Money and Value in the Sixteenth Century: The Monete Cudende Ratio of Nicholas Copernicus

Abstract

Introduction: By 1527 or 1528, when Copernicus wrote the final Latin version of his treatise on the minting of money, the long period of dissension between Poland and the Teutonic Knights as claimants of the domains of Royal Prussia had been more or less papered over.1 It was possible to give serious thought to problems other than merely staying alive. One of the other problems was the chaotic economy of Royal Prussia, characterized by inflation that was the consequence of years of intermittent warfare and of the misuse of the coinage accompanying it. By the Treaty of Torun in 1466, Royal Prussia, though retaining a considerable amount of independence, came under the Polish crown. Prussia of the Teutonic Order was thus reduced to two relatively small areas on the Baltic in the northeast corner of Poland and between a corner of the Duchy of Lithuania and Russia. The treaty was contested by the Knights with increasing seriousness until, by the Treaty of Cracow of 1525, Prussia of the Teutonic Order was finally reduced to a secular fiefdom of the Polish crown as the Duchy of Prussia, ruled by Duke Albrecht, the then reigning Grand Master.2