The Great Debasement
So you know how money is like candy, right? You can use it to buy things you want, just like you can use candy to eat and be happy. But sometimes, people want more candy than they have, just like sometimes they want more money than they have.
Well, back in the olden days, people used coins to buy things instead of paper money. But the coins were made of things like silver and gold, which were really valuable, just like how some candies are more special and yummy than others.
So, some rulers decided they wanted more coins to be made, even if they didn't have enough silver or gold to make them. They could just create more coins without any extra silver or gold! This is called "the great debasement."
It's like if you had a bag of candy and you wanted more, but you didn't have any left. You could just fill the bag up with more air or empty wrappers, even though it's not as good as having more actual candy.
When rulers did the great debasement, it made the coins less valuable because they were made of less valuable materials. So, even if you had a lot of coins, they wouldn't be worth as much as before. It's like if one day your candy suddenly turned into a different kind that wasn't as good, even if you had the same amount it wouldn't be as valuable.
Overall, the great debasement made it harder for people to buy things because their money wasn't as valuable. So, it was kind of a tricky thing to do and not very fair for regular people who just wanted to buy things with their money.
Well, back in the olden days, people used coins to buy things instead of paper money. But the coins were made of things like silver and gold, which were really valuable, just like how some candies are more special and yummy than others.
So, some rulers decided they wanted more coins to be made, even if they didn't have enough silver or gold to make them. They could just create more coins without any extra silver or gold! This is called "the great debasement."
It's like if you had a bag of candy and you wanted more, but you didn't have any left. You could just fill the bag up with more air or empty wrappers, even though it's not as good as having more actual candy.
When rulers did the great debasement, it made the coins less valuable because they were made of less valuable materials. So, even if you had a lot of coins, they wouldn't be worth as much as before. It's like if one day your candy suddenly turned into a different kind that wasn't as good, even if you had the same amount it wouldn't be as valuable.
Overall, the great debasement made it harder for people to buy things because their money wasn't as valuable. So, it was kind of a tricky thing to do and not very fair for regular people who just wanted to buy things with their money.