The Accounts of a Kingdom Facing South and Beyond the Sea
In the second half of the twelfth century, Castile struck gold coins with inscriptions entirely in Arabic. From this south-facing kingdom would later emerge the tax system imposed on the silver of the New World.
The Gold Coins of a South-Facing Kingdom
Castile, on the Iberian Peninsula, was a kingdom that faced south. Daily accounts were kept in maravedís, a name inherited from the gold coins of the Almoravids. In the second half of the twelfth century, King Alfonso VIII struck gold maravedís in Toledo, but their inscriptions were entirely in Arabic.
Although it would become the core of the future Spain, a single country called 'medieval Spain' did not exist at the time. For example, Aragon to the east modelled its gold on that of Italy, and even after the two monarchs married, their crowns, parliaments, and mints remained separate.
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The Currency and Men Bearing the Name Frank
An inscription meaning 'King of the Franks' became the name of a currency. A great king established a silver system that lasted a thousand years, and a printer in a distant land supported the credit of paper money.
The Unit of Weight Called the Grain
The American silver dollar was defined as three hundred seventy-one and one-quarter grains. The Indian rupee is also described in grains. This is the story of a unit of weight that connects two coins from different countries and eras.
How Inheritance Tax Prevented the Rise of Zaibatsu — 1905, 1945, 1950
A tax created to fund the Russo-Japanese War became, forty-five years later, a tax with a top rate of 90 percent. In between lies the dissolution of the headquarters of four zaibatsu. We will examine this through three key years.
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Everything in these pieces comes from the material itself.