DOI Artikel:
Witthöft, Harald: Early Medieval mining and smelting in the Harz Mountains - historical perspectives
DOI Seite / Zitierlink:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.56859#0135
103
Ian Blanchard argues differently and looks further afield. He has suggested
that, though „in the aftermath of the collapse of imperial [Roman] power in the
West silver production was reduced to a low ebb“, it nevertheless continued at
Pentapolis in Cyrenaica on the basis of „a curious argentiferous lead-tin
compound which underwent initial processing on site at the West Devon mine,
were this ore was excavated“. From c. 420-620 AD „probably no more than 300
kg of the white metal“ were refined annually at that refinery (Blanchard 1996,
56).
After stating that „in the seventh century the supply of raw materials to the
Pentapolis refinery was interrupted“, he ventures on the even more provocative
thesis that „a transfer of technology, first to Paris and then Frisia-Kent, and the
diversion of raw material supplies to these refineries allowed production to be
maintained“ in the North. „Subsequently, although the sources of silver supplies
might change, for some four hundred years (c. 725-1125 AD), silver output in
north-western Europe continued at some 300-400 kg a year, allowing a
diminutive but continuous amount of silver to be coined“ (Blanchard 1996, 56
sq.).
Asking for the monetary consequences of an „acutely diminished stock“ of
precious metals in Northern Europe, Blanchard concludes that it resulted in their
„high exchange value in relation to commodities“ - „only silver was worth
coining“. But - as I myself have extensively argued too (WlTTHÖFT 1993, 56
sqq.) - throughout the Middle Ages the bimetallic monetary system remained un-
touched. Gold could, if necessary, „thanks to the prevailing weight-value system
of specie measurement, be tendered in the form of set-weight stamped specie or
un-coined bullion“ (BLANCHARD 1996, 57).
Blanchard only marginally touches the Harz Mountains, though his remark on
changing sources of silver supplies and his production figures for the period c.
725-1125 AD certainly reflect the development of mining and smelting in this
Saxonian region as well. And, what he calls the „weight-value system of specie
measurement“ characterises too the economy of that period, in which the Harz
metal must have had its share - in a regional and/or northern pre-feudal agrarian
economy.
Precious metals in a static economic, social, and monetary order
The specific „alternative social order“ of the centuries between Theoderic the
Great and Charlemagne (Steuer 1987, 300) was obviously accompanied by a
still static economic and monetary order, in which gold and silver (coined and un-
Ian Blanchard argues differently and looks further afield. He has suggested
that, though „in the aftermath of the collapse of imperial [Roman] power in the
West silver production was reduced to a low ebb“, it nevertheless continued at
Pentapolis in Cyrenaica on the basis of „a curious argentiferous lead-tin
compound which underwent initial processing on site at the West Devon mine,
were this ore was excavated“. From c. 420-620 AD „probably no more than 300
kg of the white metal“ were refined annually at that refinery (Blanchard 1996,
56).
After stating that „in the seventh century the supply of raw materials to the
Pentapolis refinery was interrupted“, he ventures on the even more provocative
thesis that „a transfer of technology, first to Paris and then Frisia-Kent, and the
diversion of raw material supplies to these refineries allowed production to be
maintained“ in the North. „Subsequently, although the sources of silver supplies
might change, for some four hundred years (c. 725-1125 AD), silver output in
north-western Europe continued at some 300-400 kg a year, allowing a
diminutive but continuous amount of silver to be coined“ (Blanchard 1996, 56
sq.).
Asking for the monetary consequences of an „acutely diminished stock“ of
precious metals in Northern Europe, Blanchard concludes that it resulted in their
„high exchange value in relation to commodities“ - „only silver was worth
coining“. But - as I myself have extensively argued too (WlTTHÖFT 1993, 56
sqq.) - throughout the Middle Ages the bimetallic monetary system remained un-
touched. Gold could, if necessary, „thanks to the prevailing weight-value system
of specie measurement, be tendered in the form of set-weight stamped specie or
un-coined bullion“ (BLANCHARD 1996, 57).
Blanchard only marginally touches the Harz Mountains, though his remark on
changing sources of silver supplies and his production figures for the period c.
725-1125 AD certainly reflect the development of mining and smelting in this
Saxonian region as well. And, what he calls the „weight-value system of specie
measurement“ characterises too the economy of that period, in which the Harz
metal must have had its share - in a regional and/or northern pre-feudal agrarian
economy.
Precious metals in a static economic, social, and monetary order
The specific „alternative social order“ of the centuries between Theoderic the
Great and Charlemagne (Steuer 1987, 300) was obviously accompanied by a
still static economic and monetary order, in which gold and silver (coined and un-