What was the Holy Roman Empire? What monetary policies tell us about premodern multilaterism

In his new book The Silver Empire: how Germany created its first common currency, which forms the basis of this event, Oliver Volckart analyses why the vast majority of the approximate 300 members of the sixteenth-century Holy Roman Empire wished to overcome the monetary diversity that had characterised the German lands of the middle ages, and examines how they managed to agree on a common currency that was implemented in 1559/66. Volckart's book pays much attention to constitutional issues and, in particular, speaks to a debate among historians about the political character of the Empire.

Meet our speakers and chair

Oliver Volckart is Professor of Economic History at LSE. His research interests include late medieval and early modern economic history; the Holy Roman Empire; economic and, specifically, monetary politics.

Federica Carugati is Senior Lecturer in History and Political Economy at King's College London. Her research interests are the development of political, legal and economic institutions in premodern, citizen-centred governments, and the lessons that the emergence, configuration, and breakdown of such institutions hold for the theory and practice of institution building in the modern world.

Olivier Accominotti is Professor of Economic History at LSE and Chair of the Financial History Group. His research interests are in the history of money and finance, especially the international propagation of financial crises, the determinants of global capital flows, the political economy of exchange rate policies, and the effect of political institutions on countries' access to capital markets.

The Department of Economic History (@LSEEcHist) is one of the world's leading centres for research and teaching economic history. It is home to a huge breadth and depth of knowledge and expertise ranging from the medieval period to the current century.