THE CURRENCY AND THE ECONOMY IN LATE

MEDIEVAL ENGLAND
Martin Allen

In the debates on the economic effects of the Black Death and the causes of recession
in mid-fifteenth century England some historians have argued that money supply was a
major causal factor.1 It has also been proposed that England’s supply of silver currency
fell sharply in the late fourteenth century, as part of a European bullion famine, and that
there was a more general shortage of coinage during a second bullion famine in the mid-
fifteenth century.2 Estimates of the size of the English currency in 1351, 1377, 1422 and
1470 provide evidence to test these assumptions, but an additional factor that needs to
be taken into account is the hoarding of large quantities of coinage, taking it out of active
use in the English economy.

Economic effects of fluctuations in money supply after the Black Death

The summary of the estimates of the English currency in Table 1 shows a sharp increase
in the English gold coinage between 1351 and 1377 to over £1.0 million, accompanied
by the effective elimination of foreign gold coins, which is followed by a decline to no
more than £0.5 million in 1470. In contrast, the estimates for the silver currency fall
between 1351 and 1422, and then recover slightly by 1470.

Date Gold Silver Total

1351 c.0.10-0.15 c.0.48-0.83 c.0.58-0.98
+ foreign gold + foreign gold
1377 c.1.20-1.65 c.0.22-0.74 c.1.42-2.39
1422 c.1.12-1.20 c.0.10-0.15 c.1.22-1.35
1470 c.0.40-0.50 c.0.35-0.45 c.0.75-0.95
Source: Allen 2012, Chapter 11.

Table 1. Estimates of the English currency, 1351–1470 (£ MILLION).

The estimates of the currency provide the means to estimate per capita supply of
coinage.3 The figures in Table 2 have been calculated on the basis of an estimated popu-
1
Mate 1978, 128–41; Munro 2003; Munro 2004; Nightingale 2004, 59–62; Nightingale 1997;
Nightingale 2010.
2
Day 1978, 16–18, 43–4; Day 1981; Spufford 1988, 339–62.
3
Allen 2001, 606–7, estimates a per capita money supply of about 5s. –9s. in 1351, with figures
for silver only of about 5s.–7s. in 1351, 1s.–2s. in 1422, and 3s.–5s. in 1470.

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lation of 2.25 to 3.0 million.4 The English population may have been substantially re-
duced between 1351 and 1377 by the major plague epidemics of 1361-2, 1369 and 1375,
and this would have tended to counteract the effects of the apparent decline in the supply
of silver currency. The overall level of the estimates of per capita holdings of silver cur-
rency falls between 1351 and 1377, but the limits of the estimates allow the possibility
of relative stability or even an increase in per capita supply of silver. There is much less
doubt about the trend in the silver estimates after 1377, which show a sharp decline to
1422 and then a partial recovery. Per capita holdings of gold probably increased sub-
stantially between 1351 and 1377, although the absence of an estimate for the total value
of foreign gold in 1351 introduces an element of uncertainty, and the per capita figures
then decline to a low point in 1470. The figures also suggest a substantial fall in per
capita money supply between 1377 and 1470, largely caused by the decline in gold.

Date Gold Silver Total

1351 8d.-1s. 4d. 3s. 2d.-7s. 5d. 3s. 10d.-8s. 9d.
+ foreign gold + foreign gold
1377 8s. 0d.-14s. 8d. 1s. 6d.-6s. 7d. 9s. 6d.-£1 1s. 3d.
1422 7s. 6d.-10s. 8d. 8d.-1s. 4d. 8s. 2d.-12s. 0d.
1470 2s. 8d.-4s. 5d. 2s. 4d.-4s. 0d. 5s. 0d.-8s. 5d.
Table 2. Estimates of per capita money supply, 1351–1470.

