Tag: coins
Value of Spanish silver dollar and British pound during the Pirate Age? Part 2 of 2
Posted onContinued discussion of the value of coinage during the pirate era. Part one is here So how do we understand British pounds circa 1600? A fun website called Life in Elizabethan England, provides background on coinage. One page provides basics of Money and Coinage. Most significant piece of information is that there was no […]
Value of Spanish silver dollar and British pound during the Pirate Age? Part 1 of 2
Posted onThe Spanish silver dollar is referred to as the first global currency. There were so many produced and they spread so far across the world that they were the common currency. Because the Spanish silver dollar was present everywhere and the valuations referred to during the pirate are in British pounds, let’s explore the value […]
Volume of silver flowing out of the conquered territories.
Posted onIn Black Flags, Blue Waters: The Epic History of America’s Most Notorious Pirates author Eric Jay Dolin provides background on one reason why piracy flourished in the Caribbean – that’s where the money was. In the 16th century Spanish explorers harshly conquered the Aztec empire (in 1521) and the Incas (in 1532). This opened the […]
Tidbits on money and fighting in the Viking Age
Posted onFun article on Viking coinage and more tidbits on fighting techniques. Coins in the Viking Era Some background on striking coins during the Viking era can be found at The Viking Network. Article dated 6/21/15 explained Vikings in Norway make their own Coins. First silver coins flowing into Scandinavia were Arabic dirhems. Later pennies from […]
Can’t make sense of one indicator of price of sword during Viking Age
Posted onOverview of silver and coin usage in Viking Era
Posted onShort overview of the evolution of the means of exchange during Viking Era can be found in Viking Currency, an article by Dani Trynoski at Medievalists.net. A basic economic concept to remember: part of the definition of money is a means of exchange and store of value. A silver armband, brooch, or coin can be […]
Recap of payments made to Viking raiders, called Danegeld.
Posted onSome day I plan to collate all the comments I’ve read on the amount of Danegeld and other money accumulated by various Viking raids. In The Vikings, Else Roesdahl provides details on payments to Viking raiders: France: 44,250 pounds gold and silver during 9th century – from context I think this is from the Frankish […]
Coining money in Viking Age and more details on found hoards
Posted onConsider there was no secure way to store wealth in the time of the Vikings. There were no banks, no marketable securities, no way to establish reliable title to land. In essence, there was no store of value other than bullion or coins. So, if you had a huge amount of wealth beyond your livestock […]
More background on coins and storing wealth in hoards during Viking Age
Posted onComments I’ve accumulated from a few other books fit well with the previous post Background on Viking Age – money, trading centers – 2 of 5 In Vikings: Raiders, Traders, and Masters of the Sea on page 99, Rodney Castleden explains much of the trade carried out by Vikings was in barter. For example, swapping […]