History
Minting of this coin started around 1300 after silver mines had been discovered in Kutná Hora during the reign of the Bohemian king Wenceslaus II. King Wenceslaus II invited the Italian lawyer Gozzius of Orvieto to create a mining code Ius regale montanorum which also was partly was a reform of the coinage. This, and the high amount of silver found in Kutná hora resulted in the implementation of Prague groschen. Because of the high amount of silver used in the coin it became one of the most popular of the early Groschen-type coins in medieval Europe.
In documents of the era, like the Peace of Thorn (1411), large amounts of money often were given in more convenient Latin: sexagena of Prague groschen, which equals to Czech: kopa = 5 dozen = ½ small gross = 60.
After the opening of new silver mines in Jáchymov (Joachimsthal) the Thaler, in the Bohemia known as tolar, came in use. In 1547, minting of Prague groschen was discontinued by Ferdinand I.
Read more about this topic: Prague Groschen
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“Perhaps universal history is the history of the diverse intonation of some metaphors.”
—Jorge Luis Borges (1899–1986)
“The history of the world is the record of the weakness, frailty and death of public opinion.”
—Samuel Butler (1835–1902)
“History, as an entirety, could only exist in the eyes of an observer outside it and outside the world. History only exists, in the final analysis, for God.”
—Albert Camus (1913–1960)