The King and the Leaden Coin: The Economic Background of ‘Sine Qua Non’ Causality

Author:

Courtenay William J.

Abstract

In 1255, in his commentary on the fourth book of Peter Lombard's Sentences, Thomas Aquinas rejected a solution to the problem of sacramental causality, one that was enjoying a certain degree of popularity in the mid-thirteenth century. The opinion that Thomas rejected was that the sacraments effect grace not through an inherent, created virtue but rather through a pact, covenant, or ordination of God that guarantees grace to the person who receives the sacraments, if the latter are properly administered and the recipient places no obstacle in the way of their effectiveness. This type of sacramental causality, termed causality sine qua non, was usually illustrated, Thomas informs us, with the following example. A king might decree that any person possessing a certain leaden coin would receive 100 pounds. In such a case, it would not be the leaden coin that causes the reception of the 100 pounds, but rather the arbitrary acceptation of the token by the king. For Thomas, the leaden coin would be only the occasion for the reward, not its cause. Therefore Thomas rejected this solution which, it seemed to him, would make the sacraments nothing more than the occasion or accidental cause of grace. He sealed his rejection by equating such causality with the way in which the racial color of the builder of a house could be said to be the cause of the house. Thomas maintained this position throughout his life, and, although he altered his solution to the problem of sacramental causality, he in no way altered his rejection of the type of causality based on the example of the king and the leaden coin.

Publisher

Cambridge University Press (CUP)

Subject

Literature and Literary Theory,Philosophy,Religious studies,Visual Arts and Performing Arts

Reference76 articles.

1. Aquinas Thomas , IV Sent. dist. 1 q. 1 a. 4, qc. 1: ‘Quidam enim dicunt, quod non sunt causae quasi facientes aliquid in anima, sed causae sine quibus non: quia increata virtus, quae sola effectus ad gratiam pertinentes in anima facit, sacramentis assistit per quamdam Dei ordinationem, et quasi pactionem. Sic enim ordinavit et quasi pepigit Deus, ut qui sacramenta accipiunt, simul ab iis gratiam recipiant, non quasi sacramenta aliquid faciant ad hoc. Et est simile de illo qui accipit denarium plumbeum facta tali ordinatione, ut qui habuerit unum de illis denariis, habeat centum libras a rege: qui quidem denarius non dat illas centum libras, sed solus rex accipienti ipsum. Et quia pactio talis non erat facta in sacramentis veteris legis, ut accedentes ad ipsa gratiam acciperent, ideo dicuntur gratiam non conferre, sed promittebant tantum. Sed hoc non videtur sufficere ad salvandum dicta sanctorum. Causa enim sine qua non, si nihil omnino faciat ad inducendum effectum vel disponendo vel meliorando, quantum ad rationem causandi, nihil habebit supra causas per accidens; sicut album est causa domus, si aedificator sit albus; et secundum hoc sacramenta essent causae per accidens tantum sanctificationis.’

2. Charlton , op. cit. 312–313, mentions Eusebius and Isidore in this regard, but I have been unable to find references in their works.

3. de Lespinasse R. , Les métiers et corporations de la ville de Paris (Paris 1892) II 524ff.; Blanchet and Dieudonné, Manuel III 512.

4. The distribution of ‘maundy money’ by the English kings was probably a medieval practice, although most references to the institution are from the eighteenth century. For medieval examples of French royal maundy tokens, see: Paris, Bibliothèque nationale, Catalogue de la Collection Rouyer comp. Henri de la Tour; I: Jetons et méreaux du moyen ǎge (Paris 1899) 19–20.

5. Typical in this regard is the comment of Philip Grierson in his Coins and Medals: A Select Bibliography (London 1954) 78–79: ‘The lists that follow include works dealing with coin-weights and jettons, whose importance for the student of coinage is obvious, but omit continental tokens (méreaux, Gildepfenningen, etc.), which are mainly of antiquarian interest.’ The opinion that tokens seldom if ever served as a substitute for real money can be found in such a major work as A. Luschin von Ebengreuth, Allgemeine Münzkunde und Geldgeschichte des Mittelalters und der neueren Zeit (Berlin 1926) 30–31.

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