The course examines European monetary and financial policies up to the early eighteenth centuries – a period during which the very parameters that shaped policies differed from those of today: Not only was money supply essentially international due to porous currency borders, but small change was only weakly linked to the larger units of its own currency system. The course takes students from the simple beginnings of European monetary history to the more complex arrangements that emerged toward the end of the early modern age. The course will discuss and compare developments in the major European countries (England, Spain, Italy, France, and Germany). It emphasises both the many features shared by these countries and their often considerable differences, places monetary and financial policies in the context of more general economic policies and discusses how money and finance influenced the wider economy.