulden, but minting the same amount into 3-Pfennig coins resulted in a loss of over 46 Gulden. Many minting authorities were forced to reduce the silver content of small coins, which fell far below the regulations even before the war began.
3. With the outbreak of war, military spending surged, and coins were intentionally struck with low fineness. The raw material was good currency in circulation, and buyers traveled the country to acquire it. The name of the era comes from this practice: good coins were sorted out (gekippt) using scales (Wippe). New coins were struck by adding copper to silver, and as profits were large, the silver content was further reduced, until finally, pure copper coins appeared on the market.
4. The increase in the money supply stimulated commerce and production, but prices also soared. Those who could pass on the price increases to their customers did so, while people on fixed incomes, such as teachers and pensioners, found their living expenses insufficient.
5. In 1623–1624, the authorities began to return to the old Imperial Minting Ordinance, invalidating and withdrawing the Kipper coins in circulation and issuing new, good-quality coins. The enormous losses associated with the recall became a burden on the state treasury.
6. Illustrations: ½ Reichsthaler 1622 and ½ Kipperthaler 1622 from the Electorate of Saxony, Albus 1606 and Kipperalbus 1621 from the Landgraviate of Hesse-Kassel, Kipperdreier 1621 and 1622 from the County of Mansfeld. Bibliography: Freytag, Schneider 1990, Rosseaux 2001, Klüßendorf 1974.

How to read the verification levels. "Read Through" means the source was read in its entirety. "Bibliography & Abstract Read" means the bibliographic information and abstract were confirmed. "Via Course Material" means the source was referenced through the textbook or course text. The "Text Hash" is the SHA-256 of the main text from the publisher's page, excluding tags and whitespace, used to detect if the source has been modified.