Was Medieval Wales a Cashless Society?

There's a theory that Early Medieval Wales was a cashless economy. That they paid in kind, in goods, services, food, agricultural produce, and that after the fall of the Roman Empire, they had no use for coins any more.
But is it true? Did my ancestors really give up on money and go back to a barter system? Thankfully we have some clues from history and archaeology that can help us answer this one pretty clearly! Join me as we dive into the economy of Medieval Wales! A thing I never thought I'd be doing KZbin videos on!
Cyfraith Hywel: www.cyfraith-hywel.org.uk/
Coin hoards of Britain: mjaarch.co.uk/patterns-in-coi...
More on the Laws: exploringcelticciv.web.unc.ed...
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[@carminaburana9765]

My American brain is now picturing billboards featuring men in tunics and ties, "Have you been harmed by a neighbor? Are you the victim of a Viking raid? You might be entitled to compensation!"

[@fayej6591]

😂 spot on!

[@snowdrophavensstudio]

Would you mind if I painted that? I make SCA style scrolls for fun and this would be a hilarious project 🤣

[@kitdubhran2968]

😂

[@ah5721]

😂

[@ah5721]

​@@snowdrophavensstudiodoo it! I want to see it circulating in the kingdom of calontier!

[@elizabethmcglothlin5406]

Always such a treat when you post! The idea that all measures of exchange collapsed when the civilized Romans left is insulting to all our ancestors. "I'll give you a goose and bury my penny in the backyard."

[@Jeshpii]

This year Germany minted a €2 coin with Charlemagne’s symbol on it, the same symbol as the medieval pennies. Very interesting to see the history behind it, thanks for sharing!

[@TheWelshViking]

Ooh! That’s very interesting!

[@MeliMiyoko]

I’m watching this while crocheting some hats for my church’s craft market next month. I’m broke as ‘eck and I’m hoping to trade something cozy for pet food or a ride to the far end of my county so I don’t have to Uber to an appointment, if the person interested can’t afford a crochet item. So, a very timely topic I must say! Your point about people in different circumstances having to meet their needs in different ways struck home as something that’s always bugged me about how much of the world works today. Not being able to meet your needs by the accepted means (work a job for a wage and use that wage to make rent/bills/debt payments) could land you in big financial trouble- or even on the street! Mutual Aid is a slow, hope-giving return to mixing a bit of trade and exchange back into how we live. A banger video as always! Best wishes from Washington State, America 😁

[@janetmackinnon3411]

Good luck to you!

[@MeliMiyoko]

@@janetmackinnon3411 Thanks, friend! 🖖

[@m.maclellan7147]

Many towns and cities have pet food at their food banks. I needed it once.folks were SUPER nice. Also, if you are on Facebook there's a "pay nothing" for most small towns/cities - might be a good place e to ask for a ride !? Maybe in exchange for a hat ?! Best of luck.

[@watcher314159]

Another neat thing that was done fairly regularly within medieval communities (though I don't know about Wales specifically) is trading IOUs. Instead of exchanging silver, people would make ledgers of debts (tabulated in Carolingian units and often scratched on bark or twigs, with duplicates held by both parties), and then twice a year or so the entire village would get together and work out all the ways in which everyone's debts to everyone else pretty much cancelled out, and in the end a few shillings of coinage or goods of standard value would be handed over by a few people to address the small remainder.

[@mariannerichard1321]

Even in Japan, where it was a genuine cashless society, they were a few goods to mesure all other items value against, some of these of these were a certain amont of rice (I don't remember if it's by weight or by volume) and the length of silk drap to build a kimono. So you would see stuff like "half a kimono length worth of wood" or "the 1/16 of a mesure of rice worth of leather" and the like.

[@richardmiller9883]

Vikings caching coins seems dubious, doubly so if the cache goes unrecovered. Communities expecting a Viking raid hiding their valuables and then being unable to recover the cache seems a lot more likely.

[@aurevoiralex]

As a Canadian, sadly, I can only confirm that our track record is appalling when it comes to preserving, repairing/showcasing our oldest buildings (and generally, most anything built before the 20th century). It breaks my heart on a daily basis walking around Montreal. 😢

[@KarelPKerezman]

So what I'm hearing is that the situation was (probably)... nuanced? Jokes aside, the fact that a whole "what things are worth" book was scribed up suggests that, yeah, coins still mattered, but almost more as a "theoretical unit of financial measure" than as a physical thing lots of people actually used, which is fascinating. And you figure some folks' jobs probably entailed knowing as much of that book as possible.

