GRESHAM, SIR THOMAS

grĕshˈəm, 1519?–1579, English merchant and financier. As the royal financial agent in Antwerp after 1551 he proved himself very able, though his methods were frequently more effective than ethical. After the accession of Elizabeth I to the throne he spent most of his time in London but went on diplomatic and financial missions. He also accumulated a great private fortune as a banker, mercer, and merchant. He was the principal figure in the founding of the Royal Exchange, and he endowed Gresham College in London. His name was given to Gresham's law, the economic principle that in the circulation of money "bad money drives out good," i.e., when depreciated, mutilated, or debased coinage (or currency) is in concurrent circulation with money of high value in terms of precious metals, the good money is withdrawn from circulation by hoarders. It was thought that Gresham was the first to state the principle, but it has been shown that it was stated long before his time and that he did not even formulate it.

See J. W. Burgon, Life and Times of Sir Thomas Gresham (2 vol., 1839, rep. 1968); biography by F. R. Salter (1925).

____________________

The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition Copyright© 2004, Columbia University Press. Licensed from Lernout & Hauspie Speech Products N.V. All rights reserved.

-20120-

Top...
Search the Library
Books
Journals
Magazines
Newspapers
Encyclopedia
Advanced Search
About Questia
Questia is the world's largest online academic library offering full-text books, journals, and articles on thousands of topics.

Join Now...
Questia Books and Articles on: Gresham Sir Thomas
We found: 1675 results
By media type:
 

Books:

 

1625  

 

Journal articles:

 

30  

 

Magazine articles:

 

11  

 

Newspaper articles:

 

7  

 

Encyclopedia articles:

 

2  
 

books on: Gresham Sir Thomas  - 1625 results

       More book Results: 1-10 11-20 21-30 31-40 41-50 >>  
 
1.
Life and Letters of Sir Thomas Wyatt
Book by Kenneth Muir; Liverpool University Press, 1963
Subjects: Wyatt, Thomas--Sir--1503?-1542
LIFE AND LETTERS OF SIR THOMAS WYATT LIVERPOOL ENGILSH TEXTS AND...DAVENPORT SAMUEL DANIEL BY JOAN REES SIR THOMAS WYATT BY HANS HOLBEIN Life and Letters of Sir Thomas Wyatt BY KENNETH MUIR KING...
2.
Civil Histories: Essays Presented to Sir Keith Thomas
Book by Peter Burke, Brian Harrison, Paul Slack; Oxford University Press, 2000
Subjects: Great Britain--History, Great Britain--History--Stuarts, 1603-1714, Great Britain--History--Tudors, 1485-1603
...ESSAYS PRESENTED TO SIR KEITH THOMAS EDITED BY PETER BURKE...histories: essays presented to Sir Keith Thomas / edited by Peter Burke...Lucia Pallares-Burke with Sir Keith on z8 July 1998...contributors and others. K. Thomas (ed.), The Oxford Book...
3.
Thomas More
Book by R. W. Chambers; University of Michigan Press, 1958
Subjects: More, Thomas--Sir, Saint--1478-1535
...anecdote.12. The Elizabethan play of Sir Thomas More 15...by them in 1929, on The Fame of Sir Thomas More ; and to the British Academy...his judges; but in the Apology of Sir Thomas More the Englishman gives us his...
4.
Sir Walter Mildmay and Tudor Government
Book by Stanford E. Lehmberg; University of Texas Press, 1964
Subjects: Mildmay, Walter--Sir--1520?-1589
...normally have been performed by Sir Thomas Gresham, the English agent in the Netherlands...Burgon, The Life and Times of Sir Thomas Gresham, I , 118. fortifications at...and to examine the records of Sir Thomas Gresham's activities at Antwerp during...
5.
Sir Philip Sidney: Type of English Chivalry in the Elizabethan Age
Book by H. R. Fox Bourne; G.P. Putnams Sons, 1891
Subjects: Sidney, Philip--Sir--1554-1586
...Procession at the Obsequies of Sir Philip Sidney", by Thomas Lant, 1587. "The...Sir James Harrington, Sir William Fitzwilliam, and Thomas Rat , cliffe, Lord Fitzwalter...instigation chiefly of Thomas Butler, the SIR HENRY SIDNEY. FROM AN...
More book Results: 1-10 11-20 21-30 31-40 41-50 >>

Top...
 

