In the early Middle Ages, the monetary system in Europe was basically the same Roman system, inherited from the Roman Empire. There are three main types of gold coins, silver coins, and copper coins, and the unit of gold coins is solidus, which weighs 4. 48 grams, pure gold (the purity is not clear). The gold coin was also complemented by Semissis, which weighed half the weight of Souledus; Tremissis, which weighs a third of the size of Souledes.

The unit of silver is siliquae, and twenty-four sliques is equal to one surideus; There is also a kind of coin, called the denier, also called half the slick, which of course is half the weight of the slick.

The unit of copper coins was a follis, the lowest unit of bargaining between Carl and the Imperial merchants, with one slick equal to eight friths.

Over time, throughout the mid-to-late Middle Ages, the countries of Europe changed greatly, and many other types of money appeared. For example, the Frankish Merovingian dynasty and the Anglo-Saxon kingdom once issued their own gold and silver coins, but they were all based on the above system, and did not change much except for the name. In the future, one shilling in England and one shilling in France would be equivalent to the value of one gold coin of Sulledus. The Holy Roman Empire later issued a currency called Thaler, which was popular in Europe for hundreds of years. Later, the German pronunciation of TH was replaced by D, and it was directly brought to the New World by immigrants, and it became Dollar, which is not unfamiliar, right? It is the dollar of the future.

Later, the Europeans found a system of exchange that everyone recognized. That's the "pound". A pound is a French livre, an Italian lira, and a British pound. in France. 1 livre = 20 su = 240 dniere; In the UK. £1 = 20 shillings = 240 pence. These names are really just names for different regions, and they are essentially the same thing. But there was one difference, that is, the Germans, no, they were Germans, and there was no concept of Germany at that time. The Germanic unit is the mark, I didn't find out exactly where it came from, but the ratio is, one mark is equal to 160 pfennig. A Fennig is a De Niel.

In 13th-century Europe, the struggle for power between secular emperors and popes was intense, and the control of both emperors and popes over the empire was greatly reduced, so the coinage power fell into the hands of local princes. Now it's chaotic, and there are no more currencies that are less heavy and have different fineness, and there are many local currencies, which are the kind of things that no one recognizes out of this territory. How many are there? There are about 200 in the most prosperous Frankish region in Western Europe, and in the Netherlands and Italy, where commercial activity is more intensive, the number has to double.

There are two more financial words to say here. One is that bad money drives out good money, and the other is currency depreciation. That's when these two things started to appear. In medieval Europe, importing and minting bad money, murder, and robbery were all felony crimes, but they were repeatedly prohibited, which was the phenomenon of bad money driving out good money. Metal currency is worn out in use, generally said to reduce weight by 2% in ten years, and after a few decades, it can no longer be used, and then it has to be reclaimed and reminted. The problem was that the new coins had to be of a reasonable weight, but no king would be willing to add to it out of his own pocket. What to do? Gold and silver are expensive, and copper is relatively cheap, so copper is added to it, so these gold and silver coins become less valuable the more they are used, which is currency depreciation.

After talking about the monetary system, the author is not very satisfied, just knowing that Suledus, Slik, and Fries are all, do you know how much these gold, silver, and copper coins are worth? That is, their true value. If you don't know this, money doesn't mean anything. So the author searched again, barely scraped together a set of acceptable European currency purchasing power, and wrote it as a rough measure.

First of all, the price of a horse is roughly divided into two types, one is an ordinary pack horse, and the average price of a young pack horse is one livre, which is one gold coin. One is a war horse, which is worth about six livres after rigorous training and a horseshoe. This price is already very expensive, you must know that a bull in the prime of life sells for one livre, and a war horse is equivalent to six bulls.

Why are war horses so expensive? In fact, there is no shortage of horses in Europe, but well-trained horses are so expensive, it not only represents horses, but also represents a class, that is, knights! In French, the word knight is the same as equestrianism, which means that you can't be a knight without a warlike horse. What is a knight? It is the lower limit of the aristocratic class, and the things for the nobles to play with, according to the standards of later generations, lose their status when they are sold cheaply, so the war horses in this era are so expensive.

What did a standard thirteenth-century European knight need? Karl counted Hong Tao's fingers, and then Hong Tao dismissed his plan to train knights in Golden River Bay. If you want to be a knight, Zhennima is expensive, and even a local tyrant like Hong Tao can't afford to raise much.

