Topics in money
Looking for the same movement across countries and ages.
The Rebellion that Began with an Account Book, and the Cannonballs Paid for with Rights
The rebellion began not with a sword, but with an account book. Under a daimyō said to have reported his 40,000-koku domain as 100,000 koku, the tax rate doubled. The bodies of those unable to pay were subjected to torture, and to quell the eventual uprising, foreign cannonballs were fired from the sea.
Coinage Struck on Paper, the Promise of Leiden
In besieged Leiden, silver ran out, and coinage was struck from church books. What backed this paper, which had no metallic support, was a single promise: that if the city survived, it would be redeemed for specie.
The Three No's and the Unpayable Bill
During the reign of Louis XVI, reformers pledged "no bankruptcy, no new taxes, no borrowing," supported a war with massive debt, and finally challenged the wall of privilege. While sound coinage maintained its standard, the state's finances were heading towards collapse.
The Cardinal's Purse and the Debased Copper Coin
After the Fronde ended, Mazarin left a personal fortune of about thirty-five million livres. Around the same time, the liard, a copper coin in the hands of the common people, was devalued to one-third of its face value in about a month.
The Coin on the Day the Rice Vanished
When famine swept the land, the single coin that sustained daily life reverted to mere metal. Amid rice riots, policymakers offered different answers. It was a question of circulation versus accumulation.
Coins Struck by a Dead King
Even after their authority had vanished, why did people continue to strike the names of long-dead kings on their coins? It is because the trust in a currency outlived the power that created it.
The Emperor's Four Conduits for a War Fought with Metal
The emperor detested banknotes and demanded metal. This obsession led him to draw war funds from an enemy nation's banks, siphon wealth from conquered lands, and seize control of the bank itself. It was a financial system that functioned only by continuously winning.
A Face on the Silver, Gold in the Coffer
For the first time, a realistic profile of the king appeared on French coinage. This declaration of royal authority, which began with a single silver coin, would eventually lead to a ransom for a lost war and funding for a brilliant culture.
Coinage of a Conquered Land, Engraved with a Crocodile
A Roman bronze coin minted in Gaul bears the face of the emperor and a crocodile commemorating the conquest of Egypt. What did it mean for a conquered people to use their conqueror's victory in their daily lives?
The Finances of the King Who Struck the Sun
Despised by his enemies as the 'Universal Spider' and praised by his allies as the 'Prudent King', Louis XI's source of power, which allowed him to enrich the nation without fighting, lay in taxes, the army, and a single gold coin struck with a sun.
The Currency That Was Not Accepted
Nueva España, circa 1542. The indigenous people would not accept the copper coins struck by the mint, and cacao beans remained the daily small change.
The Value of a Single Phone Call
Italy in the 1970s. Small change disappeared from circulation, and public telephone tokens began to be used as change.
If you would rather read the material itself
Every piece leads back to a stop, a term or a coin in the material.