journal articles on: Gresham Sir Thomas  - 30 results

       More journal Results: 1-10 11-20 21-30 >>  
 
1.
Getting It Back to Front in 1590: Spenser's Dedications, Nashe's Insinuations, and Ralegh's Equivocations
Journal article by Andrew Zurcher; Studies in the Literary Imagination, Vol. 38, 2005
Subjects: Nashe, Thomas--Criticism and interpretation, Nashe, Thomas--Works, Poets--Criticism and interpretation, Poets--Works, Raleigh, Walter--Criticism and interpretation, Raleigh, Walter--Works, Spenser, Edmund--Criticism and interpretation, Spenser, Edmund--Works, The Faerie Queene (Book)--Criticism and interpretation
...524-26. Bindoff, S. T. The Fame of Sir Thomas Gresham. London: Jonathan Cape, 1973...William. The Life and Times of Sir Thomas Gresham. Vol. 2. London: Effingham Wilson...Light on Spensers Career from Sir Thomas Tresham." Spenser Studies 12...
2.
John Donne and Elizabethan Economic Theory
Journal article by Coburn Freer; Criticism, Vol. 38, 1996
Subjects: Donne, John--Criticism, interpretation, etc., Economics--Portrayals, depictions, etc., United Kingdom--History, 1558-1603 (Elizabethan era)
...2) Many financiers such as Sir Thomas Gresham also made, in their letters...contributed to the founding of Sir Thomas Greshams Royal Exchange.(43) He was active...had been a close associate of Sir Thomas Gresham and was one of the most powerful...
3.
"A Wonderfull Tryumfe, for the Wynnyng of a Pryse": Guilds, Ritual, Theater, and the Urban Network in the Southern Low Countries, Ca. 1450-1650*
Journal article by Anne-Laure Van Bruaene; Renaissance Quarterly, Vol. 59, 2006
Subjects: Art--Analysis, Art--Belgium, Art--History, Art--United Kingdom, Theater in art--Analysis, Theater in art--Belgium, Theater in art--History, Theater in art--United Kingdom, Theater--Analysis, Theater--History
...to London to inform his master Sir Thomas Gresham, financial agent of and advisor...John W. The Life and Times of Sir Thomas Gresham, Knt., Founder of the Royal Exchange...Confraternitas 14 (2003): 3-12. Robisheaux, Thomas W. "The World of the Village...
4.
Gresham's Law, Technology, and Education
Journal article by Lawrence Mccluskey; Phi Delta Kappan, Vol. 75, 1994
Subjects: Educational technology--Psychological aspects, Technology--Social aspects
...Greshams Law to support his case. SIR THOMAS Gresham, an Englishman who died in 1579...number of people, the operation of Greshams Law seems clear. For example...that the principle underlying Greshams Law operates on our thought processes...
5.
Introduction
Journal article by Jean E. Howard; Shakespeare Studies, Vol. 35, 2007
Subjects: England--History, Internationalism--Analysis, Internationalism--History, Social evolution--Analysis
...streets to attend the opening of Sir Thomas Greshams grand new building, a bourse to...diaries and reports; gentlemen like Thomas Coryate traveled across the face...Haughtons contradictory fiction about Greshams Royal Exchange, but remaining...
More journal Results: 1-10 11-20 21-30 >>

Top...
 