[@efueds]

There’s a great book “Debt, the first 5000 years” by David Graeber that looks at the concept of debt through history based on anthropological evidence. He essentially argues that while many of these systems codify debt/value in silver you rarely paid in coins. Rather, as you mention, it helps you find something of equal value. So silver or coins aren’t treated as cash but more as a unit of measurement. It’s a long dense read (I haven’t got through it) but he also has some articles and interviews on the subject

[@lordofuzkulak8308]

There’s a difference between coins no longer being minted and coins no longer being used. I could easily see them stop minting new coins and just keep on using the old Roman ones as they’re just as good for the purpose of coinage, and changing the coinage with every new monarch would be a huge undertaking for very little gain, especially given (unless I’m mistaken) there wasn’t a unified Wales post-Roman Britain, so kings and princes might not have had the resources to bother with overhauling the coinage just to put their face on it. A lack of mints could also explain the example you gave of a Welsh monarch having coinage that was minted in England; if the nearest mint was in one of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms and Hywel wasn’t able to establish a new mint within his kingdom, then I could easily imagine him commissioning a mint in a neighbouring kingdom (especially if as you mention he was on good terms with said kingdom) as a flex to show off his prestige, wealth and power.

[@Mockingbird_Taloa]

This was super interesting, thank you Jimmy! It reminds me of people struggling to understand how the wampum and hides system worked pre-colonization...there were fairly consistent ideas about how much something was worth in wampum or in deer/elk/bison hides between societies. The items actually traded might not be wampum or hides, but they would have been used to calculate an agreed value of whatever was being traded (eg, "I'll trade you two hides' worth of corn for one hide's worth of smoked fish and another hide's worth of flint"). Personally I suspect trade was conducted more in hides than in wampum (seems to come up more in the historical record, and it's broadly more 'useful'), but wampum was--like silver--durable, wearable wealth so it kinda makes the ideal starting point for determining value. I do wonder also how much in a medieval Welsh context people just met each other's needs in the village. It's not uncommon where I live today for people to 'undercharge' services they're being payed cash for if you're local, or to give you more of something than what the 'going rate' would be if you're buying something from a farm or small store. In a small rural area, the economy is more of a circle than anything and it's better to go above for folx when you can because most will return that favour. When I lived in a major urban area, that kind of logic would have shocked people. I've found when cash is the only real option, people get so focused on getting every penny owed them they have a real hard time why someone would give you extra without charging extra, or not charge as much as everyone else for the same service--one can never know what a medieval Welshwoman or man would have thought about the valuation of goods and services, but I figure it would be VERY different to the average modern westerner's view!

[@m.maclellan7147]

My former mechanic always gave me a discount if I paid cash, as he had to pay a percentage to the credit card companies. A "win-win" situation!

[@gadgetgirl02]

Welcome (again?) to Canada! What I'm getting it if this is that it wasn't a cashless society, it was a cash-scarce society. It actually sounds like how recent immigrants will often organize themselves to get settled quicker. I know a house that was mostly DIY, but also built by immigrant construction workers bartering materials and work with each other so they could all have houses quicker than if they just bought them.

[@philpaine3068]

I'm fairly familiar with the economic conditions in early 19th century Canada. Money was quite hard to find in the colonies of British North America. In theory, transactions were supposed to be in pounds, shillings and pence, but very little of those objects made it across the Atlantic for general use in the colonies. Public officials and army officers were paid in "plate and pews." "Plate" was often silver plates, but also referred to all sorts of silver, pewter and porcelain dishes (cups, bowls, cutlery etc.). These were not tucked away, but put on display, and part of the routine of social life was to make sure that everyone could see your wealth in "plate." Canadian skills in carpentry became very refined, building beautiful furniture to display this wealth. Pews were just as important as plate. A substantial portion of a public official's salary was the church pew assigned to his family, which varied in value depending on its position and visibility. For most people, almost all transactions were conducted not by direct barter, but "on account." Every business you dealt with kept an account book under your name, which added or subtracted value in amounts of money, but no physical money changed hands. You bartered occasionally with your neighbours. Whiskey was often used as currency, and with so many Scots settling in Canada there were many expert tongues to value particular batches. You rarely saw any hard cash. What little you saw was not British currency ---- it was American money that drifted north, or it was what was most valued: Spanish money. The Spanish gold Real and the silver Escudo were greatly prized and much more widely available than British money. The coins actually minted and distributed in Canada, up until 1841, where based on the Halifax Rating, which was valuated in £sd, not based on their English counterparts, but on the Spanish "piece of eight" (the silver escudo). In order for the BNA colonies to expand, the introduction of new cash was essential, and part of the grievances that led to the Upper Canada and Lower Canada Rebellions of 1837 was the crippling shortage of money. By 1841 there was a furious debate on whether to use £sd or issue a decimal currency like the U.S. By 1858, a decimal currency was established, and by 1861 the newfangled Postage Stamps were issued in dollars and cents. None of this process pleased Great Britain, and by the time the colonies consolidated into the Canadian Confederation, there was no question that £sd would be used. By this time, Canada had adopted a gold standard, and when great quantities of gold were discovered domestically, this ensured the country's economic expansion. So you do not have to go far back in history to find a monetary system similar to the one you describe in medieval Wales.

