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.
Gresham's Law — 'bad money drives out good' — was formalized by Sir Thomas Gresham after observing exactly this episode. English merchants hoarded pre-1544 sterling coins (which were worth more as silver bullion than as coin face value) and circulated the debased 1544-onward coins. The good money disappeared; the bad money filled the streets.
02 · Royal Debasement
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.
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