William Bramley/The Gods of Eden/20/212
The newly-weakened monarchies and parliamentary governments allowed for greater power to be assumed by a new institution being installed by the revolutionaries: a new banking and monetary system. This new monetary system was a major element of the revolutions of the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries, yet this fact is only minimally discussed in the majority of history books. Those who ran, and still run, the new monetary system have been aptly labeled by one author, Howard Katz, "the paper aristocracy." The revolutions which began to sweep the world after the Reformation heralded the diminishment of powerful political aristocracies in favor of the less visible, but in many ways equally potent, "monetary aristocracies." This happened because, during the Reformation, banking and moneylending, which were once viewed as lowly occupations, were being forged into a renewed power due to a clever new science of money.[1] This new money was a type of paper currency that could have its value deliberately and systematically diminished through a process known as "inflation." It is the type of money still in use today. This new money, and the institutions which arose from it, have had an enormous impact on our modern civilization. We cannot fully appreciate the effects of Protestantism and the revolutions which arose out of it without comprehending just how the new money system works.
- ↑ For a simple and amusing introduction to the history of money and economics, I recommend The Cartoon Guide to Economics by Douglas Michael, published in the United States by Harper and Row Publishers, Inc., and in Canada by Fitzhenry & Whiteside Ltd. of Toronto
