The Roman Empire fell in 476 AD, when Emperor Romulas Augustus was deposed by the Goths. In the 6th century, the Byzantine Empire resumed gold mining in central Europe and France, for the first time since the fall of the Roman Empire. In 788, Charlemagne, King of the Franks, overran the Avars and plundered their vast quantities of gold, making it possible for him to take control over much of Western Europe.

With the Norman conquest in 1066, a metallic currency standard was finally re-established in Great Britain, with the introduction of a system of pounds, shillings, and pence. The pound was literally a pound of sterling silver.

In the second half of the 13th century, Marco Polo wrote of his travels to the Far East, where the “gold wealth was almost unlimited.” In 1284, Venice introduced the gold Ducat, which soon became the most popular coin in the world, and remained so for over five hundred years. In the same year, Great Britain issued its first major gold coin – the Florin. But it wasn’t until 1377 that Great Britain shifted to a monetary system based on gold and silver.