In most fantasy campaigns, characters use money
to purchase goods and
services without really thinking about
where that money comes from, or about
its nature and function. How much do
your characters really know about the
coins they use? These coins, called gold,
silver, and copper pieces (or some very
similar set of names), are ranked and
valued in a system which is simple and
direct, but does not simulate the “real”
characteristics of coinage.
Most campaigns are set in Medieval type societies. Historically, this
time was
characterized by currency systems that
differed greatly from kingdom to kingdom — sometimes from province
to province. This is not at all like the currency
system in most campaigns, where universally accepted coins of equal
value
and weight can be spent freely anywhere.
Using a historically realistic coinage
system can enhance a fantasy campaign
in many ways. It adds variety and realism, and makes the money and
economy
more believable to the players. It also
allows the option of trading in the currency of different nations,
which is a
good way for a clever character to make
a big profit. It opens a path leading to
black markets, forgery, and dozens of
other activities which can add depth and
vitality to a campaign.
Make your own mint
During the Middle Ages, any people
with a position of authority and a lot of
capital could mint their own money —
and most of them did. These coins were
of different metals, purities, and weights,
and their denominations varied widely.
The most common division of value was
into twelfths, not tenths, and very often
old and outdated coins were used as new
currency by simply assigning them new
values.
Copper was used in the earliest times,
but was soon replaced by brass, which
was still not very acceptable; the value of
copper and bronze began to decrease as
soon as currency-makers found out the
coins became worn more rapidly than
those of other metals. Some coins containing copper were minted with
values
so small as to be virtually unmeasurable.
All coins lead from Rome
Medieval coinage had its origins in the
Roman Empire. Roman coins were
almost entirely made from bronze, though
some silver came into use in the later
years of the empire. The earliest bronze
coins are called Aes Rude, and were manufactured from low-grade bronze
and
unadorned. During the period from about
385 B.C. to 89 B.C. these coins were
gradually replaced by the more complex
Aes Grave (meaning “heavy bronze”)
system, using bronze coins of higher
quality bearing the image of the appropriate emperor.
The Aes Grave system was divided
into eight different coins by weight. The
As was the standard of exchange, upon
which all other values were based. The
As was considered to have the value and
weight of one pound (12 ounces, not 16)
of bronze, and as such made quite a
hefty piece of change.
Coins smaller than the As were minted, the divisions being the Uncias
(1/12
As), the Sextans (1/6), the Quadrans
(1/4), the Triens (1/3), and the Semis
(1/2). There were two large coins of
greater value, the Dupondius (2 As) and
the Sestertius (4 As).
In the first century B.C. the Romans
began the widespread use of silver for
currency, using a set of coins and a system which had been first devised
as a
replacement to the As some 150 years
earlier. The main coin of exchange in
this system was the silver Dinarius, a
coin roughly equivalent in value to the
As, but lighter because it was made of a
rarer metal.
The Dinarius-based system included
two smaller coins, the Quinarius (1/2)
and the Sestartius (1/4). This was a more
practical form of coinage, since silver is
both more durable and lighter in weight
than bronze. The later European monetary systems were based on this
pattern,
as is shown in England by the silver penny minted as early as 457,
and the early
division of the 6th-century silver Scaetter into halves and quarters.
Charlemagne coins new names
European coinage was really started
during the reign of Charlemagne, when
he established a standardized system of
denominations. In this system there were
three main coins, called by different
names in different regions. These were
the Pound or Livre, the standard of exchange; the Solidi or Shilling,
1/20 of a
pound; and the Denier or Penny, 12 in
each shilling. Three early additions to
this system were the Mark, worth roughly 164 pennies (two-thirds of
a pound),
and the Obol or Half Penny, 24 to a shilling. (This is why in the English
system
the penny was abbreviated as “d” [for
Denier] and the pound as “£” [for Livre]
in the duodecimal division Great Britain
used until 1972.)
The derivation of this system from the
Roman system is clear. The system
was
generally adopted across Europe, though
the names were often changed, and
there were many additions and variations. The pound was almost always
a
gold coin. The mark and shilling could
be gold or silver, and the smaller coins
were usually silver or bronze. The metal
used was chosen with an eye toward a
good balance between value and size.
The more valuable a metal, the smaller
the coin had to be, and a coin could be
neither too big to carry around or so
small as to be easily lost, so higher-value
metals were used for larger-denomination coins.
Everybody gets in on the act
Values and names of coins varied widely from the 9th century on, as
rulers and
bankers in many areas of the continent
attempted monetary reform. Philip VI of
France and Edward II I of England were
particularly noted for their efforts at
economic reform; with this also came
currency reform, both successful and
unsuccessful. Nobles all over Europe,
from the least significant seigneur in
France to Frederick Augustus and the
Byzantine Emperor, were minting coins
when they felt it advanced their purposes. Thus arose a broad panoply
of
coins, many with strange names and
strange denominations.
