The History of the Church of England

England had just lost the city of calais, which was its last foothold in france. The country was in debt and experiencing very high inflation rates. And elizabeth also had to deal with a debased coinage. For several decades, cheaper metals like copper had been added to silver coins. That contributed to the inflation problem, because the coins weren't really worth their face value. It created an even bigger problem for english merchants and traders overseas. Foreign merchants often refused the english coins because it was well known that they weren't worth their facevalue. So early in elabeth's reign, she and her advisers developed a programme whereby the government recalled the existing coins,. melted them down and