in europe the first paper money consisted of paper 'coins' issued in protestant leyden (today, leiden) in the netherlands during the spanish siege of 1574. over 5000 of the estimated 14,000 residents of leyden died, mostly due to starvation. even leather (often used to create emergency currency) was boiled and used to feed the people. so to create currency, the residents took covers and paper from hymnals and church missives and created paper planchets, which were struck using the same dies that were previously used to mint coins.