 |
|
| A
century of bullion 'famine'
After a century
in which gold mining and coinage had got into their stride, the
15th century, by contrast, was an era of tight supplies of gold
and silver, caused by wars, disruption of trade routes (especially
across the Sahara), bad harvests, and the aftermath of the Black
Death which had almost halved the population of some European countries
in the second half of the 14th century. In 1409 the moneychangers
of Paris complained they had no bullion for the mint at any price.
Indeed, the pattern of coinage across Europe in the mints of London,
Bruges, Paris, Montpellier, Valencia, Florence and Genoa shows almost
constant decline (except in years of recoinage). Only in Venice,
then in its prime, did substantial quantities of gold and silver
pass through the market and the mint, although elsewhere more gold
was also available by 1420.
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|
1402 |
Florence
issued a 'light' florin of 0.107 oz/3.33 grams, the first debasement
of this famous coin in 150 years, in an effort to revive circulation of
the undervalued coin. |
| 1412
|
The
gold content of the English noble was reduced to 0.225 oz/7.2 grams,
raising the gold price to £1.49 (£1.9s.9½d) per troy ounce. The mint used
over 200,000 ounces, mostly old coin. |
| 1421-25
|
Recoinage
in England of both lighter nobles and older, heavier ones. The London
mint handled almost 350,000 ounces, with another 100,000 ounces in special
mints at York and Calais. Almost all the gold came from old coin. Thereafter,
little gold coin was minted for forty years. |
|
1422 |
Henry
VI in France issued salut d'or of 0.114 oz/3.52 grams, but minting
was limited. The Paris mint rarely used more than a few thousand ounces
in any year throughout the century. Venice, by contrast, had a record year
in 1422 with the mint striking 1.2 million ducats, containing 136,959
ounces. This implies 4,800 gold coins minted each working day - an impressive
quantity, three times the output of the mint in Florence. While some of
the gold required came from recoinage (a great deal of silver was recoined
in the same year), the Venice market was evidently securing what was still
mined in Hungary (around 15,000 ounces a year), much of the trans-Saharan
traffic (now mainly from Western Sudan rather than Mali), and Central Asian
gold picked up by the regular galley fleets to the Black Sea. At least 25
per cent of the gold ducats were exported to the Levant, along with
silver, in special convoys. During the late 14th and early 15th centuries
the Venetian ducat had become the preferred gold coin in the Levant,
a tribute to Venice as the world's marketplace (rather as the British sovereign
became the world-wide coin in the 19th century). |
|
1424 |
The
mint in Florence, by comparison, was striking far fewer of its lighter (since
1402) florins. The average minting from 1424-34 used under 5,000
ounces a year. While in Genoa, which still received African gold direct
or via Spain, minting was usually less than 10,000 ounces annually. |
| 1434
|
In
Flanders, gold coin minting partially revived, averaging almost 15,000 ounces
1434-9, but still less than a third of output one hundred years earlier. |
| 1440
|
A
further contraction in monetary circulation of gold and silver took place,
lasting until the 1460s. Annual gold supplies in mid-century were no more
than 150,000 ounces annually and may have been much less. Mints throughout
Europe struck few gold coins (the mint in London used under 200 ounces in
1459) and there was proliferation of debased silver coins, known as billion,
and copper coins. |
|
1441 |
The
Portuguese captain Antam Goncalves brought the first small cargo of gold
back to Lisbon from Guinea in West Africa, encouraging further expeditions.
The Portuguese aim, led by Prince Henry the Navigator, was to track the
source of the gold of the most westerly caravan routes across that Sahara
that brought gold to Morocco. |
| 1447
|
Genoese
merchants seeking more African gold, now channelled mainly through Tunis,
financed Antonio Malfante to cross the Sahara to the Tuat oasis to track
the Tunis-Tuat-Timbukto origins. The Genoese endeavour, coming at the same
time as Portuguese expeditions, showed a drive to reach the heartland of
West African gold. |
| 1453
|
The
capture of Constantinople by the Turks caused severe losses in Venice and
disrupted its bullion galley fleets to the Black Sea. Severe shortage of
gold in Venice and elsewhere caused the price to rise, with the gold/silver
ration widening to 1:12.5. |
| 1455
|
Sicily
imported 15,000 ounces of gold from North Africa in exchange for wheat. |
| 1457
|
Portugal
issued a new cruzado coin made of African gold. |
| 1464
|
Edward
IV of England raised the price of gold and silver coin at a stroke by 25
per cent, explaining it was necessary because of the increase in the prices
of both metals (a reflection of the long shortage). The weight of the noble
coin was unchanged, but its value was put at £0.42 (8s.4d). This was still
not enough to attract old stocks of nobles. |
|
1465 |
Edward
stepped up the price his royal money exchanges would pay for old nobles
to £0.43 (8s.6½d). It worked. The London exchange alone bought 137,875 old
nobles (38,605 ounces) inside a year. The mint coined almost 150,000 ounces
in two years. However, this was mostly old coin from hoards. Two new coins,
the angel of 0.17oz (5.5 grams) and the ryal or royal
at 0.25 oz (8.0 grams) were also minted. All coins were 958 fine. The new
valuation gave a fine gold price of £2.01 (£2.0s.2½d) per troy ounce. |
|
| 1471
|
Portuguese
established themselves on Africa's Gold Coast (see box). |
|
1475 |
In
France, Louis XI minted a new ecu au soleil of 0.113 oz (3.5 grams). |
| 1488
|
Portuguese
rounded the Cape of Good Hope, opening the sea route to India and Far East. |
|
1489 |
In
England, Henry VII minted the first sovereign of 0.5 oz (15.55 grams) at
958 fine, valued at £1.00. |
| 1492
|
Columbus
discovered the Americas, opening a new era for precious metals. |