Medieval World

Germany, Italy, United Kingdom
The Roman empire brought a remarkable unity to much of western Europe for almost 500 years, before it fell apart in the face of barbarian invasions from the north soon after 400 AD (the Romans quite Britain in 410). While the Byzantine empire to the east in Constantinople prospered, western Europe lost the coherence of its public institutions and a gold coinage system which Rome had imposed. And it was to be almost a thousand years before strong, centralised coinage returned.

Thus the story of gold through the Dark Ages and then the early Middle Ages, from 500 until 1200, is fragmented. A few gold coins were minted here and there by English, French or Germanic rulers. As for goldsmiths, they served church and state; pectoral crosses, religious plate and gold altar fronts for the church, crowns and symbols of office for kings and chieftains. Women seem to have worn little gold jewellery until fashion changed after 1300.

An enduring problem was the shortage of new gold production, which did not pick up until fresh supplies from West Africa arrived increasingly after 1200 and gold mines opened in Hungary after 1320. Meanwhile, surviving Roman gold coins were often melted to make plate or ornaments for the church. The shortage of gold was such that many beautiful religious artefacts of medieval times which appear to be of gold are actually silver or more often copper gilded with a thin veneer of gold. If you visit the Musée National du Moyen Age in Paris, which has a unique collection of medieval religious objects, the label by each almost invariably reads ‘gilded silver’ or ‘gilded copper’, though they have the glow of gold. The colour of gold was equally apparent in religious paintings and frescoes (as in the Byzantine empire), often as the background setting for luminous blue figures, but it was gold paint or gold leaf. Indeed, gold had a divine overtone in the haloes of the Virgin and Child or a golden sky implying heaven.

The return of gold to western Europe began after 1100 with the Crusades. The Crusaders had to pay their way, but since Europe was short of gold, they paid largely in silver. Once in the eastern Mediterranean they bought up the local gold bezant coins of the Byzantine empire or Arabic dinars and ultimately these became a source of gold for Europe. The growing power of Venice also brought more trade between west and east. And that prosperity sucked in gold that had long been coming across the Sahara desert in camel caravans from West Africa, but had primarily been used for coin by Islamic rulers in North Africa or by the Byzantine empire. Gold coins were minted in Sicily in 1231 using African gold, and in Florence and Genoa in 1252; even the English and French kings minted a few small gold coins.

Venice, however, swiftly became the main market for gold, a position it was to hold for the next four hundred years. The market was strictly regulated. All imported gold had to be registered at the official Assay Office on the Rialto, and could not be exported unless it had been refined to at least 23 carats (958 fine). In 1273 the refining of all imported gold (which mostly arrived as dust) was entrusted to two goldsmiths chosen and paid for by the assay office. The price of gold was fixed officially every day on the Rialto. In 1284 Venice opened its gold mint and the next year struck the first gold ducat of 3.55 grams (0.114 ounces) that was to become a symbol of its wealth and power for the next five hundred years. The ducat was the most widely accepted coin since the Romans’ solidus.

The supply of gold was enhanced soon after 1300 by new mines north of Budapest in Hungary, so that with African gold the total supply available for Europe probably rose to over six tonnes (200,000 ounces) annually by 1350, the highest level since Roman times a thousand years earlier. Suddenly all Europe was making gold coins. In France the king’s mints produced nearly 10 tonnes (350,000 ounces) of gold coin in 1338-39. In 1344 the mints of Florence, Genoa, Venice, Bruges (Flanders) and London coined over five tonnes (170,000 ounces) of gold between them.

The goldsmiths’ world changed too. Their patrons were no longer simply the church or kings and princes. Wealthy merchants ordered gold jewellery not just for themselves, but for their wives. “Fashion became dominant … and women began to wear as much jewellery as men,” observes jewellery historian Graham Hughes. Gold finger rings and brooches came back in style.

A clear sign of this new era was the growth of goldsmiths’ guilds with closely regulated membership and strict standards. In 1238 controls were put on London goldsmiths to conform to standards laid down by the King. In Paris in 1258 the Provost decreed that all gold articles must match “the touch of Paris” at 22 carat (916 fine). London goldsmiths instituted their famous Trial of the Pyx in 1282, at which they assayed coin of the realm. And the Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths in London received its first royal charter in 1327.

Suddenly, the world of gold was on the brink of the modern era. Venice had a daily gold ‘fix’ just as London does today. Goldsmiths in London and Paris were hallmarking jewellery, just as they do today. Shortly the Renaissance would launch new intellectual and artistic ideas, while explorers were pushing round Africa and across the Atlantic to the New World which would provide a new dimension in gold and silver supplies.

Many museums in Europe hold gold coins and treasures from the medieval era. Among the best collections are those of Musée National du Moyen Age, the Louvre and Musée des Arts Decoratifs in Paris, the British Museum for coins and the Sutton Hoo treasure, the Victoria & Albert Museum for jewellery, the Albertinum Staatliche Kunstsammlungen in Dresden for coins and jewellery, Museo Correr in Venice for Venetian ducats, Museo Poldi Pezzoli in Milan for jewellery and enamels, Museum of National Antiquities in Stockholm for Viking jewellery, and Kunsthistorisches in Vienna for medieval art and jewellery.