For those interested, the practice of debasement actually predates the middle ages by, a lot. By 301 inflation was so bad Diocletian had to put out a price fixing edict. It didn't work. It took Constantine's Solidus (basically solid gold coin - that will stay stable for almost a thousand years) to stabilize the currency. By the early fourth century the denarius that used to have 50% silver contained almost no silver at all (something like 1 to 5%).
thaumasiotes|1 year ago
Debasement occurs any time the government runs out of money and can force people to take the debased money. The previous ~150 years of the same government minted tetradrachms that were all silver, probably because their main use of the silver was paying foreign mercenaries.
> By the early fourth century the denarius that used to have 50% silver
This is already a heavily debased coin. Nobody starts by adulterating their coins down to 50% monetary content.
> It took Constantine's Solidus (basically solid gold coin - that will stay stable for almost a thousand years) to stabilize the currency.
This isn't plausible; gold coins barely transact (gold is too rare). Minting coins that nobody uses won't affect the currency that people do use.
Wikipedia notes that, on issuance, Constantine's solidus was worth 275,000 denarii. The denarius was debased, but it was also a coin that people carried around and used to buy things. Think about the number of transactions that might plausibly have involved one or more solidi. If we underestimate the 4th-century denarius as being roughly as valuable as a US penny... how much use would you have for a $2,750 coin?
qwytw|1 year ago
Why? Of course it wasn't accessible or particularly useful for the majority of people but it was central to the Byzantine economy/financial-system functioned. Soldiers were paid in gold (every 6 or 12 months so that simplified things) and taxes were also collected in gold whenever feasible.
Relying on gold as your primary currnecy of course wasn't ideal since the outcome was a partially demonetisation of the wider economy.
However while it was was basically entirely unavailable in Western Europe and there were almost no gold coins in circulation until the 13th or so it was much more widespread in the Eastern Mediterranean.
Beijinger|1 year ago
1. Not enough mines to mine silver, exhausted based on their technology
2. China sold silk and other stuff and accumulating silver
https://cassandralegacy.blogspot.com/2014/03/peak-civilizati...