Did ’money matter’ in the economic history of medieval Europe? In these essays John Munro has pursued the controversies surrounding the monetary (not ’monetarist’) history of the period, specifically in relation to England and Flanders, and the other Burgundian Low Countries, during the late Middle Ages. He argues that, without doubt, monetary factors and policies were crucial, and attempts to integrate them with other factors, themselves often of equal significance, such as demographic change or institutional controls. The focus is upon the international flow of precious metals through the region and various related economic themes: the so-called late-medieval ’bullion famine’; the relation between monetary and price changes; the role of coinage in financing warfare ; ’bullionist’ mint policies as both fiscal and monetary remedies for perceived economic, political, and military problems; and the consequences of warfare, war-financing, monetary policies, and related monetary problems for the two countries' commerce, finance and industries, especially those involving woollen textiles. Quelle était la véritable importance de l’argent dans l’histoire monétaire et économique de l’Europe du Moyen Age? Au travers de ce volume, John Munro poursuit les controverses de cette période, plus spécifiquement se rapportant à l’Angleterre et aux Flandres, ainsi qu’aux autres Pays-Bas Bourguignons, vers la fin du Moyen Age. Il affirme que la politique et les facteurs monétaires étaient, sans aucun doute, d’une importance vitale et tente de les intéger à d’autres paramètres tout aussi significants, tels le changement démographique et les controles institutionnels. L’accent est mis sur la circulation internationale de métaux précieux dans toute la région, ainsi que sur divers thèmes s’y rattachant: la soit-disante ’famine d’or’ du Bas Moyen Age; le rapport entre changements monétaires et changements de prix; le rôle de la fra

Coins are one of the most abundant sources for our study of the past, yet their value as historical evidence is relatively neglected because of a general lack of knowledge of numismatic techniques. This volume of essays, offered by a circle of friends, colleagues and pupils working in Britain, Europe and North America, is intended to pay tribute to Philip Grierson's unique contribution to the study of numismatic method. A medievalist by training, through his wide-ranging interests in coins and coinage Grierson has commanded the respect of historians and numismatists of all periods for the originality and good sense of his prolific scholarship. More than any other living scholar, he has been responsible for making available an understanding of numismatic expertise to specialist and non-specialist audiences.

The papers in this edited volume discuss key elements of monetarism, including coin denominations, the role of bullion and case studies of substitute moneys.

Money is a core feature in all discussions of economic crisis, as is clear from the debates about the responses of the European Central Bank and the Federal Reserve Bank of the United States to the 2008 economic crisis. This volume explores the role of money in economic performance, and focuses on how monetary systems have affected economic crises for the last 4,000 years. Recent events have confirmed that money is only a useful tool in economic exchange if it is trusted, and this is a concept that this text explores in depth. The international panel of experts assembled here offers a long-range perspective, from ancient Assyria to modern societies in Europe, China and the US. This book will be of interest to students and researchers of economic history, and to anyone who seeks to understand the economic crises of recent decades, and place them in a wider historical context.

In the late fourteenth and the fifteenth centuries, the Dukes of Valois-Burgundy created a composite monarchy in the Netherlands, an area that had been dominated for centuries by several regional dynasties. In this way they laid the foundation for the modern states of the Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxemburg. The rise of the House of Burgundy can be read as the success story of a dynasty that in little over a century managed to assemble a great number of principalities, thus creating a new state. The Burgundian takeover, however, resulted in a modernization of administration, jurisdiction, and finances. The process of unification and the character of the union are the central topics of Magnanimous Dukes and Rising States. Robert Stein mirrors continuity and modernisation in Burgundian times with the bankruptcy of the former dynasties and the decline of feudal government. The powerful towns played an important background role; it was only with their support that a unification of the Netherlands was possible, but this support was not unselfish. This study is about the development of power relations and institutions in the field of tension between ruler and subject, between centralisation and particularism.