France was more afflicted by currency
variation than any other nation, because
of the constantly conflicting political
forces and the strength of local governments in that country. On the
other end
of the scale, the most significant advance toward standardization of
the system was brought about by the Italian city
of Florence, whose great economic
power caused the 14th-century Florin to
dominate the money market.
Italian cities took the lead in European
commerce, before the collapse of their
banks and the rise of the French and
English as economic powers. The two
most active cities in Italy were Florence
and Venice, who controlled western and
eastern trade respectively, and dominated the lesser Italian city-states
to a great
degree.
Florence coined the Florin d’Oro, a
gold coin first minted around 1252 and
roughly equal to 3 English shillings in
exchange. It bore a lily on one side and a
portrait of John the Baptist on the
obverse.
Venice’s standard of exchange was
the gold Ducat or Zecchino, first issued
in 1284 and equivalent to 2 shillings. It
showed the image of Christ, with St.
Mark on the obverse. The Ducat was
valued as a one-sixth part of an older
silver coin called a Groat. The Venetian
“shilling” was a theoretical coin, not actually minted but used in
determining
exchange rates. Venice’s actual small
coinage was the Bagattio, which was
worth about 1/120th of a Groat, 1/20th of
a Ducat, or 1/10th of a shilling. The Groat
was a little-used value; trade was mainly
expressed in values using Ducats and
Bagattio.
Spanish coinage is less well documented than that of Italy, but the
states
of Aragon and Castile are exceptions to
that general statement. In Aragon a gold
coin called the Gros was the main currency. In Castile the Marabotin
was the
principal denomination, equal in value to
the Crosat, which was also in use. These
coins were traded with France, and much
of the rest of Spain used Italian or French
coins. The Castillian Crosat was equivalent to 63 Troyes Marks in exchange
with France.
Early Germany coinage is another
vague area; presumably, Italian coinage
was preferred as a widespread standard
of exchange. The city of Flanders minted
its own Florin in the 14th century, equal
in value to the Italian one circulated by
Florence. One of the few major German
forays into minting was in 1231, when
Frederick II produced a gold coin called
the Augustale, roughly equivalent to the
Florin, which seems to have only been
circulated to a limited extent.
The currency system of the Byzantine
Empire was complex.
Three major coins, all of gold, were roughly equal in value,
though minted at different times. These
were the Solidus,the Besant, and the
Hyperper. Lesser coins included the silver Miliarisia (1/12 Besant);
the silver
Dinar (1/12 Solidus), the silver Keratia
(1/2 Miliarisia), and the bronze Minimus,
which was nearly worthless. The Solidus
is recorded as having been traded for 31
Pisan Dinars (from the Italian city of
Pisa), which indicates that it was worth
slightly less than a Florin. All major Byzantine coins bore an image
of the Emperor with a cross on the obverse.
The French flair for excess
France was the leader in the minting of
contradictory and unnecessary coins.
French coins are of two major
types:
those minted by the king or one of the
royal mints, and those made by lesser
nobles such as dukes, bishops, and seigneurs. The principal royal mints
were at
Troyes, Tours, and Calais, though this
last was held and used by the English
much of the time. Lesser nobles would
produce coins of any denomination they
desired, issuing them from wherever they
made their headquarters.
In the 13th century the mints of Tours
produced the Tournois, probably the
most popular coin of the period. The
standards set by Charlemagne were used
for comparison and trade. By that standard, the Tournois was worth
3.75 pennies. The Tours penny was made of
silver as well, and was variously called an
Obole or Maille. Silver half-pennies were
also minted at Tours. The mint at Troyes
was mainly noted for the Marc, which
was worth 217 Tournois or 58 shillings.
The mint in Toulouse made many
kinds of strange coins during the 12th
and 13th centuries, including a “penny”
valued at 2/3 of a Tournois and a “marc”
equivalent to half a Troyes Marc.
Toulouse was also the source for several unique coins, among these
the silver
Melgorian (12 Tournois); the Tolzas, the
Moneta, and the Decena, all of silver and
valued at 2.5 Tournois each; and later the
Septema, worth 1.75 Tournois.
French coinage varied widely in value
as the economy of France fluctuated at
different times and in different places.
Philip VI tried to straighten out currency
problems in 1337 by issuing the gold
Ecu, a very successful coin designed to
supplant the traditional silver currency.
It bore a shield image and a design on
the obverse. It was valued at 3s 4d (3
shillings 4 pence, or 64 pennies) and
contained 70 grains of gold.