A major limitation of these per capita estimates is that they are averages, which can-
not address the considerable variations in wealth in late medieval English society. Many
of the wealthier members of society would have had substantial reserves of cash, far
exceeding any possible per capita estimate. Richard Fitzalan, earl of Arundel, was in
possession of £60,240 at his death in 1376, which is equivalent to about 2.5-4.2 per cent
of the total estimated value of the English currency in 1377 (c.£1.42–2.39 million).5
This is an extreme example, but coin hoards provide clear physical evidence of the ac-
cumulation of large reserves of cash after 1351, particularly in gold. Table 3, which is
based upon a survey of English hoards deposited between 1279 and 1544, shows a large
rise in median value, by a factor of about seven, between 1279–1351 and 1351–1412.6

4
Russell 1948, 143–6, calculates a population of 2,232,373 from the poll tax returns of 1377.
Cornwall 1970, 40–1, 43–4, suggests estimates of 2.2 million in 1377, 2.1 million in 1430,
and 2.3 million in 1522–5. Hatcher 1977, 13–20, 68–9, proposes estimates of 2.5–3.0 million
or 2.75–3.0 million in 1377 and 2.25–2.75 million in 1522–5. Bailey 1996 and Hinde 2003,
38–64, survey research on the historical demography of medieval England after the Black
Death.
5
Given-Wilson 1991, 1, 8, 23–5.
6
Allen 2002, 35–6.

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 The currency and the economy in late medieval England

This increase, representing a substantial growth in the value of accumulations of cash

buried or lost and not recovered by their owners, is clearly connected with the increas-
ing availability of gold after 1351. The median value of gold hoards in the table is more
than £10 in 1351–1412, and it rises to as much as £20 in 1412–64. The sharp fall in the
median value of gold hoards in 1464–1544 is consistent with the decline in the estimated
value of the gold currency between 1422 and 1470, to less than half of its former size.
In contrast to the figures for gold, the median value of silver hoards falls by about half
between 1351–1412 and 1412–64, and it stays at about the same level in 1464–1544.7
This is consistent with the decline in the estimated value of the silver currency after
1351, providing evidence of a shortage of silver coinage in fifteenth century England.
The percentage of the hoards that consist entirely of silver increases slightly, from 54 per
cent in 1351–1412 to 56 per cent in 1412–64 and 62 per cent in 1464–1544, but it may
have become more difficult to assemble large reserves of silver.

Period Gold only Gold and silver Silver only All hoards
1279-1351 12s. 0d. - c.6s. 7½d. c.7s. 3¾d.
(1 hoard) (53 hoards) (54 hoards)
1351-1412 £10 13s. 4d. £3 15s. 10d. 10s. 4d. £2 9s. 3½d.
(11 hoards) (5 hoards) (19 hoards) (35 hoards)
1412-64 £20 0s. 0d. £16 5s. 5d. 4s. 8d. £1 13s. 4d.
(9 hoards) (3 hoards) (15 hoards) (27 hoards)
1464-1544 £2 6s. 0½d. c.£3 16s. 0½d. 5s. 4d. £1 1s. 3d.
(10 hoards) (4 hoards) (23 hoards) (37 hoards)
Source: Allen 2002, 36, Table 12

Table 3. Median values of English coin hoards, 1279–1544.

Hoards provide evidence of the use of gold in large stores of cash, but single finds
seem to indicate that the currency in everyday use was predominantly silver. Single
finds of coins issued between 1351 and 1544 recorded at the Ashmolean Museum in
1992–2000 consisted of 150 silver coins and only seven gold, and an aggregate of finds
from excavations of rural settlement sites compiled by Dyer included just one gold
coin (a quarter noble) amongst eighty-eight coins of 1351–1544.8 Gold coins might
be under-represented in these statistics, because their high value probably ensured that
they would tend to be assiduously looked for when lost, but the dominance of silver is

7
Nightingale 2010, 1090–1, 1096, discusses these hoard statistics.
8
Mayhew 2002, 18–21; Dyer 1997, 36–8; information from Prof. Christopher Dyer and Prof.
Nicholas Mayhew.

