In this synthetic and clarifying essay, the eminent medievalist Jacques Le Goff explains what was the fate of the coin or, rather, of the coins in life, the economy and the medieval mentality.

In the Middle Ages it is the Church that establishes the attitude that Christians should have towards money and the use to which they should give it. Money must have a higher value, not a worldly value; True wealth, she insists, is not of this world and, therefore, donating money is as important as earning it.

However, the presence of money gains ground not only in the spirit of men, but also in their minds. Even despite the slow and limited development of the medieval economy, money multiplies its presence in all spaces, playing a primary role in the growth of cities and commerce, and in the constitution of States throughout the Middle Ages.