Speaker
Description
The paper presents two stages of monetization in 13th-century Bohemia: coin renewal (renovatio monetae) connected with short-lived coins (deniers, pfennigs, bracteates) and debasement reflected the circulation of long-lived coins (groschen). With references to the coin hoards of Levínská Olešnice (Eastern Bohemia) and Fuchsenhof (Upper Austria), which dated back to the 1280s, the author argues that coin renewal did not necessarily result in devaluation; the quality of coins rather depended on the amount of silver which was at the state’s disposal. At the same time, he points out that the coin renewal had also negative consequences in form of short-term fluctuations in the price level, in the velocity of money, and in the real output and the volume of trade. In this sense, the changeover to Prague groschen represented the completion of the process of monetization which began in Bohemia in the 9th century with the first Bohemian deniers.
