The Story of The Currency That Ruled The World and Lasted a Thousand Years
In tenth century England the Angles, Saxons and Jutes needed to buy peace with the Viking invaders using something more impressive than sword blades. The solution, the famous Danegeld, meant reviving the old Roman practice of minting silver coins valued according to the weight of the precious metal they contained. Another wave of invaders, the Normans in 1066, brought with them the custom of imprinting their silver coinage with a star - in Norman French, an esterlin. The coins thus became known as little stars, starlings, or sterlings. The various weights used included the mark, the shilling, and the pound of sterlings.
From these origins in the Dark Ages, the story of the pound is the story of Britain and her peoples - but is has also played a central role on the world's stage. Britain's currency was the first great international exchange currency, laying the foundations of the financial system that now makes world trade possible. It financed the voyages of Sir Francis Drake, opened up unexplored continents, and sent great armies across the globe.
From the Vikings to cyberspace, this is the story of the rise and decline of the world's most enduring currency.
