HISTORICAL TRIPOS PART I 2011 Paper 1 THEMES AND ...

HISTORICAL TRIPOS PART I 2011
Paper 1
Option (i)
THEMES AND SOURCES
Money and Society from late antiquity to the early modern period
Write an essay of 3000 to 5000 words on ONE of the following questions. Your essay
must be typewritten and should be provided with footnotes and a bibliography giving
references in a consistent format to the primary sources and secondary literature used.
For further details on presentation (including how to count footnotes,
bibliography and statistical graphs and tables), consult the Faculty Style Guide
which is available on the Faculty website. Please also read carefully the Notes to
Candidates on the cover-sheet, and the previously distributed information sheet
on long essays.
Indicate the question number and copy in full the wording of the question at the start
of your submission.
Unless your question requires otherwise, you may concentrate on any particular
period or region within the scope of the course.
All essays should be related to the issues discussed in the classes. You should make
use of the primary sources in your course folder and any sources your supervisor
advises you to consult.
If you choose a topic from Section B, you must formulate a specific essay title within
the general theme identified by the topic heading and then obtain approval for that
title from the course organisers before the end of Easter Full term (Friday, 11 June
2010).
TWO hard copies of your essay and ONE electronic copy (preferably on CD)
must be submitted to the Themes and Sources Secretary in the Faculty Office on
Friday, 21 January 2011.
Section A – Essay Questions
1. Is a supply of money all that is needed for the development of a money
economy
2. What evidence is there to reconstruct the nature of the late Anglo-Saxon
monetary system after the reform of Edgar
3. Discuss the significance of coinage of the Byzantine emperors of the seventh
century from Heraclius to Justinian II.

4. What were the causes and effects of the divergence between money of account
in written sources and the coinage in circulation during the Italian Commercial
Revolution
5. What effect did the increasing use of money have on life in the medieval
English countryside after Domesday Book
6. To what extent did credit act as a substitute for coined money in the medieval
English economy
7. ‘In early modern England a good reputation was more important for a
tradesman than the possession of large amounts of cash.’ Discuss.
8. How novel was the institutional structure of the Bank of England compared to
previous European banks
Section B - Topics
9. The forms and functions of money.
10. Money and the state.
11. The commercialization of society.
12. Money in rural society.
13. Small change.
14. Shortages of money.
15. Credit.
16. Paper money and banking.