Era 02 · 1092 — 1622

Royal Debasement

Loss of purchasing power

By the crown

Pulse cycle

4.5s

With the fall of Rome and the fragmentation of Europe into feudal kingdoms, each monarch controlled their own mint. The temptation to debase was structural: a king who recalled all the silver coins in circulation, melted them, and re-struck them with less silver per coin kept the difference as seigniorage. Across 500 years, nearly every European kingdom did this at least once. The most spectacular was Henry VIII's Great Debasement of 1544 to 1551, which cut the silver content of the English shilling from 92.5 percent to 25 percent in seven years.

Events in this era

1092

Alexios I debases the Byzantine hyperpyron

Emperor Alexios I Komnenos debased the Byzantine gold coin in 1092, after nearly 700 years of stability. He introduced a new coin, the hyperpyron, with about 20.5 carats gold content (roughly 85 percent purity) versus the old solidus at 24 carats. The debasement reflected the collapsing Byzantine fiscal position after the 1071 Battle of Manzikert and the loss of most of Anatolia. Alexios tried to reform the whole coinage system around the new standard, but the break was done: the most stable currency in the history of the ancient world had been debased, and the Byzantines would continue debasing it across the next 200 years.

Ends the 700-year Roman gold stability

1303 — 1314

Philip IV — the Counterfeiter King

Philip IV of France, facing massive debts from his wars and the suppression of the Knights Templar, debased the French livre tournois repeatedly between 1303 and 1314. The silver content was cut by as much as two-thirds in some years, then partially restored, then cut again. Contemporary chroniclers called him 'le Roy Faux-Monnayeur' — the Counterfeiter King. His debasements were so chaotic that they contributed directly to the 1305 riots in Paris and to the collapse of French royal credit for most of the next century.

Earned a reigning king the nickname 'Counterfeiter'

1544 — 1551

Henry VIII's Great Debasement

Henry VIII executed the most dramatic single-sovereign currency debasement in European history between 1544 and 1551. Facing enormous debts from his wars with France and Scotland, he ordered the Royal Mint to reduce the silver content of English coins in successive waves. The shilling went from 92.5 percent silver (sterling) in 1542 to just 25 percent silver by 1551. The debased coins became known as 'Old Coppernose' because the silver wash wore off the highest-relief part of the design — the king's nose on the obverse — revealing the copper core underneath.

English silver currency destroyed by 73 percent in 7 years

1560 — 1561

Elizabeth I's Great Recoinage

Elizabeth I inherited her father's ruined currency and, in 1560 to 1561, executed the first deliberate and successful monetary restoration in English history. Thomas Gresham advised her to call in all debased coins, melt them, and reissue new coins at the old sterling standard (92.5 percent silver). The operation was technically and fiscally painful — the Crown absorbed significant losses in the melting process — but restored English monetary credibility, which had been damaged for 16 years. The recoinage became the template for every subsequent deliberate currency restoration.

First deliberate monetary restoration

1621 — 1623

Kipper und Wipper crisis

During the early Thirty Years' War, the fragmented German states engaged in competitive debasement as each principality needed silver to fund its armies. Mints bought in good coins from neighboring territories, melted them, re-struck them with heavy copper alloy, and shipped them back out. The name 'Kipper und Wipper' refers to the tipping (kipper) and weighing (wipper) scales used to sort good coins from bad. Within three years, the silver content of many German coinages had fallen by 50 to 90 percent, and commerce across central Europe essentially broke down. The crisis ended only when the territories agreed to a coordinated recoinage in 1623.

First multi-state competitive debasement

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