University of Leeds, International Medieval Congress 2011, 11.-14. Juli 2011: “Globalised monetary systems of the Viking Age”
Abstract
The medieval monetary system was globalised by and large, at least it covered most of the by then known world. However, the resulting implications have never been studied systematically before. Yet, there is a sincere economic interest in international monetary systems that were in exist before the idea of sovereignty arose: A globalised economy, where institutions and states alike are losing their power to steer capital flows, can profit a lot from lessons learned by societies a thousand years ago, equally lacking all-embracing power structures. This is especially valid for Viking Age monetary systems as Anglo-Saxon and German coinages circulated to a high degree far distant from their place of origin. The same is true for modern U.S.-Dollar-banknotes, too…