Modus cudendi monetam (1519-1522)

1519-1522 (wersja łacińska z końca XVI w.)

Original: unknown.

Copies: Archiwum Państwowe, Gdańsk, sign. 300, 29/6, fol. 524v-546v (copy from 1522); Biblioteka Gdańska PAN, Ms. Uph., fol. 112, St. Bornbach Rezesse, vol. VII, p. 466, 495-500 (late 16th c. copy); Archiwum Państwowe, Gdańsk, Bibliotheca Archivi, sign. 300 R/D 3, s. 1-17; sign. 300 R/D 6, s. 185-190 (copies from the 18th c.)

In 1519 Copernicus prepared a German version of his monetary study of 1517 (Meditata) known from the 16th c. as Denkschrift or Modus cudendi monetam (The Way to Strike Coin). This translation, incidentally abounding in oversimplifications and inaccuracies, was made most probably as a document to be presented to the Prussian Estates attended by the Polish King Sigismund I the Old (Zygmunt I Stary). Copernicus read the German version of his treatise before the Royal Prussian Assembly attended by King Sigismund I's envoys at Grudziądz (Graudenz) on 21 March 1522. Referring to the debate held before his speech, he concluded his presentation with a proposal (Appendix) to mint three Prussian shillings as an equivalent of one Polish groat (grosz) and thus to equalize the value of the new Prussian coinage with that issued by the Crown.