Coinage and monetary policy in medieval Europe and Scandinavia

The project aims to analyze coin systems and monetary policy in medieval Europe and Scandinavia. The focus is on the choice between time-limited and long-lived coins in relatively undeveloped economies where coins began to be used as a means of transaction and a measure of value by large parts of the population. Time-limited coins meant that the mint master periodically invalidated the old coins, which had to be exchanged for new coins for a fee. The project analyzes the consequences of the choice of coin system for coin deterioration, economic activity and uncertainty. In particular, coins in the form of so-called one-sided bracteates will be analyzed and how they relate to time-limited coins. A simple theoretical model will be built and tested on the Scandinavian countries during the Middle Ages. Existing literature on the subject has neither used: 1) economic theory to understand monetary policy and the function of money, nor 2) statistical methods to analyze treasure finds. Nor has previous Swedish literature linked the Swedish medieval coins to the international research literature. In this project I apply all three of these methods. It should be emphasized that the project is interdisciplinary: existing literature and scientific methods in economics, economic history, numismatics and archaeology will be used and applied.