| 1319-1331 |
Parts of India and Japan issue paper money |
| These are short-lived imitations of Chinese currency. |
| p 182 |
|
| 1337 - 1453 |
Hundred Years War between England and France |
|
|
| 1348-1350 |
The Black Death ravages Europe |
| This is followed by several other outbreaks of plague over the next hundred years,
causing a reduction in the size of the population and a collapse in economic growth. |
| p 159-161 |
|
| 1355 |
Nicole Oresme's De Origine Natura Jura et Mutationibus Monetarum
is published |
| Oresme, the greatest economic thinker of the Middle Ages, argues that the quantity of
precious metal in circulation determines the value of the currency. Later, in 1370, he
becomes chaplain and adviser to King Charles V of France. |
| p 228-229 |
|
| 1356 |
Battle of Poitiers |
| King John II of France is captured by the English who demand a ransom of 3 million
crowns (£500,000) but in the end they accept a little less than half the amount. Part of
the ransom is used in building Windsor Castle. |
| p 165 |
|
| 1377-1399 |
Reign of Richard II |
| In 1377 Richard II imposes an unpopular flat rate poll tax followed by similar taxes
in 1379 and 1381. |
| p 166 |
|
| 1381 |
The Peasants' Revolt |
| The uprising, belatedly caused in large part by anger at the poll tax, is suppressed. |
| p 167 |
|
| 1381 |
Richard Aylesbury opposes ban on the export of bullion |
| He argues that a legal ban is unnecessary provided total commodity exports at least
balance imports. |
| p 225 |
|
| 1401 |
Bank of Barcelona founded |
|
|
| 1403 |
Charging interest on loans is ruled legal in Florence |
| Despite the traditional Christian prohibition of usury, Italian banks such as the
Lombards, who have agents in the main economic centres of Europe, have been making charges
for loans. The lawyer and theologian Lorenzo di Antonio Ridolfi wins a case which
legalises interest payments by the Florentine government. |
| p 219-220 |
|
| 1407 |
Bank of St George, Genoa, founded |
|
|
| 1440 |
Gutenberg invents the modern printing press |
| Although Europe already knew of the use of paper money in China, the printing press
design is subsequently modified, by Leonardo da Vinci among others, for use in minting
coins nearly two centuries before printed banknotes are produced in the West. |
| p 178-179 |
|
| 1448 |
Hyperinflation in China |
| The Ming note nominally worth 1,000 cash has a market value of only three. |
| p 183 |
|
| c. 1450 |
Portuguese start voyages along the coast of Africa |
| In the 14th and 15th centuries Europe suffers from a "Great Bullion Famine."
This is partially alleviated as the Portuguese open up a new route for sub-Saharan gold
via Ghana and Mali. |
| p 175,176,186 |
|
| 1452-1519 |
Life of Leonardo da Vinci |
| Among Leonardo's drawings are designs for a press to produce more uniform coins
quickly using a water driven mill. This innovation is widely adopted and the new money is
termed milled money. |
| p 178-179 |
|
| 1453 |
Fall of Constantinople |
| The capture of Constantinople by the Ottoman Turks and the disruption caused to
existing trade routes is a motivating factor in the subsequent European voyages of
exploration. |
| p 174,176 |
|
| c. 1455 |
China abandons paper money |
| There are no known references to paper money being in circulation after this date.
Thus after well over 500 years of experience with paper currencies, during which there
have been repeated episodes of inflation and currency reform, China ceases to use paper
money. |
| p 183 |
|
| 1455-1485 |
The Wars of the Roses |
| By the end of these wars the English currency has suffered badly from wear and tear,
clipping and counterfeiting of coins. |
| p 173,190 |
|
| 1487 |
Fuggers Bank founded in Augsburg |
| The increased availability of gold from Africa and later, after the discoveries of
Columbus, the Caribbean, raises the relative value of silver and consequently the Fuggers
profit greatly by financing European silver mines. |
| p 186,552 |
|
| 1489 |
Henry VII slashes Mint charges and issues the first gold sovereigns |
| By reducing the mint charges Henry encourages people to bring gold and silver to the
mints, causing a huge increase in their output of coins in the following years. Up to 1489
the English pound has simply been a unit of account. Now, with the issue of the sovereign,
it is also a coin. |
| p 191 |
|
| 1492 |
Columbus discovers America |
| In less than a decade after Columbus's first voyage the size of the world known to
Europeans is more than doubled. Within a generation it is more than trebled. However, the
discovery of highly profitable new trade routes to the already well-known trading centres
of India and China is a more important motivation than the discovery of new lands. |
| p 175-176,185 |
|
| 1494 |
First book on double entry bookkeeping is published in Italy |
| Double entry bookkeeping has been in use for probably well over a century in Italy
before the publication of the Summa de Arithmetica, Geometrica, Proportioni et
Proportionalita by Friar Luca Pacioli. |
| p 234-236 |
|
| 1498 |
Proclamation against "Roman" coins |
| During the Wars of the Roses good domestic currency was extremely rare in England and
use was made of illegally imported European and Irish coinage, almost all of which was
also grossly underweight. By this proclamation Henry VII tries to prohibit the use of
groats and half-groats issued by the Holy Roman Emperor. |
| p 192 |
|
| 1498 |
Vasco da Gama reaches India |
| The development of new, long-distance trade routes involving new modes of transport as
a result of the voyages of Vasco da Gama and Columbus stimulates the development of
capital and foreign exchange markets, and the use of bills of exchange. The pooling of
resources to reduce the risks of trade with far-away destinations leads to the development
of new experimental forms of equity capital from which the joint-stock company eventually
evolves. |
| p 176, 177 |
|
