178 CURRENCY. 



The exchange generally involves a loss. Thus at Maldon the 

 bailiff pays tenpence in 1359 to exchange gold into silver, pro- 

 bably at the rate of twopence the florin. The Holywell bailiff 

 exchanges four florins in 1363 at a discount of twopence in the 

 florin, and ten nobles in the following year at the same rate. 

 The gold coinage was liable to forgery. Thus the Merton 

 bursar in 1378 claims allowance of $s. 4^. cc pro ficto auro," 

 i. e. probably for a bad florin, or perhaps a half-noble ; the 

 same sum in 1 396, " pro ficto obolo aureo ;" and twentypence in 

 1399 for a gilded quadrans by which he had been deceived. 



The English silver standard was never debased till the time 

 of Henry the Eighth. But notwithstanding the care taken to 

 prevent the introduction of foreign moneys, a considerable cir- 

 culation of Flemish coins, apparently of low purity, was effected 

 in England at the close of the thirteenth century. These 

 pieces went by the names of Pollards, Crockards, Scaldings, 

 Brabants, Eagles, Leonines, and Sleepings (dormientes). For a 

 time they were permitted to pass at half their nominal value. 

 But in the year 1299 they were called in at this rate, and 

 their further circulation was forbidden. It is said that the 

 crown made a profit on this calculation. In vol. ii. pp. 53, 54, 

 it will be seen that sales of corn in these pollards are entered 

 in the bailiffs' accounts of several manors, and in p. 664 of 

 the same volume notice is taken, at the foot of a general roll 

 of account, of the formal inhibition. Had this proclamation 

 or order not been made, the pollards would no doubt have 

 been exchanged at the rate of the time, and the market value 

 of the silver contained in them have been reckoned in the 

 assets of the College. As it was, however, the rate was fixed 

 by the crown, and the foreign money exchanged by the officers 

 of the Exchequer. 



There can, I think, be no doubt that great part of the misery 

 which befell France during the fourteenth century arose from 

 the shameless depreciation and debasement of the currency. 

 A diminished weight may, and indeed does, injure many, but 

 the evil is temporary and soon rectified. But a debased 



