Money and the English Economy in the Twelfth and Thirteenth Centuries

Abstract

The subject of money is of clear importance to the history of the English economy in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries and has attracted a considerable literature over the past decades. The author surveys the main strands of this work, dealing with the coinage itself, its production and quantity, its distribution and use, whether money can be equated with the coinage, and the question of credit. The article then goes on to deal with the debates on two important issues involving money in the period, the questions of inflation and commercialization, and suggests ways in which they should be taken forward.