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Currency:
» All coins were in either silver or gold.
» There was no copper money.
» There was no paper money.
» There were three basic denominations of currency during the middle ages, which were Pounds, Shillings, and Pence.
» 12 pence makes a Shilling.
» 20 shillings makes a Pound.
» The abbreviations of the individual types of currency was; a penny is d, a Shilling is s, and a pound is £.
» A medieval coin that was worth one pound, but equaled 20 shillings was the Sovereign.
» One of the most common gold coins during the middle ages was the Angel, which was worth 10 Shillings or half of a Pound.
» There was no coin known as a Pound until 1583, when the Pound then became the basic monetary unit.
» The most common coin during the Middle Ages was the Crown, which was worth five Shillings.
» The coin that was worth two Shillings and six Pence was known as Half-a Crown, or “2 and 6”.
» The silver coin that was worth 12 Pence was known as a Sixpence.
» The silver coin that was worth four Pence was known as the Groat.
» The only silver coin that was worth a Penny was known as the Penny.
» A ha’-penny is the nickname of a half penny.
» The coin that was worth two pence was known as a Tuppence.
» A type of currency that was worth 2/3 of a pound was known as the mark, or money of account.
» The mark was used in high-level transactions such as selling land, figuring feudal fines, or calculating dowries.
Trade:
» There was a southern trade region, which included Italy, and was dominated by the Arabs.
» There was a northern trade region that included England, Scandinavia, Poland, and Russia; this trade region was centered on the Baltic Sea.
» Guilds, or associations of craftsmen, helped move power from the country to the cities.
» Many people still lived on farms, and gathered their own food by hunting, growing, or borrowing it from their fellow man.
» Cities became less self-sufficient, or less rural, and instead became more urban due to the vast migration of farmers into the city to make a better life for themselves.
» The Crusades created a higher desire for foreign goods within the medieval cities.