A licensed coiner or striker of coins. Mints, of which there were many in England at any one time, were run by private individuals experienced in metalwork, under royal control. Payment was one penny in every £1. Moneyers were liable to mutilation, having a hand chopped off, castration (which happened in 1124), or death, if coins were found to be debased. Dies were supplied by the crown; recoining was one way for the monarch to extract money from the populace by reducing the proportions of silver or latterly gold. This obviated the need for a tax. [< OldFr. monnier < Lat. monetarius = striker of coins] -
Dictionary of Medieval Terms and Phrases. Christopher Coredon with Ann Williams.