Now! Then! 2024! - Yorkshire On This Day

Excerpt

We have perceived that diverse people beyond the sea do endeavour themselves to counterfeit our sterling money of England, and to send into England their weak money. We, willing to prevent and let all such deceits, damages, and oppressions, and to this that our good money be increased in our realm, to the profit of us and our subjects, by the assent of the prelates, earls, barons, and other great men of our realm, at our parliament holden at York, have ordained and established these things:

1. That no religious man [pilgrim], nor other, shall carry any sterling out of the realm of England, nor silver plate, nor vessel of gold, nor of silver, upon pain of forfeiture of the money, plate, or vessel that he shall so carry without our especial licence.
2. That no false money or counterfeit sterling be brought into the realm upon forfeiture of such money.
3. That no sterling halfpenny nor farthing be molten for to make vessel or any other thing by goldsmiths nor others, upon forfeiture of the money so molten.
4. That all manner of black [debased] money, which hath been commonly current of late in our realm and obseisance, be utterly excluded, upon pain of forfeiture of the same money.
6. That the vizors and bailiffs of every port where merchants and ships be shall take the oath of the merchants and masters of the ships going and coming again, that they shall do no fraud against this provision in any point.

Comment

Comment

Rymer’s Foedera indicates that detailed implementation was ordered on 21 September 1335:

The bailiffs of Great Yarmouth and 18 other ports are ordered to proclaim that no person leaving the country is to exchange money except at the appointed tables of exchange. Edinburgh. E. ii p. ii. 922. 0. iv. 668. H. ii. p. iii. 135. (Rymer 1869)

The scheme was entrusted to the sticky fingers of William de la Pole of Hull:

From 1335 de la Pole would also need a headquarters in London for his new appointment as Warden of the Exchanges. Under the Statute of Money made that year at York, the King was empowered to ordain tables of Exchange to be set up from time to time in seaport towns. By September 1335, tables had already been instituted at London, Dover, Great Yarmouth, Boston and Kingston upon Hull, and William was made responsible for the issues of these exchanges, As head Warden he could appoint his deputies in the ports, but the King, as a safeguard, appointed the local controllers. It was now illegal for merchants, pilgrims and others to take ourrency or plate out of the realm or to exohange their money exoept at the appointed places, and the bailiffs of Hull and other principal cities and towns were notified of William’ s appointment. De la Pole’s account of the “Profit of Exchange” at the five ports for the half-year ended March 1336 is given in the Wardrobe Acoounts. The profit account shows that the principal ports actually used for Exchange purposes were Dover and Great Yarmouth. De la Pole was removed from his office at the end of his half-year, when he was advised that “it will not behove him to intermeddle further.” (Harvey 1957)

Agnes Dodd:

The reign of Edward III may be taken as the time when an indigenous gold coinage became an important part of the currency of the realm. The change was due mainly to the foreign relations of England — both political and commercial — in this reign, but partly also to the difficulties caused by the constant influx of debased silver coins from the Continent, In 1337, when the Hundred Years’ War began, Edward entered into alliance with the German princes and was made VicarGeneral of the Emperor with power to coin both gold and silver, though it is not at all likely that the English king recognized the necessity for the imperial sanction in this respect. Just at this time a large quantity of base money was coming into the country through the trade with Flanders ; it was struck in a white metal resembling silver, and was so inferior in quality that coins to the nominal value of a pound were sometimes worth no more than 40 pence. This influx of base money had caused such a dearth of good money that the Government found it necessary as early as 1335 to try and check the evil by legislation (Dodd 1911)

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Original

The 9 Edward III, statute 2, cap. 1, enacted as follows:-
“Edward, by the grace of God, King of England, &c., to the sheriffs of York, greeting: Because we have perceived that divers people beyond the sea do endeavour themselves to counterfeit our sterling money of England, and to send into England their weak money, in deceit of us, and damage and oppression of our people, if remedy be not provided; we willing to prevent and let all such deceits, damages, and oppressions, and to this that our good money be increased in our realm, and other countries within our power, to the profit of us and our subjects; by the assent of the prelates, earls, barons, and other great men of our realm, at our parliament holden at York, the morrow of the Ascension last passed [26 May 1335], there assembled, have ordained and established these things ensuing in the manner underwritten:
“I. First. It is provided that from henceforth no religious man [pilgrim], nor other shall carry any sterling out of the realm of England, nor silver plate, nor vessel of gold, nor of silver, upon pain of forfeiture of the money, plate, or vessel that he shall so carry without our especial license.
“II. Item-That no false money or counterfeit sterling be brought into the realm, nor elsewhere within our power, upon forfeiture of such money.
“III. Item-That no sterling halfpenny nor farthing be molten for to make vessel or any other thing by goldsmiths nor others, upon forfeiture of the money so molten…
“IV. Item-That all manner of blank money which hath been commonly current of late in our realm and obseisance, be utterly excluded, so that none such shall be current after a month next after the cry thereof made, upon pain of forfeiture of the same money…
“VI. Item-That the vizors and bailiffs of every port where merchants and ships be, shall take the oath of the merchants and masters of the ships going and coming again, that they shall do no fraud against this provision in any point.”
Searchers were to be appointed at the ports of the kingdom to guard against the carriage of money or plate from out the kingdom. In 1336 the complaint of a scarcity of money was so great that the king was allowed to export 20,000 sacks of wool to Flanders, the value of which was 918,000l.-SIR CHARLES WHITWORTH.

420 words.

Tags

Tags are assigned inclusively on the basis of an entry’s original text and any comment. You may find this confusing if you only read an entry excerpt.

• Commodity money (2) ·
• Counterfeit money (3) ·
• Debasement (2) ·
• Dover (1) ·
• Edward III (1312-1377) (5), ruled 1327-1377, noted for military successes, restoration of royal authority, evolution of parliament, Black Death ·
• Flanders (6) ·
• Foreign exchange controls (1) ·
• Fraud (21) ·
• Gold (3) ·
• Great Yarmouth (2) ·
• Gresham’s law (2), bad money drives out good ·
• Hundred Years’ War, 1337–1360 (2), first phase of the Hundred Years' War ·
• Hundred Years’ War (3) ·
• 📌Kingston upon Hull (65) ·
• List of acts of the Parliament of England, 1327–1411 (1) ·
• Methods of coin debasement (3) ·
• Pilgrim (1) ·
• Pole, William de la (-1366) (2), Hull wool merchant, royal moneylender, Chief Baron of the Exchequer, founder of the de la Pole family, "second to no other merchant of England" ·
• Rymer, Thomas (1) ·
• Silver coin (2) ·
• Silver (3) ·

All tags.

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