Elementary arithmetic, with brief notices of its history... by Robert Potts.

MONEY.

25

a pound of gold of 23 carats fine and one alloy was to be coined into
~28. 16s. by tale. The sovereigns were to be current at 20 shillings
each, and the other coins in proportion. A pound of silver of 10
ounces fine and 2 alloy was to be coined into 48 shillings by tale;
namely, into testoons,1 12 pence each, groats, half-groats, halfpence
and farthings.
An Act of Parliament, which was passed the same year, ratified
the style he had assumed, and declared it in the words: " Henricus
Octavus Dei Gratia, Angliae, Francise et Hiberniae Rex, Fidei Defensor, et in terra Ecclesiae Anglicanse et Ilibernie Supremuni
Caput:" and in English, "Henry the Eighth, by the grace of God,
King of England, France and Ireland, Defender of the Faith,
and of the Church of England and also of Ireland, on earth the
Supreme Head." It was also declared to be high treason to attempt
to deprive the king of this style (Stat. 35 Hen. VIII. c. 3).2
By a proclamation in 1544, the price of gold of 24 carats was fixed
at 48s. the ounce, and the finest sterling silver at 4s. the ounce; and
ordained the rate at which certain coins should be current. In this
year the standard was still further reduced both in weight and fineness. The gold was to be 22 carats fine and 2 carats alloy, and one
pound weight of gold was to be coined into ~30 by tale, that is, 30
sovereigns of 20 shillings or 60 half-sovereigns; and the king had a
royalty of 2 carats of fine gold for coinage, which yielded him 50s. on
every pound weight of gold. The silver was reduced to 6 ounces fine
and 6 ounces alloy, and the pound weight was coined into 48s. by
tale, in testoons, groats, half-groats, pence, halfpence, and farthings.
In the year 1545, the coins were reduced to the lowest degree
of fineness which ever disgraced the English mint, excepting a small
quantity of silver in the first year of Edward VI. The gold was
now brought down to 20 carats fine and 4 carats alloy; and the silver
to 4 ounces fine and 8 ounces alloy. The coins continued to be of
the same weight as they were in the indenture of the preceding year,
but the debasement raised the pound weight of fine gold to ~36, and
of fine silver to ~7. 4s.
The proceedings of Henry VIII. in the debasement of the silver
coinage, first by making a fifth part alloy in the 34th year of his
reign, and two years after making it half copper, and in his 37th
year making it only one-third silver, and in like manner debasing his
1 Le Blanc says, the new species of coins struck by Louis XII. were called
testons, because the head (teste, tete) of the monarch was represented upon them.
The reason of adopting this name for the English coin is not obvious.
2 In the Statute 23, Hen. VIII. passed in 1532, for the restraint of payment
of first fruits to the See of Rome, it was stated that since the second year of
Henry VII to this time, the sum of 80,000 ducats, amounting in sterling money
to ~160,000 at the least, had been paid for the investiture of bishops; and other
great and intolerable sums yearly had been conveyed to the Court of Rome to
the great impoverishment of the Realm. On this account it was ordained, that
such unlawful payment of first fruits should utterly cease, and also the conveyance of sums of money to the Court of Rome under other pretences. This
was further enforced by Statute 25, Hen. VIII, so that the payment of Peterpence and all other payments to the See of Rome were absolutely forbidden.
The author of "the Wealth of Nations," who was no bigot nor enthusiast,
has recorded his deliberate judgment of the Church of Rome with its head,
generals and orders of the Papal army,-" that it is the most formidable combination that ever was formed against the authority and security of civil government, as well as against the liberty, reason, and happiness of mankind."