[@lafregaste]

Didn't know there was a difference between cemeteries and graveyards, so I googled it... it seems cemeteries are "random" burial sites, while graveyards imply there's a churchyard... who would have thought? OoO

[@mickaleneduczech8373]

When I visited Fountains Abbey near Harrogate, (it's beautiful and I highly recommend it), I was surprised to learn everyone was paid in loaves of bread. As I recall, almost everyone got 8 loaves a day, with higher ranked people getting more loaves of bread made with fine ground flour, and lower ranked people getting more loaves of course ground flour. I believe there was a medium grained flour in their as well.

[@chrisball3778]

I don't think they had them in Viking Age Wales (I think Henry I brought them to England, so presumably they reached Wales at some point after that), but split tallies have always struck me as a really elegant way medieval people recorded monetary transactions without the need for coinage or writing. The British government famously kept using them until the 19th century and when they finally decided to get rid of them by throwing them in a fire, they accidentally burned down Parliament.

[@EmpressEmylia]

Just pointing out that the "5 Billionen Mark" voucher from the Weimar times you show at 3:14 is actually worth 5 trillion Marks, because it's 1 million = 1 Million, 1 billion = 1 Milliarde, 1 trillion =1 Billion

[@TheWelshViking]

Oh! Best not burn it then!

[@kfries1282]

This mix of payment reminds me of stories I've heard about North America during The Great Depression (and even before): payment was often in kind, or in favours. My Great-Grandfather would travel for work, and would pay for room and board on his trips home by fixing/re-winding people's clocks.

[@thing_under_the_stairs]

Absolutely! My grandfather grew up on a farm during the Depression, and it was common for people from all the local farms to trade goods and labour when nobody had any cash. My great-grandmother taught at the local schoolhouse for a while, and her payment was often whatever her family needed around the farm, and the families sending their kids could supply!

[@k80_]

People still do this! When I was living in hostels in argentina a lot of the people living there were also working there for room and board.

[@yobgodababua1862]

In regard to "hack silver", I remember reading (citation needed) about various pieces of jewelry that were specifically designed to be broken up into tradeable quantities of silver.

[@ernststravoblofeld]

Sketchy people have used gold Rolex watchbands like that in more recent times.

[@JustSaralius]

Who is this clean-shaven youth?? 😮 Mighty dashing, I must say! 😊❤ Makes you look very late Edwardian.

[@thecourtlyalchemist]

Welcome to North America, Jimmy! I'm a little disappointed that you aren't wearing big pink pants and an orange cloak on these shores, but it's good to have you visit us all the same!!! It's weird that the base values of things were so consistent across such a huge swatch of Europe regardless of the supplies and demands in any given area. I guess that was part of the legacy of Roman centralization.

[@dorteweber3682]

What are you doing in Halifax, Jimmy? There are some interesting tombstones in that cemetery, but you are probably right that construction is getting out of hand. Halifax is experiencing a population boom at the moment. Hope you get to enjoy some of the beauty the province has to offer.

[@virginiacardinal9563]

Well I perked up when you mentioned Halifax! (I am in Toronto, still lovely to know that you are on this side of the Atlantic for a visit) Hope you have a great trip, and safe travels home.

[@thing_under_the_stairs]

Same! I'm not in Toronto but nearby (Hamilton - one of the many artists who migrated from obscene housing costs, only to watch it happening all over again here...), but Halifax is one of my favourite places to visit, and I wouldn't mind living there, if Dalhousie was hiring! I think I recognise that cemetery, btw, but I can't be sure from the camera angles. I've got a lovely collection of photography from the cemeteries of Halifax!

[@virginiacardinal9563]

@@thing_under_the_stairs I have loved the time I spent in Halifax! The city feels more like a town with some pretty parts. I really liked the museums I visited, the food and drink and Point Pleasant Park. Maybe if you check out google maps and go to street view, that will help jog your memory?

[@Aalborgian]

I’ve just been reading Hayeur Smith’s book ‘The Valkyries’ Loom’ about the use snd value of textiles as currency. Apparently Iceland vaðmàl wool cloth woven to defined standards, thread count (8-12 per cm) length (6 ells or ~3 m), width (2 ells or ~1 m) was legally recognized as having a fixed value (1 ora or 1 eyrir of silver). And as such it was acceptable as payment for Church tithes and other taxes.

