What form of money did the king control the production of?

• A. Gold coins
• B. Silver pennies
• C. Copper tokens
• D. Paper money

Answer: (B)

The essential idea here is the royal monopoly on coinage. In Anglo-Saxon and Norman England, the king alone had the authority to mint coins and set their standards, so money in circulation was produced at royal mints under the crown. The everyday, widely used coin was the silver penny, which was produced to fixed weights and fineness and circulated as the standard unit of currency. While gold coins existed, they were far less common and not the standard for daily transactions. Copper tokens and paper money were not part of the official currency system in this period. So, the money the king controlled the production of was the silver penny.