One other is,that Hollingshead in his Chronicle making mention of a voyage made by the black Prince from Burdeaux into Languedock doth cite the Letter of one Sir John Wingfield,a principal Servant to the Prince,wherein he saith,That the Countries and good Towns,which were wasted at this Journey,found to the King of France every year more to the maintenance of his War than half his Realm besides,except the Exchanges of his Money which he maketh every year,and his Customes of Poitou.But the standard of his Moneys was stabely kept from Charles the Fifths time till the first year of Charles the Seventh,at which time the English being in possession of the greatest part of France,Charles the Seventh having no other means to maintain the Wars,did from the year one thousand four hundred seventeen,to the year one thousand hundred twenty three,raise the silver by several degrees from eight livres nine sols the mark to 360livres the mark,so as the Money was raised in six years above forty times the value of what it was before;of all which neither our Chronicles nor those of France do make but ???nder mention,in respect of what they speak of the Pucelle d'Orleans:And yet the Truth of it is evident by the Records of the Mint:and all those who have written of the affairs of the Mint,in that Kingdom,do unanimously agree that this was the Principal mean by which is as strange as all the rest,is,that at one instant the Money was reduced again to seven livres,ten sols the mark;and from that time there have not been any raising of Money in France of this nature,although the Moneys there have been continually raised ever since,either to follow the People,who did first raise their Moneys by their estimation,or to follow the raisings of other Nations,or to raise above other Nations,to draw their Money into that Kingdom.
In England there is but one Example of raising in this kind,which was begun in the eighteenth year of Henry the Eighth,and continued in divers Princes Reigns after,and was not absolutely reduced,until the fourteenth year of Queen Elizabeth;and this raising,although it were far short in Proportion to those formerly recited,it was much more inexcusable than they were,for that this Action though it be never justifiable,yet in a case of extream and unresistable Necessitie,it may be excused,which was not the case of Henry the Eight,for although he wanted Money,yet there were much more justifiable wayes to supply it;and it was not imployed to avoid his own ruin,but in ambitious Enterprises.
The next in time was that raising Money by the overmixture of ally made in Ireland,in the three and fortieth year of Queen Elizabeth's Reign,which although it were not excessive in Proportion,and lasted but a small time,yet had very many memorable Circumstances to be observed in it.
The last which I will mention is that which was made by the Emperor (which now lives)in the year ---who being reduced within the Walls of Vienna,and having almost nothing else left him,but the Soverain title of the Empire,did by coining of the lesser and baser kind of Money five times baser than formerly it was,extend five times further in use,for the present,than otherwise he could have done,all those Moneys which he drew by way of assistance from the King of Spain,or from the Pope,or from other Princes of Italy;and besides,having a part of the profit of the Mint in divers other parts of Germany,he did exceedingly support his Affairs at the present by that means;and it was a principal occasion by which he prevailed against the King of Bohemia,who although for his part also,he raised his Moneys three times in value to what they were before (yet as he was always a strict observer of the contributions of the Empire)he coined no other small Moneys,but those of his own stamp,and they were only current within his own Countries.
Now all these several Raisings which I have mentioned,were not all by one way,but indeed they were by all ways differing from one another;and as the Ways of making profit by the Raising did differ,so the Inconveniences which follow did differ likewise,and as the Inconveniences did differ,so the ways of Reduction did differ also,all which will require a long and curious Disquisition but I do leave it to a second breathing.
Lord Coke's Account of Coin and Coining Coin in 6E.1was but 20d the ounce,but now it is above thrice so much:Stat.de Glocestr.c.S.
Ch 2.Instit.f.311
The pound of Gold and Silver containeth 12ounces:12graines of fine Gold make a Carrat.24Carrats of fine Gold make an ounce,12ounces make a Pound of fine Gold of the touch of Paris:
but by the Statute of 18Eliz.cap.15.22Carrats fine make an ounce.
Ch.2.Instit.575.
Polidore Virgil f.304etc.saith,That Sterling Money comes ab effigie Sturni (Anglice Sterling)aviculae in altera parte nummi impressa,etc.vol quod nummum haberet notum stellae,quod Angli Star voccant:Of this Opinion is Linwood the Civilian,tit.
De Testamentis,cap.Item quia verbo centum solid.
Ch.2.Instit.575
But the Esterling or Sterling penny took its name from the workmen,who were Esterlings,that both coined it,and gave it the Allay.Hoveden parte poster.Annalium fol.377b.vet.Mag.
Charta 167.The Esterlings penny was first coined in Hen.the IItime:and 20d of Silver made the ounce.Dyer 7Eliz.f.82,83and 12ounces made a pound of fine Silver,and 11ounces fine Silver,and an ounce of Allay maketh a pound weight of sterling Silver,intended within the Act.
Ch.2.Instit.575
By 18Eliz.cap.15.plate of Silver ought to be of the fineness of xi ounces 2d weight.
Ch.2.Instit.575
Allay is the mixture of Baser Mettal than Silver or Gold,called in our Books,Fulse Mettal,9H.5Stat.2cap.4&6.3H.7,10,a,b.
Ch.2.Instit.575
No more Allay must be put into Money than is limited in the Indentures between the King and the Moniers,upon Pain of Treason,Britton.f.10b.Fleta lib.i.cap.22Ch.2.Instit.575Finis
