The Silver Empire How Germany Created Its First Common Currency 1st Edition by Oliver Volckart ISBN 0198894481 978-0198894483

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Product details: 

ISBN 10:0198894481 

ISBN 13:978-0198894483

Author:Oliver Volckart

The Silver Empire is the first comprehensive account of how the Holy Roman Empire created a common currency in the sixteenth century.

The problems that gave rise to the widespread desire to introduce a common a currency were myriad. While trade was able to cope with-and even to benefit from-the parallel circulation of many different types of coin, it nevertheless harmed both the common people and the political authorities. The authorities in particular suffered from neighbours who used their comparatively good money as raw material to mint poor imitations. Debasing their own coinage provided an, at best, short-term solution. Over the medium and long term, it drove the members of the Empire into rounds of competitive debasements, until they realised that a common currency was the only answer that addressed the core of the problem.

Oliver Volckart examines the conditions that shaped the monetary outlook of the member states of the Empire, paying particular attention to the uneven access to silver and gold. Following closely the negotiations that prepared the common currency, he is able to illuminate the interest groups that were formed, what their agendas and ulterior motives were, how alliances were forged, and how it was eventually possible to obtain majority agreement on what a common currency should look like: a silver-based currency that was introduced in 1559-66.

In fact, in contrast to what historians once believed, the common currency they achieved turns out to have functioned not significantly worse than other currencies of the time: it had similar problems and similar advantages as the money issued by more centralized governments.

Table of contents: 

1. Diversity becomes a problem

Trade in coinage

The Empire in theory and practice

Confusion and disorder

2. People and politics

The common man

Politics and trade

Experimenting with solutions

3. Making politics in the Empire

Procedures and ceremonies

The ‘public enemy no. 1’

Behind the scenes and in the open

4. The age of silver

The mining boom

The talks are stalling

At the turning point

5. The Rhine gold

Caravans and caravels

The lure of silver

The gold of the electors

6. The new money

The mirage of success

Compromise and consensus

The new money in practice

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Tags: Oliver Volckart, Silver, Empire