306 GOLD AND SILVER 



CHAP. XI-; 



the coins, and especially of those of inferior 

 standard, but, above all, to superintend the se- 

 curing those emoluments to the emperor to 

 which he was entitled for his seigniorage. Those 

 precautions were found, however, so ineffectual, 

 that it became necessary to issue penal ordi- 

 nances, by which the punishment of the galleys 

 in some cases, and of death in others, was de- 

 creed 1 . 



Without farther mention of the productions 

 of the mints in the middle ages, it is sufficient 

 to observe, that the coins of that period being 

 clumsily formed were thicker than those of more 

 recent date, and as they thus exposed a much 

 less surface to friction, there was proportionably 

 less loss on them than on modern pieces of 

 money. 



There is good reason to conclude, that during 

 the period we are viewing a very small part of 

 the produce of the mines of gold and silver was 

 permanently applied to other purposes than that 

 of money. A portion of it was undoubtedly 

 used for domestic utensils, for religious institu- 

 tions, and for personal decorations ; but it would 

 appear that such portions were small and dis- 

 persed among the higher classes of society, in- 

 cluding the ecclesiastical communities, in very 



1 Schmidt, Histoire des Allemands, vol. ii. p. 389, and 

 vol. iv. p. 27. Edition Liege, 1784. 



