4 Speciedaler – Norway

In 1656, Norway found itself in a precarious monetary situation, deeply entangled with its political union with Denmark. The Kingdom of Denmark-Norway was engaged in the devastating Northern Wars (1655-1660), primarily against Sweden. The immense cost of financing armies and a large navy drained the state treasury, leading to severe fiscal strain. To meet these wartime expenses, the Danish crown, which controlled monetary policy for both realms, resorted to the repeated debasement of the currency.

The primary circulating coin was the silver skilling, but its silver content was drastically reduced through official edicts. The government would call in existing coins, melt them down, and reissue new ones with the same face value but containing less precious metal. This practice, effectively a form of inflation, allowed the state to create more money from the same silver stock in the short term. However, it eroded public trust and caused prices to soar as people demanded more debased coins for goods and services, leading to economic instability and hardship for the population, particularly those on fixed incomes.

Furthermore, Norway suffered from a chronic shortage of physical coinage, a problem exacerbated by the war. Much of its better-quality silver was siphoned out of the country to pay for imports and military supplies, while the influx of poor-quality, debased coins disrupted local trade. Merchants and farmers became wary, and a complex system of barter and credit often replaced cash transactions. Thus, in 1656, Norwegians were navigating an economy characterized by unreliable, diminishing currency, rampant inflation, and scarcity, all direct consequences of the crown's wartime financial policies.