Money and society from late antiquity to the financial revolution

HISTORICAL TRIPOS Part I 2014
Paper 1
Option i
THEMES AND SOURCES
Money and Society from Late Antiquity to the Financial Revolution
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. Please also read carefully
the Themes and Sources Guidance document, on the Faculty website.
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 materials 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 organiser before the end of Easter Full Term (Friday 14 th June 2013).
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, 17
January 2014.
Section A: Essay Questions
1 To what extent is commercialization dependent upon a supply of money
2 In what ways did the nature of coin use vary by date and location in the early Middle
Ages
3 What does the Byzantine coinage reveal about the development of imperial ideology
4 Assess the limitations of the Italian Commercial Revolution.
5 To what extent was the commercial development of medieval England after
Domesday Book influenced by changes in the supply of money

6 How significant was the role of credit in the English economy and society between
c.1200 and c.1500
7 Do monetary explanations of price inflation between c.1500 and 1650 sufficiently
account for the role of credit
8 Why was the Bank of England successfully established when so many other proposed
Banks were not
Section B: Topics
9 Money and the state.
10 Money in medieval England.
11 The Commercial Revolution.
12 Small change.
13 Money supply.
14 Credit.
15 Moneylenders and bankers.
16 The Bank of England.