The Reception of Imperial Monetary Reforms in 16th-century Northern Germany

Abstract

For a long time, monetary historians and numismatists have evaluated the monetary reforms of the Holy Roman Empire negatively and thus supported the traditional Prussian-German view of the ‘Alte Reich’. This paper will provide a different view and shed light on the communication between the Imperial Estates (princes and cities) in Northern Germany and the reformers working on behalf of the Emperor. Among other issues, the differing interests between princes and cities and their strategies to gain support on the Imperial Diet (Reichstag) will be examined. This paper will show that the monetary policy of the Holy Roman Empire and its institutions (such as Imperial Circles and Imperial Diets on coinage) contributed, at least, to short-term monetary stability in the northern parts of the Holy Roman Empire.