[@GallowglassVT]

Seeing as you're in Halifax, let us know if you see a legless ex sailor singing about a bloke called Barrett.

[@sandrasaunders8777]

"...a broken man on a Halifax pier..."

[@GallowglassVT]

@@sandrasaunders8777 "... the last of Barrett's Privateers..."

[@gigi3242]

I could barely pay attention to what you were waffling on about, because of that gorgeous scarf!!! I don't have any silver pennies, but I'll trade you a cup of hot chocolate, with ten mini marshmallows for it.... ok... twenty mini marshmallows, but that's as high as I go. Take care, have fun, stay warm, be well

[@riverAmazonNZ]

The colour really suits him

[@karladenton5034]

Jimmy's on the same continent as me! SQUEEE.... And I couldn't agree more about loosing what tiny bit of older (not old) buildings we have in the US and Canada. It's a real pity.

[@caspenbee]

Thanks for dropping in a bunch of welsh! It's nice to hear.

[@monimelie]

Interesting video, like always! If you want a calmer place, come in New Brunswick next time. ;) Do I try to make you come in my province? Yes. Yes, I do. :P By the way, interesting fact; in French, we still use the word ''argent'' (silver) for the English equivalent of ''money''. Silver was so central in the economy, it became the same word for the two diffent ideas (silver and money = argent). :)

[@lindsaydrewe8219]

Maybe Chester was the closest place to the border that had the equipment to mint coins? Just a thought. Glad you added nuance

[@kyleburrow3351]

Interesting stuff! I could see some of those hoards being either one; maybe the ones closer to a town or village or farmstead are the local community's (or their lord's) savings that they're trying to keep safe from raiders; maybe the ones buried in more remote locations are the ones buried by said raiders to come back to when they're in a bit of financial trouble and can't be bothered to go on another raid just yet. Just a guess, but that's my thought.

[@lilykatmoon4508]

Interesting topic! I’ve noticed that there is a contingent of historians who look at the fall of Rome as the end all, be all of civilization in Western Europe. There was one contributor on time team Guy something or other, and he was obsessed with Rome and he clearly thought that Britain was crap pre and post Rome. I see that attitude reflected in this idea that when Rome left, “civilized” ways of commerce like coinage completely vanished. I just can’t understand how nuance completely gets left out of the picture. Life’s more complicated. I’ve noticed in recent years that they use the term “dark ages” less now to describe post roman Britain. I taught world history here is the USA for 18 years, and that was how it was taught in the textbook. Sorties I wish I could go back in time, and inform my past self so that I pass o better information to my students. I’m grateful to your channel and the dedication to uncovering history as best we can. Great video!

[@keithagn]

That would be Guy De La Bedoyere, my friend. Regards from Canada 🇨🇦

[@1One2Three5Eight13]

I saw an excellent documentary about the British "dark ages" which pointed out that the Victorian scholars who came up with a lot of that idea were really invested in the idea that an empire provided stability, and therefore its collapse would lead to a societal collapse as well.

[@sarahwatts7152]

Jimmy is usually at least half the way through the video before he says "nuanced," so I thought he was right on time!

[@ieschniesch]

Yeah!

[@wendynordstrom3487]

I love your little aside comments you write on the screen. 😅

[@BrotherJing1]

I enjoyed this! Worth mentioning though that the version of the Laws we have is a written copy from past the Early Medieval period so it's hard to say how accurate it is to Early Medieval costings and whether these would have been updated over time. There's also some really head scratching ones in there like the cost of a blue enamelled shield being more then a gold hilted sword (or close to value, I'd need to double check). There's a similar situation in Cornwall where we have fairly consistent finds of other peoples coins - Byzantine, Frankish, Saxon - but no native coinage. I suspect however that tin may have taken part of its role in the upper levels of society, many of whom would have at least been tangentially involved in the tin trade.

[@fionayarn]

Can’t believe I missed that you were in my city, I have probably missed you entirely, but belated welcome to Halifax!

[@crusader9576]

Hope you are enjoying/enjoyed your visit here in Halifax! Also gonna throw my silly video idea up here: what about a historical accuracy review of the Lego Viking Village and Longship?

[@pumpskin]

I just have to laugh at the image of someone doing the math in advance of how much it will cost them to permanently injure the pesky neighbor they keep getting into fights at the market with

[@JanLegris]

I would say, almost certainly a thing... I mean figuring out what you can get away with is a long established practice.

