Romania’s capital city Bucharest, although first
\nmentioned in historical documents in 1459, has in fact a much longer history,
\nand the monetary circulation in the area is even older. Archaeological evidence
\npoints to the fact that in ancient times the inhabitants of this area used
\ncoins issued by Greek colonies such as Histria, Tomis and Callatis. The coins
\nthey used were the gold stater, the silver drachma and the tetradrachm.
\nGaeto-Dacian coins were also discovered around Bucharest. There is plenty
\narchaeological evidence of the monetary circulation in the Middle Ages, proof
\nof the fact that once the medieval state of Wallachia was centralised, the
\nfirst local coins the silver Ducats, were minted. Historian Dan Parvulescu is
\ndeputy director of Bucharest’s History Museum:<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
The first coins in Wallachia, discovered around
\nBucharest, are the ones minted by Ruler Vladislav I Vlaicu in the mid-14th
\ncentury. He is considered the founder of Wallachia’s monetary system. Before
\nhim, circulating in the Bucharest area and in Wallachia had been coins issued
\nby the neighbouring states, such as the Bulgarian Grosz, the Serbian Grosz, the
\nHungarian Denar and the Byzantine coins issue. After Vladislav I, another ruler
\nwho minted coins was Radu I, who is not so often mentioned by documents.
\nHowever, coins from his time were unearthed, that define his reign quite well.
\nFor a whole century, starting with Vladislav I, the Wallachian state issued coins
\non a regular basis. Subsequently, the emission of coins became less frequent as
\nthe influence of the Ottoman Empire increased.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Unfortunately, the fact that Romanian voivodates
\nbecame vassals of the Ottoman Empire and had relations of vassalage with the
\nSublime Porte also meant the issue of local coins became less frequent. During
\nthe Phanariot period, which in Wallachia began in 1714 and in Moldavia in 1711,
\nOttoman restrictions on the two principalities increased and they were
\ncompletely deprived of the right to mint their own coins. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Nevertheless, during the Phanariot period there was
\nan intense circulation of money, especially in Bucharest, which was definitely
\na merchant city and had for long been the capital of Wallachia. Turkish money
\nwas used for commercial transactions, alongside the Hungarian Denars and the
\nPolish Grosz. Given the fact that various categories of currency circulated at
\nthe same time, attempts were made to set a single currency. Unfortunately,
\nthese attempts were unsuccessful. Historian Dan Parvulescu explains:<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
It was rather complicated, especially for ordinary
\npeople, who at that time were illiterate, for their most part. So exchanging
\nthose coins was quite risky. Crooks seized any opportunity to increase their
\nincomes in a dishonest way. Forging the coins was not unusual. Moneychangers
\nused all sorts of tricks. For instance, they filed off the edges of a coin to
\nrecycle part of the precious metal, relying on the fact that people were not
\nvery familiar with how the coins really looked like, since so many of them
\ncirculated at the same time. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
All these tribulations would end once the national
\ncurrency the Leu, with its subdivision, the Ban, was adopted in the mid-19th
\ncentury. Dan Parvulescu: <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
An early attempt to impose a single currency system
\nwas made during the reign of ruling prince Alexandru Ioan Cuza. Unfortunately, it was a failed attempt, as
\nthe Ottoman Empire rejected the idea of a local coin being minted during Cuza’s
\nreign. At that time, the initial suggestion was for the national currency to be
\ntermed ‘romanat’ taking up on the model of the French franc. On April 22, 1867,
\nduring the reign of King Carol I, a bill was passed establishing a monetary
\nsystem and the issue of national coins. The Leu became the national currency,
\nwith the Ban as its subdivision. The Ottoman Empire still opposed the national
\ncurrency, yet loopholes were found to avoid the Porte’s will. Initially, bronze
\ncoins were ordered at two mints in England.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Once Romania gained its independence in 1877, the Leu
\ngot the status of official currency of the Kingdom of Romania, and then of
\nGreater Romania, in 1918. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Evidence of monetary circulation in and around Bucharest goes back before the citys first mention in historical records in 1459.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":136,"featured_media":168547,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[45210],"tags":[45359],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-168546","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-rri-encyclopaedia","tag-monetary-circulation-bucharest"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n