The Common Penny (1495-99) as a Source of German Social and Demographic History

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Abstract

The returns of a tax called the common penny (gemeiner Pfennig) survive in considerable number, and when they are fully exploited they will help to make pre-Reformation Germany much more intimately known than ever before. Registers of this levy are likely to turn up in archives where they might not be expected. It is important, as a result, to know how to recognize and use these materials, most of which still remain to be identified. I will briefly review the common penny and its collection, and then I will demonstrate its potential as a resource for the study of social and demographic history.

Original languageAmerican English
JournalCentral European History
Volume10
DOIs
StatePublished - Jun 1977

Disciplines

  • History

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