Sixteenth century money and coinage

Coinage and forgery

Money in the era of Shakespeare

In Shakespeare’s time, and for a couple of hundred years beyond, money was physically worth its nominal value; that is, a shilling coin had to contain a shilling’s worth of silver. Forgers, or counterfeiters, would try to pass false coins, and it was also a common crime to clip round the edges of a coin to remove some of the metal: eventually coins had milled edges to prevent this. Coins were also stamped with an image of the ruler’s head on one side, and another image on the reverse.

In Measure for Measure, Shakespeare uses the image of making a fake coin to describe an illegitimate baby:

Ha? These filthy vices! It were as good
To pardon him that hath from nature stolen
A man already made, as to remit
Their saucy sweetness that do coin heaven’s image
In stamps that are forbid. ‘Tis all as easy
Falsely to take away a life true made,
As to put mettle in restrained means
To make a false one.

Angels

A coin current in Shakespeare's time was the 'angel' - a coin which bore the image of the Archangel Michael defeating the devil in the form of a dragon.

Weighing

A way of testing whether a coin was false was to weigh it, to see how much silver or gold it contained. Shakespeare links this idea to the biblical instruction:

‘With what measure ye mete it shall be measured to you again’ (Matthew 7:1-2)

– in other words, the weight you give to others will be apportioned to you. Characters could be 'weighed' and found wanting.

Today's New International Version: ¹'Do not judge, or you too will be judged. ²For in the same way as you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.
King James Version: ¹Judge not, that ye be not judged. ²For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.

Chief angel. In Christian tradition Michael, Gabriel and Raphael are considered to be archangels.

Also known as Satan or Lucifer, the Bible depicts him as the chief of the fallen angels and demons, the arch enemy of God who mounts a significant, but ultimately futile, challenge to God's authority.

Relating to, or contained in, the Bible. The Christian Bible consists of the Old Testament scriptures inherited from Judaism, together with the New Testament.