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undeniable. Braudel and Spooner argued that silver was a more inflationary metal than
gold, because the lower values of silver coins made them more suitable for widespread
commercial use than gold, which tied up large units of spending power in one coin.9
Miskimin went further, suggesting that gold coinage probably had no effect on grain
prices, because it was concentrated in the hands of the aristocracy and mercantile elite.10
The hoarding of gold might, however, release supplies of silver coins from reserves of
cash, as Lloyd has observed.11 This may have counteracted the effects of the appar-
ent fall in the size of the silver currency indicated by the estimates of 1351 and 1377.
If there was a real fall of the amount of silver in active circulation between 1351 and
1377, any deflationary effect this may have had might have been outweighed by a fall
in population and the possible growth of the gold coinage and the total value of the cur-
rency. There are so many uncertain factors that it would be difficult to establish a clear
causal link between the size of the currency and inflation in 1351–77, although Mate and
Munro have argued that fluctuations in money supply were one of the causes of inflation
between the 1340s and the 1370s, and of the subsequent period of deflation lasting into
the fifteenth century.12
The estimates clearly indicate a decline in the silver currency between 1377 and
1422, and there is good reason to believe that this particularly affected the availability
of small change needed in commerce. The Parliament Rolls contain many common
petitions referring to the need for the smaller denominations of the coinage, and to a
persistent shortage of small change.13 In 1363 a petition asked that half nobles, halfpen-
nies and farthings should be made, for the purchase of food and other commodities.14
From 1355 to 1445 royal mint indentures usually specified the proportions of the bul-
lion purchased to be allocated to each denomination, but these specifications were not
always observed, presumably because the masters of the mints were not compensated
for the extra cost of making the smaller denominations.15 A petition of 1379 included a
complaint about a shortage of halfpennies and farthings needed for purchases of small
quantities of merchandise, religious payments and charity.16 Five goldsmiths and mer-
chants of London appeared in parliament to report their answers to seven articles of
enquiry concerning the coinage, the third of which asked what should be done to rem-
edy the lack of halfpennies and farthings.17 In 1380 a new petition about the shortage of

9
Braudel and Spooner 1967, 391.
10
Miskimin 1963, 98.
11
Lloyd 1977, 113.
12
Mate 1978, 128–41; Munro 2003; Munro 2004.
13
Kent 2005, 30–1, 33; Allen 2007, 192–4.
14
Strachey et al. 1767–77, II, 276; Ruding 1840, I, 231.
15
Allen 2007, 190–2, 207–8.
16
Strachey et al. 1767–77, III, 64–5; Ruding 1840, I, 237.
17
Strachey et al. 1767–77, III, 126; Ruding 1840, I, 239–42; Feaveryear 1963, 33–5; Mayhew
1992, 170–1.

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halfpennies and farthings referred to the need for coins to make small purchases of bread
and beer.18 The mayor of London tried to address the problem in 1382 by obtaining £80
in farthings from the London mint to distribute to bakers, brewers, hostellers and huck-
sters at the Guildhall. He issued a proclamation that bakers were to make farthing loaves
and brewers were to sell by farthing measures, and priests of London churches were
forbidden to require more than a farthing for a mass.19 A new parliamentary petition in
1394 again complained about the shortage of halfpennies and farthings, arguing that
the poor lost money when they paid a penny for a halfpenny purchase and could not be
given change, and that the lack of halfpennies and farthings prevented the giving of alms
to mendicant friars.20 A petition in 1402 complaining that no halfpennies and farthings
were being made, and that people were having to resort to the use of foreign coins or
lead tokens, resulted in a statute allocating one third of the mint’s silver to halfpennies
and farthings.21 Hoard evidence does suggest that there was a sustained attempt to pro-
duce substantial quantities of halfpennies between 1377 and 1412, but a petition in the
parliament of 1423–4 complained that few or no coins smaller than the gold noble (6s.
8d.) or silver groat (4d.) were being struck, contrary to the terms of the mint master’s
contract.22 Finally, a petition in the 1445–6 parliament about the shortage of halfpen-
nies and farthings claimed that travellers were being obliged to break pennies in two to
pay for a halfpenny purchase, and that the shortage of small change was affecting the
trade of retailers. The government responded with an exceptional issue of light-weight
halfpennies. 23 It is clear that there was a great demand for small change and a persistent
shortage of it, in spite of sporadic official efforts to address the problem.
The shortage of small change seems to have caused difficulties for retail trade until
at least the 1440s, and it is also possible that the general shortage of silver had a reces-
sionary effect. Nightingale has argued that commerce and the availability of credit could
be adversely affected by merchants’ awareness of a shortage of silver in retail trade and
by a knowledge of falling mint activity, citing as an example a recession in London
trade in 1394–5 illustrated by the account book of Gilbert Maghfeld.24 Nightingale has
also proposed that a shortage of silver coinage, manifested in low mint outputs, was the
principal cause of depressed prices and rents from the 1440s to the 1460s, and a decline
in commercial credit.25 There is some force in her argument that London merchants’
advocacy of bullionist legislation shows their awareness of shortages of coinage, and

