Money and the Middle Ages

Jacques Le Goff is Professor of History, and formerly head of École des hautes études en sciences sociales. He was a leading figure in the Annales School and his book Medieval Civilization is a classic.

• AcknowledgementsIntroduction1. The heritage of the Roman Empire and Christianization2. From Charlemagne to feudalism3. The rise of coin and money at the turn of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries4. The wonderful thirteenth century of money5. Trade, money and coin in the commercial revolution of the thirteenth century6. Money and the nascent states7. Lending, debt and usury8. A new wealth and a new poverty9. From the thirteenth to the fourteenth century: money in crisis10. The perfecting of the financial system at the end of the Middle Ages11. Towns, states and money at the end of the Middle Ages12. Prices, wages and coin in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuriesAppendix: Was there a land market in the Middle Ages?13. The mendicant orders and money14. Humanism, patronage and money15. Capitalism or caritas?ConclusionBibliographyIndex

"Le Goff is magisterial in his treatment of medieval documentary sources, and of modern historical debate."Ashmolean Museum "Money and the Middle Ages provides those insights into the period which we associate with this master of historical writing."Times Literary Supplement "Le Goff has produced a masterpiece: a work which brings together all the complex issues surrounding money and the ways it was conceived and utilized.  At the same time he has succeeded in telling a story about individual people and their hopes and fears."Michael Clanchy, University of London "In this sweeping essay, at once concise and inventive, Jacques Le Goff returns to a theme on which he has been writing for over fifty years: history, culture, and money.  The argument is brisk, the examples wonderful, and his engagement with the material and religious contexts as vigorous as ever. This is still the Le Goff whose history-writing has proved so influential for two generations now."John Van Engen, University of Notre Dame "A very clear and authoritative analysis of the perception and use of money across three very turbulent centuries of western European history"MAKE Literary Magazine