When a merchant sold goods, he agreed on the currency in which he would be paid. Even businessmen became confused by the chaos that beset all monetary transactions. Greed mercilessly robbed the simple and carefree, and its demands on them grew faster than the value of the coin diminished. The prices of basic necessities, shoes, ale, and oatmeal rose rapidly. A worker, coming to buy bread or beer, would find that the coin he'd received for a shilling wasn't worth even half a shilling. Where there were large groups of fairly educated artisans, such as at the Chatham shipyard, the workers managed to be heard and, to some extent, relieved of oppression. But the helpless, ignorant farm laborer suffered cruelly, receiving money from the master by count, while the shopkeeper took it from him only by weight. #bitcoin #btc 📝 12104b18…