[@c.wright3750]

You are in Canada and I can’t even get to meet you! You are closer to your home in Scotland than you are to me. LOL

[@c.wright3750]

Welcome to Canada 🇨🇦

[@helenahsson1697]

I live in a rural setting and when trading services and the like with neighbours it's considered (very) bad form to pay in money, you always offer to pay in money so they can decline and then you pay in kind, usually some alcoholic beverage or by helping them out with something in return.

[@tassey]

Same here in resort area it is trading services and goods among friends and neighbors where the use of money seems inappropriate. Someone needs a skirt hemmed. I am not a professional seamstress so I don't want to charge, but there are no professional seamstresses near here either. So if you need a skirt hemmed, you almost have to resort to swapping favors. I got a great dinner.

[@bunhelsingslegacy3549]

Heh, Welcome to Canada! Yeah, I hate leafblowers. And construction. But it's kind of a way of life, we have construction season, leafblower season and then snow season...

[@thing_under_the_stairs]

Something interesting I learned from a friend who grew up in the USSR - they have the same joke over there as our classic Canadian joke about the seasons, except that the old Soviet version had "winter, pre-winter, post-winter, and roadwork". Where the climate is similar, people will make the same jokes about it!

[@dubfox1691]

Debt, by David Graeber, has some interesting ideas about how past societies might have existed without money

[@breadpilled2587]

Such a great book

[@Tirani2]

This sounds very very similar to the Irish Brohen law system. The value of pretty much everything was given in cumals, which included a silver value. One thing about those laws is that they not only included a value based on the victims social class, but also the offenders social class. It sussed out what actually would hit someone in the wallet if they did harm. A good starter on it, speaking expensive books, A Guide to Early Irish Law, by Fergus Kelly. I'm still looking for a copy of this under 100 USD, that's in good condition. (Greetings from an American Irish polytheist with a strong Norse bent.)

[@KaiHenningsen]

So, it's not a cashless society, it's a cash-less society. 😀 But really, it sounds like at least if you're going outside your circle of friends, it may not have been, "here is a silver penny for that knife", but it was "OK, I get the knife and owe you a silver penny. You owe a penny to your local farmer for some grain, so I'll do something for the farmer worth a penny and that takes care of that".

[@TheWelshViking]

Yeah, that makes a lot of sense, right?

[@LadyValkyri]

So, just to clarify, do you believe that in some ways the use of coins in early medieval Welsh society was, let's say... nuanced? lols & hugs

[@sierrakaufman1868]

Does it matter to you financially if we skip or not the commercials before the video? Id be willing to watch the whole thing if it gives you more money and not just google

[@TheWelshViking]

Nope!

[@migmig42]

Thanks for turning a bad day in to a good day, by sharing this awesome video (as always)

[@dannyfriar5653]

It's nuance, baby!

[@DenizInanComposer]

As a lover of accurate reflection on history and a fan of the renaissance and medieval I must thank you for all your great videos and the hard work you put into your videos. I must say, the only Jimmy I like more is the "Editing-Jimmy"... he always seems to be ahead of his time. 😂 Beautiful work. Keep it up!!!

[@penelope.remade]

Halifax has some wonderful cemetaries. Camp Hill was always my favourite spot for lunch - sorry about that leaf blower. What a treat that youre doing a topic I was really excited for from a bench Ive sat on too! 😁

[@ksbrook1430]

Hah! As you were talking about coinage and the lack of Welch minted coins, I was thinking that silver pieces could be used by weight without them being minted as coin. And then you bring that up right toward the end of your video! I think your ideas have a lot of merit, and I would not be surprised if they were close to the truth.

[@davidcheater4239]

My family lives about an hour or so north of Halifax in the Annapolis Valley. I hope you had a wonderful time in Nova Scotia AKA Nouvelle-Écosse AKA Alba Nuadh.

[@Pinguinpullover]

Hey there, i am not the "sit down, listen and learn" type of person but with your videos it´s a different pint of beer. As it is, for those interested (and fluent in german) with Harald Lesch, Astrophysics and Philosophy. So, thank you for making me learn things without me noticing the learning part. Neat trick.

[@keephurn1159]

Of course they had no coins! It's just like their architecture - once the Romans left, all of the Roman style buildings were taken down, packed up, and sent back to Rome. None were left behind! Absolutely no evidence of Roman era buildings in ... no, wait.

[@margaretkaraba8161]

Of course "hack" (if I'm spelling it correctly) silver was a valid form of payment. If they knew the weight of a silver penny was 28/32 grains of wheat, they could use an equivalent weight measure (validated by the local e.g. council/lord/baron/judge or visiting king's taxman) and see how many pennies the piece of silver equaled to.