magazine articles on: Gresham Sir Thomas  - 11 results

       More magazine Results: 1-10 11-11 >>  
 
1.
Exhibiting the Nation
Magazine article by Asa Briggs; History Today, Vol. 50, January 2000
Subjects: Briggs, Asa--Addresses, essays, lectures, Lectures and lecturing--Composition, Royal Historical Society Gresham--Addresses, essays, lectures
...by visitors to the Crystal Palace was that of the historian Thomas Babington Macaulay: `I made my way into the building; a most...show it is. The South Bank site, recommended by the architect Sir William (later Lord) Holford, was exciting, particularly at...
2.
Edmund Spenser: The Boyhood of a Poet
Magazine article by Donald Bruce; Contemporary Review, Vol. 264, February 1994
Subjects: Poets--Biography, Spenser, Edmund--Biography
...Gloucestershire, who apprenticed him to a London mercer. Sir Thomas Gresham himself derived from the Norfolk squire-archy and...Upon those resplendent backs rose such clothiers as Sir Thomas Gresham who, for one, spent his money better. In the tracks...
3.
William Jones and His Circle: The Man Who Invented the Concept of Pi: In 1706 a Little-Known Mathematics Teacher William Jones First Used a Symbol to Represent the Platonic Concept of Pi, an Ideal That in Numerical Terms Can Be Approached, but Never Reached. Patricia Rothman Discusses Jones's Significance among His Contemporaries and the Unique Archive That Forms His Legacy
Magazine article by Patricia Rothman; History Today, Vol. 59, July 2009
Subjects: Jones, William E. (American mathematician)--Works, Pi--History, Teachers--Works, pi (Number)--History
...establishment. In 1718 his patron Sir Thomas Parker was made lord chancellor and...calculus. Professor of astronomy at Gresham College for nearly 40 years, Machin...excellent natural genius. This was Thomas Godfrey (1704-49), a glazier, who...
4.
The First Common Market? in the 13th Century a Remarkable Trading Block Was Formed in Northern Europe. Stephen Halliday Explains How the Hanseatic League Prospered for 300 Years before the Rise of the Nation State Led to Its Dissolution
Magazine article by Stephen Halliday; History Today, Vol. 59, July 2009
Subjects: Hanseatic League--History, International agencies--History, International organizations--History, International trade--History, Protectionism--History
...their monopolistic interests were in conflict with those of the Hanseatic merchants at the Steelyard, they protested. Sir Thomas Gresham (1519-79), founder of the Royal Exchange, drew Elizabeth Is attention to the fact that the League was not only enjoying...
5.
Advice to Elizabeth: 450 Years Ago This Month, the Young Elizabeth Became Queen of England. Norman Jones Looks at Evidence from the State Papers, Newly Available Online from Cengage, to Show How Those Close to Her Viewed the Challenges Faced in the Early Days by Elizabethan England
Magazine article by Norman Jones; History Today, Vol. 58, November 2008
Subjects: Elizabeth I, Queen of England--History, Queens--History
...and contributing to rampant inflation, prompting Sir Thomas Gresham, royal agent in the Netherlands, famously to observe...who would become the workhorses of the new regime, Sir Thomas Parry and Sir William Cecil. The two of them instantly began to...
More magazine Results: 1-10 11-11 >>

Top...
 

newspaper articles on: Gresham Sir Thomas  - 7 results

       More newspaper Results: 1-7 >>  
 
1.
Sir Thomas's New Coining; ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS
Newspaper article; The Daily Mail (London, England), February 7, 2005
Sir Thomass New Coining; ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS. QUESTION What is Greshams Law? GRESHAMS Law isnt really a law...comes from Tudor financier and speculator Sir Thomas Gresham (1519-1579), adviser to the juvenile...
2.
Prague; Budapest; A Tale of Two Cities
Newspaper article; The Washington Times, March 11, 2006
...Hungarian actress was a longtime resident when part of the palace was apartments. The palace itself was named for Sir Thomas Gresham, the British 16th-century financier who founded the Royal Stock Exchange and coined Greshams Law: "Bad money drives...
3.
The 12 Names That Every History Pupil Should Know; but Why Didn't the Tories Include Churchill in Their List?
Newspaper article; The Daily Mail (London, England), December 26, 2006
...founder of the stockmarket Thomas Gresham and the founder of the modern police force Sir Robert Peel. The only...English and Scottish crowns. Sir Thomas Gresham 1519-1579 Founder of the...of the British Empire. Sir Robert Peel 1788-1850...
4.
Mystery of Levi and His 'Suicide' Leap; ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS
Newspaper article; The Daily Mail (London, England), February 12, 2005
...was formulated as an economic principle long before Sir Thomas Greshams time. The astronomer Copernicus (1473-1543) and others...this, the economist H.D. MacLeod named the law after Gresham in 1857. Kevin Heneghan, St Helens, Merseyside.
5.
Two Elizabeths,two Ages:which Has Been Greater?
Newspaper article; The Daily Mail (London, England), May 18, 1996
...great financial adviser, Sir Thomas Gresham, restored the finances brilliantly...beard. Under Queen Bess, Sir Francis Drake became the...Gorbaduc, by her friend Thomas Sackville, was produced...Queen and she encouraged Sir Philip Sidney, who wrote...
More newspaper Results: 1-7 >>

Top...
 

encyclopedia articles on: Gresham Sir Thomas  - 2 results

 
 
1.
Gresham, Sir Thomas
Encyclopedia article; The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition, 2009
GRESHAM, SIR THOMAS gresh m, 1519? 1579, English merchant and financier. As the royal...he did not even formulate it. See J. W. Burgon, Life and Times of Sir Thomas Gresham (2 vol., 1839, rep. 1968); biography by F. R. Salter (1925...
2.
Gresham's Law
Encyclopedia article; The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition, 2009
GRESHAMS LAW see under Gresham, Sir Thomas . ____________________ Copyright 2009 Columbia University Press. Used with the permission of Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.


Top...
 About Questia   ::   Privacy   ::   Contact