18
Strachey et al. 1767–77, III, 94; Ruding 1840, I, 238.
19
Sharpe 1907, 183–4; Kent 1987; Kent 2005, 30–1.
20
Strachey et al. 1767–77, III, 319–20; Ruding 1840, I, 245.
21
Strachey et al. 1767–77, III, 498; Ruding 1840, I, 250–1.
22
Strachey et al. 1767–77, IV, 258; Ruding 1840, I, 272; Allen 1995, 124; Allen 2007, 193,
205.
23
Strachey et al. 1767–77, V, 108–9; Ruding 1840, I, 275–6; Mayhew 1992, 176.
24
Nightingale 2004, 59–62.
25
Nightingale 1997.

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 Martin Allen

that a perception of a shortage as well as its reality could affect commercial confidence.26
London merchants were often involved in the administration of the London mint or be-
came customers of its exchange, and five of their number had been invited to conduct
the enquiry into the affairs of the mint in 1379.27 The possibility of a causal link between
mint output or the supply of silver coinage and the mid-fifteenth century recession must,
however, remain highly conjectural. Hatcher and Bailey have objected that money sup-
ply was just one element in a combination of factors which caused the recession in trade
and agriculture in the mid-fifteenth century, and that we do not have any reliable statis-
tics for the size of England’s money supply in this period.28

Conclusions
Estimates of the English currency are consistent with the view that there was a decline
in the size of the silver currency in the second half of the fourteenth century and early
fifteenth century, during a period of silver bullion famine, and a partial recovery by 1470
sustained by relatively buoyant mint outputs in silver.29 Single finds of coins and official
documents provide support for the assumption that silver was the principal medium of
domestic commerce. Gold coinage supplied most of the total value of the currency by
1377, but much of it may have been immobilised in hoards, and the estimates show a
substantial decline in the gold currency during the fifteenth century.
The possible differences in function between the gold and silver coinages inhibit
any attempt to demonstrate a direct causal relationship between the total size of the late
medieval English currency and inflation or recession. A further barrier to the analysis of
the role of money supply in economic change is that the estimates of the currency are
at relatively long intervals, with none in the crucial period between 1422 and 1470. In
principle, it would be much better to have a continuous series of estimates, based upon a
complete record of mint output. In practice, we are dependent upon incomplete records
of mint output and a few estimates of the currency at dates dictated by the available evi-
dence. The recorded outputs of the English mints must continue to have some usefulness
as indicators of changes in the supply of new coinage, but they do not include the eccle-
siastical mints, which were major providers of small change, and they are only part of
the evidence needed to estimate the currency.30 In spite of all of the difficulties, there is
sufficient evidence to suggest that fluctuations in the sizes of England’s gold and silver
currencies were a significant cause of economic change after the Black Death.
26
Nightingale 1997, 638.
27
Reddaway 1967; Mayhew 1992, 167–78 passim; Challis 1992 179–89 passim; Feaveryear
1963, 33–5.
28
Hatcher 1977, 53–4; Hatcher and Bailey 2001, 190–1.
29
Allen 2012, Appendix C, provides a summary of the recorded outputs of the English mints
between 1220 and 1544, extending and correcting previous published summaries.
30
Allen 2000, 258–9, discusses the contribution of the ecclesiastical mints of Canterbury, Dur-
ham and York to England’s money supply in the fifteenth century.

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