Debasement and demography in England and France in the Later Middle Ages

Abstract

Abstract England recovered slowly after the Black Death, but countries which debased more saw rising prices and earlier population growth and economic recovery. We examine debasement in England, France, Flanders, and Scotland, emphasising the importance of nominal prices and governments’ role in determining and enforcing monetary policy. Money, as well as demography, strongly influenced the behaviour of prices in later medieval Europe, and price changes had profound economic effects. Population levels depend on mortality and fertility. It is not clear that mortality in England was more severe than elsewhere, but the English economic recession could have affected fertility and nuptiality.