[@anieth]

Jimmy, another excellent one. I love going through dictionaries proto-Celtic and finding all the words for fines and essentially, wergild. I think that it was a more stable system than loading so much onto the third party of the government. A mediator could easily settle a dispute when all these fines were laid out. Welcome to the Western Shore! :D More, more, more! Us history nuts love this stuff. I worked for a Medievalist as my first job and we were fascinated by the changeover to last names. Maybe do a video on that? I'm interested in how a place name in one language is a trade name in another, but the adoption of last names and family names is fascinating. Another side note is the migration of Celtic names to English like Lloyd and Floyd or Uallach, Wally, Gwalais, Wallace and etc. But money is really, really wonderful, and it's wonderful of you to dig into this topic.

[@selkie76]

18:19 Whoop! ^o^ *chugs last of tea and throws mug over her shoulder* Another! 21:03 Yay! ^o^ *snatches second mug of tea from passing waitress and slams it back* 21:59 Wahey! ^o^ *drains mug and smashes it on the floor* More!!!

[@DAYBROK3]

welcome to canada jimmy, its nice to have you.

[@ladyliberty417]

Love the rambling, thank you for bringing us closer to this life-so interesting!! More please🥰

[@Andrea.S.Alvey12]

Did Wales not have the same "other" option of freedom from serfdom, running away to a walled city and living there for 366 days that other ares of Great Britain had? I've always found it fascinating that even in the so-called 'dark ages,' society understood that some living situations were intolerable. Even marriage could be ended by leaving, say by taking ship a longish distance and staying away for three (or was it five?) years and a day. And that just gets me wondering why one day was always added onto the tally towards freedom? Thank you for a wonderful learning opportunity. 💙

[@grasswrenlouise6351]

As I understand the year and a day thing, if you run away on the first day of the year, one year takes you to the last day of the same year, but a year and a day takes you to the first day of the next year. That is, a year and a day is when they considered that that year was properly over.

[@Skooby59]

Stoked to see another upload! Also love that text in the first 30 seconds

[@DipityS]

I'd love to know why you used the term notoriously close about the relationship between King Hywel Dda and King Æthelstan?

[@TheWelshViking]

Ah, because they should have been enemies according to the cultural mores of the period! But instead, Hywel remained at least neutral during some of the fiercest warfare being fought along his borders.

[@DipityS]

@@TheWelshVikingThank you very much for answering 😊

[@TheDanjaBus]

What are you doing in Canada, Jimmy? Always a treat when you post. Very illuminating stuff!

[@TheKrispyfort]

Jack of All trades yet master of none is oft times better than master of one. Especially with an in-kind system

[@AlatheD]

" ... about a degree above freezing. So it's a bit nippy." Just a bit. :) I love your rambles, though.

[@thing_under_the_stairs]

Ah, that's just a light chill by Halifax standards! wait until winter *really* sets in! ;)

[@AlatheD]

@@thing_under_the_stairs I'm from Wyoming, in the US. I know cold. Layers are our friends when the temps drop. :)

[@thing_under_the_stairs]

@@AlatheD Layering is truly an art form. Layering everything, and down filed coats are the way to enjoy winter. And can't forget good boots! :D

[@AlatheD]

@@thing_under_the_stairs Absolutely! Especially when you get several feet of snow.

[@1One2Three5Eight13]

@@thing_under_the_stairs No, 1 degree with the amount of damp you have is AWFUL. Give me 20 below over that any day. So much easier to defend against. (I will acknowledge that because of all your salt you get the damp cold at lower temperatures than the rest of us do, but 1 and overcast is some of my least favourite weather because of the damp.)

[@tiffanytomasino335]

Unrelated, I love your scarf. Relatedly, I wish pay-in-kind was more of thing where I am. There have definitely been days that would've been useful😅. Thank you for sharing, Jimmy.

[@AmyLorencz]

Welcome to my home of Nova Scotia! Be sure to explore the South Shore for Lobster season!

[@draig2614]

Hi Amy - it’s Kate 🙂 Someone I know IRL is also a fan of the Welsh Viking!

[@AmyLorencz]

Hi!! 😁@@draig2614

[@TheWelshViking]

This was adorable. Also, South Shore tomorrow!

[@draig2614]

@@TheWelshViking Enjoy the South Shore - it's lovely!

[@dorteweber3682]

unless these were vikings planning to settle in Wales, their coins are likely destined to be brought back to Scandinavia, where there are also heaps of coin hoards found.

[@TheKrispyfort]

Taking the compensatory system concept into account, the eye for an eye and tooth for a tooth biblical component has a potential different meaning

[@tylersdog]

Oh my! I'm just next door in New Brunswick. Welcome to Canada! (do stay a while...)

[@michellecornum5856]

Things keep going like they are, and we'll all be paying for things like the Viking Age Welsh.

[@TheWelshViking]

Works for me!

