The Coins of Medieval Europe

The coinage of Europe during the Middle Ages, from the fall of the Roman Empire to the Renaissance, is one of great complexity. The standard reference book on the subject dates from the beginning of the present century and there is no work in existence which provides anything approaching a pictorial survey of the period's highly diverse products. Professor Grierson’s approach is essentially that of an historian.
He surveys the evolution of medieval coinage over the centuries, describing its initial contraction as the result of the Barbarian invasions and its subsequent development, from the eleventh century onwards, in relation to the political revival and economic expansion of Latin Christendom.

Medieval coins differ from those of Roman antiquity partly through the fact of their being issued by a great number of different political authorities and partly through their belonging to different artistic traditions. Ruler representations on the coins symbolize offices rather than persons, with no attempt to reproduce the features of individuals, and the decorative element is highly developed. The bracteates of twelfth-century Germany and the gold coins of fourteenth-century France rank amongst the greatest achievements of numismatic art.