Английская Википедия:Great Bullion Famine

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Шаблон:Short description

Файл:FRANCE, Royal. Louis XI le Prudent (the Prudent).jpg
Gold coin of Louis XI of France, minted at Perpignan in 1461 during the worst years of the Great Bullion Famine

The Great Bullion Famine was a shortage of precious metals that struck Europe in the 15th century, with the worst years of the famine lasting from 1457 to 1464. During the Middle Ages, gold and silver coins saw widespread use as currency in Europe, and facilitated trade with the Middle East and Asia; the shortage of these metals therefore became a problem for European economies. The main cause for the bullion famine was outflow of silver to the East unequaled by European mining output, although 15th century contemporaries believed the bullion famine to be caused by hoarding.

The discovery of the Americas with its silver and gold, along with innovations in mining techniques, and the Portuguese gaining access to African gold ended the bullion famine.

Background

The main cause for the bullion famine was outflow of silver to the East unequaled by European mining output.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn The historian John Day supports this theory stating the loss of gold and silver was due to large-scale trading with the Levant, which consisted of: spices, silks, rare dyestuffs, pearls, and precious gems.Шаблон:Sfn The primary markets for these goods were found in Egypt, Syria and Cyprus.Шаблон:Sfn

Fifteenth century contemporaries believed the bullion famine to be caused by hoarding.Шаблон:Sfn Whereas, Şevket Pamuk, professor of Economics and Economic History, states the bullion famine was exacerbated by the increase in the hoarding of coin.Шаблон:Sfn In contrast, the historian Diana Wood states that the silver shortage exacerbated the economies already damaged by war, famine, and plague.Шаблон:Sfn

During first half of the 14th century European mining more than compensated the bullion loss from trade with the Middle East.Шаблон:Sfn Prior to the Black Death, the loss of silver in England was caused by "accident and export".Шаблон:Sfn Yet by 1348, the Black Death had slowed silver mining.Шаблон:Sfn The mint at Bordeaux suffered a drop in production by fifty percent during the 1380s,Шаблон:Sfn and by 1392 French mints were suffering an accelerated decline in silver coining.Шаблон:Sfn In contrast, from 1346-1384, Flemish mints continued to produce silver groats, yet by 1392 the mint at Ghent had stopped coining and the Bruges mint fell idle in 1402.Шаблон:Sfn

France

By 1405 French gold crowns were hardly issued at all,Шаблон:Sfn and in 1409 Parisian money-changers declared they could not sell bullion to the mint at any price.Шаблон:Sfn Even the ducal mints of John, Duke of Burgundy stopped minting coins by 1432-1434.Шаблон:Sfn From 1400-1420, gold coins were no longer circulated in Toulouse.Шаблон:Sfn In 1414-1415, the Bordelais' Three Estates, faced with reports of a failure of circulating silver, appealed for action to be taken.Шаблон:Sfn

England

The English mint in Durham suffered a decline in output until its closure from 1394 to 1412.Шаблон:Sfn By 1411, the English sterling had been devalued to prevent silver loss in trade with Flanders.Шаблон:Sfn The London mint's bullion famine was partially mitigated by the reminting of old heavy coins to the new lighter standards which took effect in 1412.Шаблон:Sfn While the lightening of the gold English noble occurred from 1421-1524.Шаблон:Sfn

Italy

During the 1370s, the mines in Serbia and Bosnia allowed Venice to avoid the worst of the silver shortage,Шаблон:Sfn but the bullion loss drained silver mines in Bohemia and Sardinia as quickly as it was mined.Шаблон:Sfn

