When Europe Revived out of the Dark Ages, Currencies with Names Denoting a Weight of Precious Metals Were Established

In the sixth century BCE, when Rome was still ruled by kings, the “as” coin was instituted and embedded with one pound of copper. Later during the Republican period, largely to finance the Punic Wars with Carthage as well as Rome’s conquests, the copper content was systematically cut down. By 250 BCE, the as was down to 1/12 of a pound, and by 130 BCE that fraction had dropped to 1/24 on its way to becoming a mere token. An analogous, though ultimately more destabilizing, depreciation took place later after Rome had become an empire. That political behemoth had to finance a growing bureaucracy, an extensive system of handouts and entertainments to mollify the populace, persistent trade deficits fueled by the import of luxuries from the East, and, most importantly, a considerable military force to defend its far-flung borders. To pay for all this, the Roman Empire continuously debased its denarii. At the time of Nero in the first century CE, these silver coins were made up of 99% pure silver. But in 64, Nero lowered it to 93.5%, beginning a series of debasements that over the next two centuries would see the silver content of Rome’s currency reduced to almost nothing (Fig. 2.1 ).

Inflation thus began to ravage Rome’s economy, which arguably played a crucial role in the empire’s decline and fall.  Subsequently, when a desolated Europe began to revive out of the Dark Ages, currencies with names denoting the weight of precious metals embedded in them were established, such as the English pound and French livre. Well before the widespread adoption of paper currency reduced the commercial relevance of the metal content in coins, these post-Roman monies were eventually stripped and adulterated to the point where we are now—that is, in which the names of those currencies serve merely as a historical reminder of the way money was once supposed to be worth its weight.

—George Bragues, Money, Markets, and Democracy: Politically Skewed Financial Markets and How to Fix Them (New York: Springer Nature, 2017), 32-33.