Elizabeth I Silver Coinage Reform

Type Object Region England Time 1560–1571

Elizabeth I's silver coinage reform (1560–1571) was a large-scale recoinage in Tudor England to correct the progressive debasement of silver since He…

Timeline

1560–1561Royal Mint at the Tower of London · LondonIn 1560 Elizabeth I ordered circulating silver coins to be restruck in standard-grade silver, halting further copper adulteration, and established a mechanism to buy back old coins by weight, marking the start of rebuilding Tudor England's monetary system.
1562–1570England · EnglandThroughout the 1560s, debased coins from the reigns of Henry VIII and Edward VI were continuously recalled; new silver coins gradually replaced low-grade currency in circulation, easing the phenomenon of 'bad money driving out good' and stabilizing domestic prices and royal tax revenue.
1571England · EnglandBy around 1571, England's main circulating silver coins had switched to the new standard, old coin recall was largely complete, and monetary credit was restored, laying the fiscal foundation for overseas trade with Spain and the Netherlands in the late 1570s and for confronting the Armada in 1588.

Sources

The History of the Royal Mint — John Craig (1953)
Elizabeth I: The Outcast Who Became England's Queen — Simon Adams (2009)