[@sandrasaunders8777]

You were in my 'hood! I'm across the harbour in Dartmouth. Welcome! Oh, and yeah, we're horrible with saving our heritage. Drives me insane.

[@donaldwert7137]

Sadly, that seems to be a North American thing. We have the same problem in the US.

[@sandrasaunders8777]

@@donaldwert7137 yeah, the attitude seems to be that if we don't tear down the old and replace with ugly glass and steel then we're "stuck in the past".

[@donaldwert7137]

@@sandrasaunders8777 We don't have THAT much history or artifacts of history to toss aside, we should be preserving what we can.

[@virginiacardinal9563]

@@sandrasaunders8777 I am in Toronto and yes, exactly this.

[@thing_under_the_stairs]

Just down the road from Toronto, and I could include a rather incisive comment about our tendency to destroy our heritage from an Indigenous friend of mine, but KZbin would censor it so heavily that there would be nothing left, and I don't speak Cree well enough to phonetically translate that version!

[@shaunhall6834]

I'm half way through the video and I have already learned a bunch. Thank you Jimmy! ❤

[@TheWelshViking]

Aw shucks! Thanks!

[@knutzzl]

1d x 12 = 1s 1s x 20 = £1 = 1lb of Ag Thats why the French count in multiple of 20

[@sophiekinch-lake]

Jimmy! Hope you're enjoying Halifax!

[@tobiashagstrom4168]

Everyone knows everyone in medieval times traded in large golden coins, simply called "gold". Fantasy wouldn't lie to me.

[@juliettbloom5376]

Hey Welcome to Canada! Love the stash 💕

[@Bjorn_Algiz]

Awesome video! Thank you! 🙂

[@katienewell7350]

Such an interesting topic, thank you! Love the mustache too!

[@theresaanndiaz3179]

You always find such interesting topics to cover. I love that there was a master list of what things were worth.

[@mystikarain]

Love the mustache! And the content is very informative as always. Thanks.

[@jakobraahauge7299]

Did you ever see Bernadette Banners video series of her reproduction of an amazingly well preserved Norse dress from Greenland? You will learn a lot about the very basics of the economy - in the literal sense of the word - of Norse society. You'll love it! You should really check it out! You can thank me by admitting to yourself how much you can learn from this quirky lady.

[@TheWelshViking]

The Herjolfsnes garments are significantly later than viking age, but a very interesting look at the fashions and construction methods of the period. I had a chat with Bernadette about them once I think.

[@jakobraahauge7299]

@@TheWelshViking you're right I guess the innovative greenlanders had made so many innovations to the technical aspects of clothes productions, that it's perfectly irrelevant and doesn't give any insight into how clothes were in the viking ages. I am so terribly sorry.

[@ryanwashburn211]

You’re in Halifax?!? What the heck. Can I buy you a beer?? Lol

[@TheWelshViking]

If you’re about!

[@m.maclellan7147]

​@TheWelshViking, that's more like "Abooooout" in Maritime speak ! Cheers ! 🍻

[@janetmackinnon3411]

Very interesting---as always. Thank you. I shared your delight when you thought of another way of saying 'nuanced situation"!

[@ivan55599]

What about if coins didn't became worthless, but more and more expensive in value, because new roman coins didn't appear from central power (Rome), and coins went to rich people? So it basically became representation of something very very expensive in value, which cannot be gained (i.e. individual jewelry). ls there literary references for that hypothesis? And l think that if barter economy did happen, it happened only just after when there were no more coming roman currency, and then they turned into gift economy, instead of staying in impractical barter economy.

[@lucie4185]

You do know the British Isles has silver deposits Lead and Copper even some gold. The metal resources are one of the reasons the Romans came in the first place and the mines didn't immediately cease to exist, or stop being used because the Army left. There have always been some form of community help for the weakest maybe Grandma Wyn didn't have any silver to pay for food but she had wisdom, she could watch children while their mothers could get work there is nothing more valuable to a busy person than time.

[@crystallinecrow3365]

another great video, thanks Jimmy! hope ur enjoying ur time in beautiful Canadia! ur looking quite well and if it's not too cringe of me to say, quite stylish! the purple is positively lush, and the stache enhances ur dignified professor vibes exponentially.

[@beagleissleeping5359]

On an unrelated note: I was rewatching the Creature Comforts videos. I can't remember which episode it was but there's a group of birds singing (I think) the saucepan song.😂

[@mione3690]

Love the 'stash ;)

[@tessiagriffith9555]

Very Interesting! Thank you!

