[spiralx]

A shortage of bullion in Europe during the 15th century caused problems everywhere. That was followed by a huge influx of gold from the Americas in the 16th century, which also caused massive problems across the continent!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Bullion_Famine

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Price_revolution

Both under- and over-supply had negative effects on the economies of Europe.

The gold standard really was a primitive fiat currency anyway, governments would debase coins so they contained less gold in order to expand the money supply for instance. And only a small fraction of coins would be gold anyway, silver was far more common - the Pound Sterling takes it's name from a pound of silver from the easterlings (Germans). Paper money just made it obvious that physical currency was only a representation of wealth and not a fixed unit of wealth itself.

The gold standard is basically a political myth about a system that never really existed. Money is a very abstract concept, and reducing it to physical tokens and easily intuitive rules is appealing to many.