Medieval Money, Merchants, and Morality at the Morgan

Anchored around some of its most acclaimed medieval manuscripts, The Morgan Library & Museum will present Medieval Money, Merchants, and Morality, an exhibition examing the economic revolution in medieval Europe and charting the expanding role and perception of money during that period. 

Medieval Europe witnessed an economic revolution. Trade was conducted on an unprecedented scale, banks were established, and coin production surged. The expanding role of money in daily life sparked ethical and theological debates as individuals reflected on fluctuating markets, disparities in wealth, personal conduct, and morality. 

Opening November 10, 2023 and on view through March 10, 2024, this exhibition brings together the Morgan’s illuminated manuscripts with paintings and other loans, including a brass alms box, a wealth of medieval coins, and a formidable strongbox, to reveal the complex ways people conceived of money during this time of rapid economic change.

Medieval Money, Merchants, and Morality dramatizes a struggle that followed the rise of capitalism in the Middle Ages: Would you rather have your money or your eternal life? The exhibition examines the potential of money, highlighting moral responses to it, as well as societal transformations brought about by the new culture of commerce, tracking the rise of the new mercantile class.

Among items on view are two volumes of the Morgan’s Hours of Catherine of Cleves, illuminated by the Master of Catherine of Cleves. One volume is open to an image of St. Gregory framed by an unusual border of gold and silver coins.