[@6Inverness]

Welcome to Nova Scotia ❤

[@rickansell661]

Very interesting and useful It expands upon things I had worked out for myself for both personal interest and a personal RPG based on the Late Antiquity to Middle Saxon periods. I say 'based on' very deliberately, because it will very clearly 'not be' that or those periods because I don't want my guesses, confabulations, fillings of gaps and straight-out errors to be taken away as being the historical 'truth'. I couldn't work out how one of my key 'Design Cases', a pair of semi-Feudal people making a long journey along high traffic roads could work in an economy that keeps turning up in books as based on 'Gift Exchange'. The custom of Hospitality doesn't really work because anyone on a high traffic route would quickly end up eaten out of hearth and home. Charging 'money' in a period with no coins doesn't work, neither does it work in a period with no low-value coins, Paying in Pennies doesn't work if what you are purchasing, a bed for the night on an Inns floor, is worth substantially less, given the relative values found in various laws. I suspect that various lower value items would be used, especially if they aggregate up to something with a clear value that can be expressed at legally defined rates. I very much suspect I may use 'Hack-Bronze' as one such thing, broken bits of bronze objects, such as are found archaeologically. Also Hack-Iron and, rarer, Hack-Tin etc. Give a pile of things like that to a Smith and they could probably give you back, less a percentage or the value of the hours spent, if that appears in the laws, an object with a legally defined value, such as knife (or at least it's blade - you go get the wood etc, and make the handle). I am yet to come up with more than Hack-stuff, but I will give it a go. The key change you have made in my thinking is the switch from the Market setting the relative and absolute values and that driving the values seen in the laws to the laws setting the values and the Market setting things that are legally undefined within a framework of values pinned by the laws. Of course it would have been more complex than that, and also more undefined. A small village probably didn't have everybody feverishly doing accounts, they would know who was pulling their weight, asking for help beyond that traditionally given etc. When various people needed help then who helped, how much and with what level of enthusiasm would be based on that ill-defined Social Worth. People would know that Fred who spent a key part of the agricultural year juggling the levels in the simple local drainage system to optimise everybodies crops couldn't, say, sow more than a fraction of their own crops so people would turn out to do it for him. And the people doing it would probably be the most skilled at farming tasks in the village and not need to be asked. In return Fred would consider these peoples land more favourably when prioritising irrigation and drainage. But you can't take that Social Capital on the road to pay your bills, say when a delegation goes to the current location of the Royal Court to ask the relevant Noble to come and sort out a breakdown in trust between the populations living Before the Hall and those living Behind thew Mill and the Millers Daughter is pregnant and won't name the Father and the Next Village Over is cutting timber for Charcoal from the Middle Coppice and the Upper Fields need Liming and Oh won't he stop mooning over the Kings Niece and come and sort everything out. Oh, and his teenage Daughter has got far to strong a crush on the local Priest who, together with the Wife of said Priest, is getting really fed up about it and he has started being really slow about Christening and Marrying people and has taken to giving pointed and really, really, long sermons about coverting other womens husbands. And the Reeve is covering all this up so the unofficial Headman of the Serfs has sent his Brother, who has taken a sudden fake interest in joining the Church, and the Headman's youngest son (number one suspect as the unidentified father) to try and knock some sense in to the Thain. And just HOW did the Villagers pay for the required travel in a 'Cashless' society?

[@TheWelshViking]

It isn’t cashless :) Get a silver half-penny you’ve earned from the local nobleman once you have permission from him to leave your bonded land for a purpose becoming and acceptable to God and the local nobility. That should get you to town.

[@robintheparttimesewer6798]

Welcome to Canada! It was a great video and not to rambling at all. I really enjoy all your videos! I didn't think it was rambling. Can't say I'm surprised that the value of coins was still known and used.

[@m.maclellan7147]

Good to see you in Halifax ! Been too long since I have been there. If you make it to Boston, I'll buy you a pint or two ! 😉

[@ashleymainmakes]

But you never mentioned why you are in Nova Scotia in November! I hope you get a chance to see some of the other historic places!

[@marcusfridh8489]

I guess he is there becourse it is close to new foundland and the vinland settlement

[@TheWelshViking]

Incorrect! I’m here for reasons not related to the channel :)

[@SSRT_JubyDuby8742]

Very enjoyable post, nice one Jimmy 😊 Like deployed 👍

[@januzzell8631]

Fascinating - thank you

[@StephanieMayfieldDIG]

Welcome to my province! Hope you had a good time.

[@shine111]

A very interesting video and really well explained! More importantly that's a really handsome scarf you've got, I love your dress sense, would you be interested in exchanging it for uhhhhhh a few skeins of pale pink wool and this guaranteed for sure definitely genuine gold nugget (said while holding out something that's obviously pyrite)

[@JanLegris]

Sweet! Thank you. Very interesting :)