An earlier gold coin which had been
successful enough to be copied by the
English for use in southwest France was
the Mouton d’Or of Henry V, issued in
1287. It bore the Lamb of God with a
design on the obverse. The Mouton was
worth 5 shillings, but was only 40 grains
of gold, indicating (by comparison with
the Ecu) a drop of almost 400% in the
value of gold during a 50-year period.
The lesser mints of France were as
productive as the aforementioned royal
coineries, leading to even more confusion. From Narbonne came the Dernier
(12 shillings), the Pogesa (1/4. penny)
the Mesala (1/2 penny) and the Marc
d’Oro (50 shillings), plus a silver Marc of
equal value. Cahors minted the Roanois
and the Caorsin, both equal to half a
penny. Sommieres also made half-pennies called Bernardin and Raymondin.
The mint at Albi produced a Raymondin
as well, but it was worth an entire Tournois. Albi also made an Arnaldin,
equivalent to one penny. The Bishop of Le
Puy had a “Le Puy Marc” of the same
value as the Troyes Marc, and a quarterpenny value Pougeoise, one of
the few
copper coins in France. Nimes minted
the Nemausenses, equal to one Tournois. Valence had the Regale, worth
about 1.25 Tournois.
The plurality of coins in France is evidence of the strength and activity
of governments in attempting to control their
local economies by regulating and minting coinage. The common belief
in medieval France was that the way to fix an
economic slump was to make a new coin
and restore the people’s confidence in
the money. This led to the obvious confusion, and a great deal of trading
and
selling of precious metals and coins
from one province to the other. The role
of the money-changer assumed great
importance in some places, since some
lords would not permit the use of a
neighbor’s coin in their territory.
Coins of the English
crowns
England was subjected to constant
monetary manipulation by kings who
wanted to control the economy. From
the 5th century, when the vikings minted
the first silver penny on the island, English coiners were kept busy.
The theoretical breakdown of the English coinage system was into the
Pound,
Shilling, and Penny, with the addition of
a Half-Penny and a Farthing (1/4 Penny).
Most English money was silver in the
early Middle Ages, most notably the 6th=century Scaetter and the sterling
penny.
The use of silver as the predominant metal essentially ended in the
13th century,
when Henry III issued a rather ill-conceived gold penny.
The first real manipulation of England’s monetary system came during
the
reign of Edward III. He issued an English
Florin in 1344, with a value of 6s 4d that
actually made it equivalent to a “double
florin” when compared with the Italian
coin. It became devalued very quickly,
and was reissued at a lower value of only
6s. The English Florin featured an image
of the king enthroned, with a design on
the obverse. Edward III, an admirer of
fanciful names, followed this coin with
the Leopard, valued at half of his Florin,
and the Helm, worth half a Leopard.
These were only moderately successful,
and the coin of Edward III which really
caught on was the Noble, a large coin
equivalent in value to the English Florin,
picturing the king on a ship.
Edward IV also dabbled in minting. In
the late 15th century he produced the
Rose Noble or Royal, worth 10 shillings,
which by that time was the same as a
“double noble,” since the value of gold
had been still dropping. English coins
grew out of a process of constant experimentation, plus the desire
of each king
to bring the country’s economy into his
control and away from the Florentine
bankers.
Coinage in a campaign
It should be understood that while historically there were hundreds
of different coins of odd denominations throughout Europe, most money-conscious
medieval people understood and accepted
the standards set by Charlemagne as a
guideline for monetary commerce. Without a set of (more or less) common
denominators, it would have been difficult
to establish the relative values of different coins, and international
or even intervillage trade might have been impossible.
This same “restriction” should apply
to any role-playing campaign where varying systems of currency are
used in different parts of the realm. Without a basis
for comparison and communication, no
currency exchange is possible.
The coinage of a campaign can be
made more interesting by applying some
of the examples in this article and adapting them to the campaign world.
Money
is more than a sculpted disc of a particular metal: it is a source
of power and
influence. It is inevitable that people in
positions of power will try to control money so as to maintain their
power, and
equally inevitable that people without
money and power will strive to acquire
both at the same time. This is as true in a
fantasy world as it is in the real world of
today, or was in the Middle Ages.
By allowing natural variations to creep
into a campaign’s monetary system, or
by introducing them, the campaign referee can provide characters with
new experiences to encounter, new ways to use
their energies. They can try to make a
killing in the money exchange; they can
have their foreign coin confiscated; they
can be threatened with having their hands
chopped off for counterfeiting. “Realistic” money
is an interesting way to flesh
out a campaign so that the referee and
the players can all get more out of the
role-playing experience.
Selected books on medieval economics
The Italian Merchant in the Middle
Ages, Armando Sapori
The Cambridge Economic History of Europe, M. Postan and E. Rich
Medieval Trade in the Mediterranean World, R.S. Lopez and I.W. Raymond
English Trade in the Middle Ages, L.F. Salzman