The History of Money

If money is simply a unit of measure, it makes sense that emperors and kings should concern themselves with such matters. Emperors and kings are almost always concerned to establish uniform systems of weights and measures throughout their kingdoms. Once established, such systems tend to remain remarkably stable over time. During the reign of the actual henry the second 11 54 11 89, just about every one in western europe was still keeping their accounts using the monetary system established by charlemagne some 350 years earlier. Some of these coins had never existed. None of charlemagne's actual shillings and pence remained in circulation. And those coins that did circulate tended to vary enormously in size, weight,