By 1420, gold was sent to the Fondaco dei Tedeschi in Venice, thence to the mint and then used in trade with the Mamluk Sultanate.Шаблон:Sfn The expansion of the Ottoman Empire into the Balkans had worsened the supply of bullion from mines to the rest of Europe,Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn and this expansion exposed Venice to the silver famine until the discovery of new silver mines in northern Europe in the 1450s and 1460s.Шаблон:Sfn By 1495, Venice merchants were using copper coinage to conduct trade for spices with the Mamluk Sultanate.Шаблон:Sfn Prior to Vasco de Gama's voyage in 1497, Venetian trade exported 300,000 ducats in bullion to Alexandria every year.Шаблон:Sfn

Spain

Spain suffered an economic crisis due to the bullion famine, and yet the famine, and with it the search for gold, drove the exploration and conquest of the New World.Шаблон:Sfn

Egypt

By 1397-1398, the silver famine had spread to the Mamluk Sultanate which terminated the minting of silver dirhams.Шаблон:Sfn Consequently, importing slaves from the Black Sea region was an immense drain on Mamluk coin supply.Шаблон:Sfn

Ottoman Empire

In the Ottoman Empire, despite the capture of Serbian and Bosnian silver mines, Mehmed II imposed strict laws to limit silver circulation.Шаблон:Sfn Any bullion produced or imported to the Ottoman Empire was to be submitted to the mint and coined.Шаблон:Sfn Included in this law was the employment of yasakci kuls(silver seekers) who were authorized to search any and all persons and places and confiscate silver.Шаблон:Sfn Despite these measures the Ottoman Empire also suffered from the silver famine.Шаблон:Sfn

Famine

The bullion famine caused a European economic recession that only the Portuguese and Low Countries were capable of surviving.Шаблон:Sfn During the 15th century, silver bullion became so rare that commodities were used in place of coin.Шаблон:Sfn European trade, c.1410, was crippled by the bullion famine and barely improved by the time the second bullion famine struck in c.1440.Шаблон:Sfn

Barter became so common place that the spice pepper was used in place of bullion, with the Germans calling their bankers peppermen.Шаблон:Sfn In England, the lack of bullion brought about a barter system,Шаблон:Sfn in response Edward IV of England passed an act in 1464, stating that carders, spinners, weavers, and fullers were to be paid lawful money for their wages.Шаблон:Sfn Although continued complaints by the cloth industry indicate this act was neglected.Шаблон:Sfn

In France people resorted to barter by 1420,Шаблон:Sfn and a barter system was improvised based on the value of commodities, if one commodity were deemed more expensive than the other, the difference was topped off with a payment of money.Шаблон:Sfn

As the bullion supply worsened, mining and refining techniques were improved.Шаблон:Sfn Georgius Agricola in his work, De re metallica, recorded these techniques.Шаблон:Sfn It also drove shipwrights to enhance the ability of merchant ships to extend their trading range.Шаблон:Sfn These naval advances were copied by the Genoans for their merchant vessels.Шаблон:Sfn

The exploration and later discovery of America, is believed to have been fueled by the bullion famine.Шаблон:Sfn Columbus's voyage was motivated by the search for gold, being mentioned in his diary sixty-five times.Шаблон:Sfn The Portuguese exploration of Africa and a trade route to India via the Cape of Good Hope, was similarly fueled by the famine.Шаблон:Sfn

Restoration

Файл:SPANISH COLONIAL. Philip II. 1556-1598. AR Cob 8 Reales (38mm, 26.70 gm). Potosí mint.jpg
Spanish colonial coin of Philip II, minted in Potosí (modern-day Bolivia), struck Шаблон:Circa

The discovery of the New World and with it silver from Mexico and Peru ended the bullion famine by 1550.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn Pieper supports this stating the Caribbean gold mines were exploited to end the European bullion famine.Шаблон:Sfn Moyk Lieberman states that an increase in bullion,Шаблон:Sfn the reopening of old mines, and a resurgence in population allowed mine production to remain constant, which also assisted in ending the bullion famine.Шаблон:Sfn By 1440s, Portugal was able to bolster its economy by trading for African gold bullion.Шаблон:Sfn

See also

References

Шаблон:Reflist

Sources

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