A fine set of knight's armor costs at least twelve gold coins; A helmet costs about six gold coins; a good pair of foot rings six gold coins; A spear and a shield are at least two gold coins; Three gold coins for a sword and four gold coins for a scabbard (Nima sheath is more expensive than a sword, why?) Can a scabbard kill? ）； A horse is at least six gold coins, and the saddle is counted separately.

Well, the most basic knight needs two horses, a suit of armor, a spear, a shield, and a sword with a sheath, and that's forty-five gold coins. But this is not enough, knights not only fight, but also usually go out to hunt, hunting must have falcons, a trained falcon is six gold coins gone. From time to time, you have to participate in knight tournaments, which is the best place for knights and noble girls to get to know each other, and this money is boundless to spend, and you have to prepare any costumes, beautiful saddles, knight squires, etc.

Speaking of the price of silk, the price of a silk horse from the East is even more outrageous, it is actually more expensive than a war horse, reaching ten to eighteen livres. The price of muslin woven in Europe is much cheaper, 2*10 a horse, according to different colors, the price is about 3 livres. Hardcotton cloth is a kind of linen and cotton mixed fabric that is a bit like a small canvas, and one horse can be sold for about 4 livres.

Finally, the approximate income level of Europeans in the thirteenth century is not a question that can be said, because Europe is not a unified country, divided into many parts, and the level of economic development is uneven. Let's take the Franks and the Holy Roman Empire as examples, where a skilled craftsman's daily wage is about 12 dennels, halved for assistants, and halved for apprentices.

In 1230, Pisa had an annual tax revenue of more than 3,000 livres, and Paris was the largest European city at the time, with a population of more than 200,000 and a tax revenue of less than 100,000 livres for the year. Compared with the cities of the Great Song Dynasty, which often had tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, and millions, Europe at this time was a small and poor countryside. The most awesome cities in Europe are only 120,000 people, which is not as many as port cities such as Guangzhou and Quanzhou in the Great Song Dynasty.

A set of 20 gold coins of alloy silver tableware, a jar of 4 gold coins of sugar, a jar of 5 su of whale oil, and a half of a dozen gold coins of candles. This is the price of some of the goods that Carl negotiated with the royal merchant, and Hong Tao himself feels that the price is too expensive, and he hopes to reduce the price by half so that he can sell it in large quantities. But Karl said that this price is already very cheap, not at all more expensive than the price of buying from the A-La Bo, and there is no need to go to the port of the A-La Bo to transport, no matter how cheap it is, it will affect the entire price system.

As for perfumes, cosmetics, silk clothing, and other things, these finished products had never appeared in Europe, and the royal merchants did not dare to set prices arbitrarily, so he suggested that Karl take them to the palace for auction, and then re-price them according to the auction situation and price. If Carl is troublesome, he can do it for him, and he won't charge a penny for the handling fee, and he will do it for nothing!

"Can they afford these things? What can I get out of this poor place? Hong Tao didn't care much about how much money these goods could sell, he came here mainly to send Carl home, fulfill his promise to his friends, and explore the economic, political, and social conditions in Europe by the way. And this one is called Giogio. The businessmen of Peruzzi chatted for most of the day, and Hong Tao's whole person was cold. According to this situation, Europe has no purchasing power, and it seems that the previous dumping plan has to be changed, and it can't run thousands of miles to do charity!

"Is this Gio Jewish?" As soon as he heard that this imperial businessman wanted to help him sell goods for free, and he didn't want any benefits, Hong Tao's thief's eyes began to turn again, can the businessman do things without benefits? Or is it that the Italian businessman, who is known for his shrewdness, is so unbelieving?

“…… You are indeed a god, he and his family are the richest people in Rena, and there is also a family of Kobaldi and the family of Peruzzi, who started by usury, and the funds circulating in their hands every year are as much as tens of thousands of livres, and the family property is estimated to be more than 100,000 livres. Carl heard Hong Tao's question and almost didn't kneel down for Hong Tao to kiss his shoes. This Nima is also amazing, just met and chatted for a while, and didn't say anything about religion, but you can actually tell at a glance that this Giogio is a Jew!

I wondered why the loan sharks were all Jews. Your cousin is so powerful, he is the emperor of the empire, why don't you take money to make money? If you don't do such a good deal, even if you are noble, you have no enmity with money, even if you become a shareholder and join a joint venture with them, right? Hong Tao asked Carl to say this, and immediately remembered a question. Since the beginning of his last life, he has a question, why is it that in European and American societies, especially in ancient times, all usurers are Jews? Are there not many wise people among Christians? Or is there any rule that this economic means can only be done by Jews, and no one else is allowed to play it?

(To be continued.) )