Does anyone have any ideas on some good reading material about coinage in the middle ages. Specifically the post Carolingian, pre-Reformation period in Germany (say 1000-1500). During this time there were imperial mints in a place like Dortmund and Soest while nearby there would be ecclesiatical issues from Cologne and Paderborn. Did the average trader, merchant, innkeep, and soldier see primarily one kind of money or both? What did the bishops spend their money on?

I would recommend - Coins of the World by R.A.G. Carson. A couple of the Davenport books would also be helpful - European Crowns 1484 - 1600 and European Crowns 1600 - 1700. A couple of others - Coinage in France - from the Dark Ages to Napoleon by Nicholas Mayhew and Coins of Medieval Europe by Philip Grierson.

I definitely need that Grierson. Here's a site I just found Medieval Bibliography. I also noticed that a lot of coins were just aucctioned by M&M for Westfalen, so I suppose I can just go to their bibliography and see if the references are available.

You can obtain a great deal of information regarding the medieval period here - Medieval SourceBook


You may also wish to use - The Numismatic Index of Periodicals This is likely the single best research tool available for finding out where you can find numismatic information - of any kind. There is so much available however that you may find it a bit overwhelming.

Ah the medieval sourcebook, i've used that before now! There's also an ancient one too.