Tuesday 7 April 2009
DOUG R. (England)
Maundy Money
These days when the money men are frequently in the news, maybe we should
remember some old ideas?
St Paul wrote to Timothy; ‘Radix malorem cupididas est.’ or ‘money is the
root of all evil.’
Does a true Christian not handle cash?
Neither Judaism nor Islam has a problem over handling cash.
Even the Pope has bankers.
But the British Royal family does not handle
cash.
The Queen does not carry cash.
Nevertheless on Thursday 9 April she will attend a special ceremony at St
Edmundsbury Cathedral, Bury St Edmunds, where she will hand out cash to 166
local pensioners.
The cash will be in two purses each coloured red or white.
In the red purse will be £ 5.50 in silver coins, representing food and
clothing.
This year marks the 500th anniversary of Henry VIII’s accession to the
throne, with an extra 50p coin to mark the founding of the Royal Botanic
Gardens at Kew in 1759 and given to the nation in 1841.
The white bag will contain exactly 83 pence in special Maundy coins which
are silver pennies, twopenny, threepenny and fourpenny sizes. They are
silver coins specially made for this purpose.
As you would expect with a long established British ceremony, the many
details are precise and with reason.
The money is given to 166 pensioners because each represents one year of the
Queen’s life. She is 83 this year.
The pensioners are chosen in equal numbers of each sex.
They are nominated by the clergy of all denominations as having given
service to their local community or church,
She’s accompanied by someone, usually a bishop, wearing a towel round his
waist, as a reminder of the foot-washing ritual (see below).
Following her are Queen’s Yeomen of the Guard carrying silver dishes above
their heads. In the dishes are the small bags of money.
The people who receive the money find it memorable. The Queen is taking a
gift to the people not the other way around. She regards the matter very
seriously and a true reminder that she exists to serve the people.
Since being crowned in 1952, the Queen has only missed the ceremony four
times.
Maundy Thursday is the first of the three day Easter event.
It is the day before Good Friday in the Christian calendar.
This was the night when Jesus was betrayed by Judas in the Garden of
Gethsemane.
The name Maundy probably originates in the Latin word ‘mandatum’ meaning a
command. Jesus said ‘Do this in remembrance of me.’
During their Passover meal, the Last Supper, Jesus washed the feet of the
disciples in a special ceremony. It was then usual to give this task to the
least important person.
This has been quoted to worldly rulers to remind them they exist to serve
their people, not the other way around.
Washing is an important symbol for people of many faiths, and the giving of
help to people less fortunate is also something that all religions ask their
followers to do.
The Original Royal Connections.
The concept of giving silver coins to the poor is said to have originated
with St. Augustine in 597 AD at Canterbury, and been performed by the
monarch since the days of Edward II.
In those days (13th century) the money was given only to males.
In the Eighteenth Century this included both sexes
Samuel Pepys commented in 1667 "but the King (Charles II) did not wash the
poor people's feet himself, but the Bishop of London did it for him."
James II is said to have been the last British monarch to have performed
this act personally. The washing of the feet was abandoned in the 18th
century.
The Ceremony.
The ceremony was originally performed at the Chapel Royal in Whitehall, but
was later moved to Westminster Abbey until 1689.
In 1955 it was held at Southwark Cathedral, and since then has alternated
between Westminster Abbey and other cathedrals until 1972.
The present Queen decreed the ceremony would be held at different Cathedrals
outside London.
Emerging Importance of Cash.
7th-10th Centuries.
Coinage was gradually introduced from the Continent as trading links were
developed, and a single English currency was available.
The word ‘sterling’ probably stems from the area in East Germany where
silversmiths had discovered how to make silver harder by adding other
metals. They were called ‘easterlings.’
The sceat was replaced by the silver penny, 240 of them being minted out of
1lb in weight of silver, hence 240 old pennies equalled £1 up to
decimalisation in 1971.
12th Century.
Wooden Tallies were sticks used as receipts for credit. Cuts depicting the
said amount were made in the tallies and then the stick was split in 2 - the
creditor and debtor each keeping their piece.
16th Century
Usury (the charging of interest on loans) was not allowed. This changed when
Henry VIII broke off from the Roman Catholic church.
17th Century
This era saw the beginnings of banking when rich men and merchants would
leave their gold with the London Goldsmiths for safekeeping in their
strongrooms. The receipts they received for these deposits had good standing
and were easy to transfer between each other.
Merchants could leave their gold with the London Goldsmiths and use the
receipts as a form of paper money - thus giving rise to the bank note.
In Britain the Sovereign's head did not appear on bank notes until 40 years
ago.
Once the habit of leaving gold deposits and using bank notes became well
established, the merchants could issue a written order for the goldsmiths to
pay a certain individual a set amount from their deposit - hence the cheque
had arrived.
Money became a mixture of coinage (about half), tallies and banknotes.
18th Century
The Act of Union combining England & Wales with Scotland produced a currency
common and available throughout the United Kingdom.
Overdrafts developed when Scottish banks allowed loan applicants to withdraw
greater funds than had been deposited.
19th Century
Coins were valued by the metals from which they were made. As copper and
silver became in short supply, wages were agreed to be paid using tokens of
wood or metal coins of no intrinsic value but considered legal tender.
As official coinage increased, tokens were no longer used and in fact it was
the burning of these now unused (wood) tallies that had been stored in the
House of Commons that caused the original House of Parliament to be burned
down in the mid 19thC.
In Britain the pound Sterling was (and is) the central unit of money.
The pound was divided into twenty shillings and each shilling was divided
into twelve pennies or pence.
Since one pound can divide into 240 equal parts it can be exactly divided
into halves, thirds, quarters, fifths, sixths, eighths, tenths, twelfths,
fifteenths, sixteenths, twentieths, twenty-fourths, thirtieths, fortieths,
forty-eightieths, sixtieths, eightieths, and one-hundred-and-twentieths.
The decimal system allows precise division only into halves, quarters,
fifths, tenths, twentieths, twenty-fifths, and fiftieths.
That’s progress? Or Technology?
On Thursday the pensioners will receive old traditional English coins.
DOUG R.
(England)
Recent articles of Doug R.:
Published in Woman's Magazine Russian Woman Journal www.russianwomanjournal.com - 7 April 2009
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