HIS109Y1 Lecture 5: September 26th - Towns, Commerce, & Economic Change
28 Sep 2016
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Document Summary
The introduction of physical money into the european economy challenged the barter system which had largely prevailed since the fall of rome. Even in the dark ages, some small-scale trade had occurred primarily in the area of the. Roman coins, coins from the islamic empires to the east, and byzantine coins. Though the crusades had a nominally religious mission, a very important goal of. European crusaders was to seize control of the rich trade routes controlled by islamic forces in the middle east. Transporting the knights to the holy land, however, required a tremendous pooling of capital; they had to purchase weapons, provisions, and naval passage to the middle east. However, they could not pay for these with crops and other bartering tools; a mutually recognized currency was needed. Currency, in order to have value, must be trusted as a medium of exchange.
