Power politics and princely debts: why Germany's common currency failed, 1549-56

Using new sources, this article examines how in the years around 1550 Charles V and the imperial estates came close to creating a common currency for the Holy Roman Empire. The article analyses whose interests prevailed in the negotiations and how, despite the resistance of some important actors, the Imperial diet of 1551 was able to unanimously agree on the currency bill. It also analyses why the common currency still failed: This was the case because of the desire of many princes to ease the repayment of their debts by establishing a bimetallic currency, and even more importantly because of Charles V's attempt to weaken the Elector of Saxony by undervaluing the taler. In this, Charles exploited the diet's implicit ex-ante agreement with him to set the rates at which old money was allowed to continue in circulation. His manipulations provoked resistance, raised the costs of implementing the common currency, and caused its failure

Premodern debasement: a messy affair

The paper argues that in premodern Europe, the practice of debasement was far more ‘messy’ than research has generally recognised. First, high information costs often prevented the effective control of mint officials who could exploit their resulting autonomy in order to debase coins on their own account. Second, these costs made it impossible to monitor markets closely enough to enforce regulations. Attempts by governments to debase coins by increasing their nominal value therefore ‘worked’ only if they conformed to the market rates of these coins. Finally, high information costs prevented the creation of closed areas where the domestic currency enjoyed a monopoly. The resulting trade in coinage created incentives for governments to issue inferior copies of their neighbour’s coins – a practice that had the same consequences as a debasement – and forced the affected governments to follow suit by debasing their own coinage, too

Onderzoek naar het gedrag van zandgolven in de Noordzee

Op de bijeenkomst van 10-4-1979 te Den Haag werd besloten om alle in het proefgebied ten westen van lichtopstand Goeree verzamelde gegevens zoveel mogelijk uit te werken en te rapporteren. Hiertoe werden de Sonia-opnamen, welke op 5-6-1975 werden verricht ten behoeve van het vaststellen van de lokatie van een tweetal representatieve zandgolven, geïnterpreteerd. De geïnterpreteerde sonogrammen werden in profiel weergegeven. Tevens zijn in dit interimrapport de omschrijvingen van 9 eveneens in 1975 verrichte Geodoff MKII contraflush/Zenkovitch-steekboringen en de resultaten van de diverse aan de verkregen monsters gedane laboratoriumonderzoekingen opgenomen. Naast het doel om met behulp van de Sonia-opnamen een tweetal representatieve zandgolven voor verder onderzoek te vinden, is gepoogd om tevens interne structuren in de zandgolven vast te stellen. Slechts in enkele zandgolven werden reflectoren aangetroffen,die op de aanwezigheid van foreset-bedding kunnen wijzen,Door de aanwezigheid van allerlei valse reflectoren in het sonogram kon slechts in een enkel geval een duidelijke "echte" reflector worden weergegeven in de zandgolven. Mogelijk kan met de door de RGD aangeschafte subbottom profiler van het type Boomer opnieuw een opname over de betreffende zandgolven worden gemaakt

History and modes of Miocene carbonate deposition in the interior of the Piedmont Basin, NW Italy

Miocene skeletal limestones and adjacent deposits in the Basso Monferrato and in the foothills of the Ligurian Alps were studied in detail

Expressions of shallow gas in the Netherlands North Sea

Surface and sub-surface expressions of shallow gas in the Netherlands part of the southern North Sea are described, using standard E&P 2D and 3D seismic surveys, as well as higher frequency acoustic surveys. Surface expressions observed are pockmarks, which are geomorphologic features at the seabed indicative for venting of gas, and cemented sandstones. The sub-surface expressions found comprise both phenomena indicating efficient trapping of gas in reservoir sands, such as shallow bright spots and flat spots, and phenomena, which are indications of migration or leakage to the seabed. We refer to the latter as 'seismic anomalies indicating leakage'. These anomalies include gas chimneys or seismic chimneys. All chimneys found in the area have in common, that they belong to a seepage style, which is called 'small and localised'. Much of this seepage is situated over salt domes, with the accompanying normal fault above the domes acting as pathways for the gas or fluids. Although there is admixture of biogenic gas, it is believed that many of the features observed relate to thermo-genic gas. --- See newer version: Schroot, B.M., Klaver, G.T. & Schüttenhelm, R.T.E. (2005). Surface and subsurface expressions of gas seepage to the seabed – examples from the Southern North Sea. (4 SPEC. ISS.), 499-515. doi: doi:10.1016/j.marpetgeo.2004.08.00