6139008-History-of-Money

Forty barrels of gold were found beneath the altar of St. Sophia alone. The plunder of Constantinople by the Venetiansand other of the Crusaders probably transferred more metallic wealth to Western Europe than all the commerce of thecenturies that preceded it (William Jacobs, The Precious Metals). The return of this metallic plunder to Europe gave acrucial monetary boost to European life and was probably the main factor in Europe finally reaching the magic threshold,the critical monetary mass where a truer, more advanced monetary system could function. Nomisma could be introduced.The hoarded coinage and bullion had been less than useless in Constantinople, where it required heavy storage expensesand served as a magnet attracting conquest. In Europe it would be put to much better use: by Venice in her commercialactivities, by the Princes in their realms, by the Church in helping to finance construction of the great cathedrals of Europeby individual crusaders and by the Knights Templar in their growing financial activities."The schisms between the Latin and Orthodox churches became irrevocable. Michael 8th recovered Constantinople fromthe Latins in 1261. It fell to the Ottoman Turks in 1453. "The fall of Constantinople in 1204 formally ended the Empire’smonetary powers, which had held sway in Europe from the time of the Caesars. "The ‘secret’ dynamic behind this ‘sacred’monetary system was that the Basileus would be ready to exchange centrally minted gold Bezants for locally minted silvercoinage at a 12 to 1 ratio, when it could exchange that same silver for up to twice as much gold bullion in India and pointseast. When Byzantium fell, control of money slipped from sacred hands into Masonic hands. While the Lateran Councilwould soon (1211) declare the Papacy’s supremacy over all earthly sovereigns, they couldn’t make it stick. Frederick 2ndassumed the sacred prerogative of the Basileus and minted gold coins at Naples in 1225. Local rulers all over Europebegan minting gold coinage. "Vast amounts of spoil were brought back to Europe from Constantinople, more than theofficial figures, because the marauders cheated their fellow Christians and did not put all their loot into the official pool,which totaled about 400,000 marks weight worth of silver. Forty barrels of gold were found beneath the altar of St.Sophia alone. The plunder of Constantinople by the Venetians and other of the Crusaders probably transferred moremetallic wealth to Western Europe than all the commerce of the centuries that preceded it (William Jacobs, The PreciousMetals). The return of this metallic plunder to Europe gave a crucial monetary boost to European life and was probably themain factor in Europe finally reaching the magic threshold, the critical monetary mass where a truer, more advancedmonetary system could function. Nomisma could be introduced. The hoarded coinage and bullion had been less thanuseless in Constantinople, where it required heavy storage expenses and served as a magnet attracting conquest. InEurope it would be put to much better use: by Venice in her commercial activities, by the Princes in their realms, by theChurch in helping to finance construction of the great cathedrals of Europe by individual crusaders and by the KnightsTemplar in their growing financial activities."Before the time of Henry II it was normal in England, as in other feudal countries, for the king's tenants-in-chief and theirretainers to owe him a period of military service, usually 40 days annually. Henry replaced this obligation with cashpayments known as scutage and used the money to pay for a permanent professional army of mercenaries or soldiers asthey commonly became known after this time from the solidus or king's shilling that they earned. England's participationin the Crusades required additional expenditure which Henry II financed by levying heavy taxes on all movable propertyand all incomes. But, although huge sums accumulated in Henry's eastern account he refused to let anyone spend themuntil after the disastrous battle of Hattin in 1187. Henry's successor, Richard I (the "Lion Heart") raised money for the 3rdCrusade partly by the sale of as many publicly owned assets as possible (a measure which the author compares toMargaret Thatcher's "privatization" policy in the 1980s which has been copied by governments around the World). On hisreturn journey he was captured in Vienna and imprisoned by Emperor Henry VI. The ransom demanded far exceeded theaverage revenue of the Kingdom of England but nevertheless a high proportion of it was raised quite quickly (throughspecial taxes and gifts) and he was released. Payments for supplies, equipment, allies, ransoms etc. required safe andspeedy means of transferring vast resources of cash. Consequently the Masonic Knights of the Temple (Templars) and theHospitallers began to provide some banking services such as those already being developed in some of the Italian citystates where the need to transfer sums of money for trading purposes led to the development of financial servicesincluding bills of exchange. Banking had been invented in the Middle East long before the invention of coins but wasabandoned and forgotten after the collapse of the Roman empire. The Crusades gave a great stimulus to its reemergence.Davies, Glyn. A history of money: "The military ratchet was the most important single influence inraising prices and reducing the value of money in the past 1,000 years, and for most of that time debasementwas the most common, but not the only, way of strengthening the 'sinews of war'."Medieval England was primarily an agricultural society; hence investment in capital did not come readily to them. 1W.J.Ashley, An Introduction to English Economic History and Theory (New York, 1905). Close Yet, because they could not ownland in England the only profession in which Jews could participate was money-lending. Israel Abrahams, Jewish Life inthe Middle Ages (London, 1896), 241. The kings of England would use the Jews as a way of indirectly taxing theirservants. The king could tax the Jews, which in turn would cause the Jews to demand payment on their loans from theirdebtors. If the Jews and their debtors could amass the necessary funds, then the king had his revenue. If the Jews couldnot secure the tax, then the king could imprison them and seize their property. This property was in many cases thedeeds to land, which debtors had used as collateral. Therefore, the king, through the taxation of the Jews, was able toenhance his absolute power. In 1230, Henry III requested £6000 for army pay. Michael Adler, Jews of Medieval England(London, 1939), 147. In 1236, ten of the richest Jews were used as a security deposit to force their brethren to pay£10,000. In 1240, the Jews were called upon to pay a tax of £20,000 or about one-third of their property. When the Jewsrefused to pay, the crown took their property as payment for the tax and arrested them, along with their wives andchildren. In 1251, a new tax of £10,000 was issued. Between 1227 and 1259, Henry III taxed the Jews of England£250,000. The historian Cecil Roth claimed “The King [Henry III] was like a spendthrift with a cheque-book, drawing oneamount after another in utter indifference to the dwindling of his resource.” Cecil Roth, A History of the Jews in England,2nd ed. (Oxford, 1949), 44-6, 51. In partial defense of Henry, the Jewish exchequer—the department of the royalThe Hidden History Of Money & New World Order Usury Secrets Revealed at last! Page 225