What was a sovereign coin worth during the time of Henry VIII?

Question

I saw on the Tudors, Henry VIII tipping a servant this amount and wanted to know its approximate value at the time. What would its value be in today's terms?

Answer 1

Hard one to answer - The gold coinage of Henry VIII may be divided into five classes, differing from each other in various particulars of type, weight, and fineness of metal. The first class began at the beginning of his reign; the second in his 18th year, 1526; the third in his 35th year, 1543; the fourth in his 36th year, 1544; and the fifth in his 37th year, 1545.

The first gold sovereign under Henry VII in 1489 had the value of one pound sterling.

For the first 16 years of Henry VIII’s reign coinage followed the pattern of previous issues. In 1526, in an effort to prevent the drain of gold to continental Europe, the value of English gold was increase by 10%, the sovereign up to 22s 0d.

Within a few months the sovereign was soon revalued again at 22s 6d. In 1544 the debasement of the coinage began to help finance Henry’s wars. Gold fell to 23-carat finesse in 1544, 22c. in 1545 and 20c. in 1546.

The Crown first appeared as a British coin denomination in 1544 under Henry VIII. This was a gold coin with a value of five shillings.

Answer 2

Difficult question because precisely in this period there was a great inflation owing to the influx of precious metals from America.
But - a penny a day was a poor wage.
A book of a play cost 6d, sixpence, in Elizabeth I's time.
He sounds like a generous tipper to me!

Answer 3

Would be same as today 20shillings or 240 pence.That is it's monetary value.However as it's a gold coin it is worth great deal more However in the time of Henry V111 the coin was worth 20shillings