The De Moneta of Nicholas Oresme and English Mint Documents
Appendices
A
The French version of this treatise, made by Oresme himself, begins as follows:
A LITTLE TREATISE OF THE FIRST INVENTION OF MONEY, ITS CAUSES AND ITS CHARACTER.
Why money was made. How it should be used. Who may coin it, debase it or alter it, and what disadvantages may arise in consequence. Collected from various books, and now translated from Latin into French, in order to show the fault and misuse of it in these days by merchants and common people, which the King and Princes permit and endure; from which will result many evils, discomforts and irreparable damage unless speedy provision and remedy be made as shall hereafter be specified.
Translator’s Preface
Veritate manifestata, cedat oppinio ventati. Which is to say, in French, that when the truth is manifest, all opinions must yield and give place to truth. And this leads me to my purpose, since
Some men hold etc. ut supra. The preface continues:
For certainly at this present time, there should be great need of it, seeing that everybody treats money as he chooses, assigning to it whatever arbitrary value pleases him, to the reproach and dishonour of the prince who permits it, and whose image it bears. For it is a direct offence against his highness and lordship, and results in the loss and entire confusion of the common wealth of his realm and country. For merchants nowadays have more trouble in agreeing on the price and value of money than of the merchandise in which they deal. Because gold and silver have now reached so high a price that, unless a remedy is shortly provided, there is reason to fear many grave and serious disadvantages in bearing this state of affairs; as, for instance, from the materials of money, gold and silver, being carried to other countries, where their rate of exchange is higher, and thus impoverishing the realm, to the prejudice of the prince and his subjects. By this export of the materials of money, merchants would lose on their merchandise and produce, and would cease to frequent the realm thus stripped bare of money. And again, what is worse, the money-changers and bankers, who know where each variety of gold coin, according to its stamp, is worth most, by their secret devices drain the land of gold and send or sell it elsewhere to merchants, receiving from them other gold pieces, impure and of base alloy, with which they fill the country. We may guess, then, that when the king of France shall be pleased to reform his coinage, those who are found encumbered with this bad money will have heavy losses. The Postulats,1 for instance, recently struck in the Liégeois, which pass current in this realm for half a gold crown, are nevertheless of so base alloy that worse cannot be found; and, what is even worse, have no definite proportion of alloy, or basic standard which can be observed. And this is true of other debased gold coins, whose alloy is uncertain. And concerning the course of silver money at the mint-price of the mark of silver, the impoverishment of the realm is also to be feared, because the mark is worth more in other countries than it is here. And the ratio of twelve marks of fine silver to one mark of fine gold is not observed, as is known to those who understand the science which it would be long and tedious to describe and hard to understand. So I pass over that and proceed to the rubrics of each chapter of the treatise.
B
The French version continues as follows:
To render to Caesar that which is his, is nothing else than to render him obedience, as Saint Peter says in his second epistle (1 Peter ii. 13); but for some time past this obedience has been taken from him and been so changed in observance that any man will, in defiance of the King’s commandment, sell or account for his gold or silver penny at any rate he pleases, without regard to the price appointed by the King and the Estates of his realm. Wherefore, it has come to this, that no man, whatever be his rank, can obtain a gold penny except at the seller’s price, just as if it were a commodity; which is directly opposed to the original object for which money was invented and ordained, as we have already mentioned. It is this lack of enforcement of the law which causes money to leave the country and transfer itself to another where it commands a higher price. And so, since no rule is kept, the kingdom is being so impoverished that great damage may in time ensue both to the king and the common wealth. Furthermore, what is worse, nobody pays attention to the king’s coins which are clipped and robbed of their original weight, but those who hold them reckon at the same rate of exchange as good coins of full weight. This practice cannot last long owing to the confusion which it is bound to cause.
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2 This reference to postulati does not occur in the earliest MSS of the French text (Bridrey, p. 65), and Bridrey (p. 59n) identifies them with the coins of this name struck by Rudolf of Diepholt in the early fifteenth century. This is certainly incorrect, for Rudolf was not bishop of Liege but one of the candidates for the bishopric of Utrecht after the death of Frederick of Blankenheim in 1423; he styles himself postulatus on coins struck between 1426 and his receiving papal approval in 1433. The postulat of Liege referred to in the French translation of Oresme is either the view postulat of John of Heinsberg (1419–55), struck in 1453, or the nouvel postulat of Louis of Bourbon (1456–82), struck in the early years of the latter’s episcopate. They derive their name from the fact that they imitate precisely the type of the postulaat-gulden of Rudolf of Diepholt, and are of very base gold. See J. De Chestret de Haneffe, Numismatique de la principauté de Liege, Brussels 1890, pp. 190, 204; nos. 306, 342.
I am indebted to Mr P. Grierson for this note.
