Currency, Control and Repression: Analyzing the Creation of the Royal Mint of Segovia in 16th-Century Spain

Abstract

The reasons which led to the creation of the Segovia Mint in the last decades of the 16th. Century, were several and the objective of this work is to analyze each one of them. The most important one is related with Geography, its strategic location near the river Eresma and the Royal Monastery of San Lorenzo de El Escorial. The research also will examine the debasement of currency as a state strategy, but also as a vital tool used by counterfeiters. Likewise, the presence of the Inquisition, an institution that reported directly to the monarch, will be analyzed. Within a repressive context, it was part of border control to prevent precious metals from leaving the Spanish peninsula. Therefore, it will work with bibliography from both History and Numismatics, as well as sources from the period under analysis. It should also be noted that currency was a fundamental element during this period, along with portraits of the era, in making the image of the monarch known to society. The aforementioned reforms enabled an improvement in monetary issuance and also strengthened state control to prevent counterfeiting and adulteration, while preventing the outflow of scarce precious metals. In view of the above, this paper proposes to take a look at what happened in Habsburg Spain during the final years of Philip II's reign.