Medieval French currency
Livre tournois
La Banque Royale: 100 livres Tournois (1720)
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Unit
| livre
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Symbol
| ?
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Subunit
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1
⁄
20
| sous
sol
until 1714
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1
⁄
240
| denier
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User(s)
| France
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This infobox shows the latest status before this currency was rendered obsolete.
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The
livre tournois
(
French pronunciation:
[liv?
tu?nwa]
;
lit.
'
Tours
pound
'
; abbreviation:
?
.) was one of numerous currencies used in
medieval France
, and a
unit of account
(i.e., a monetary unit used in accounting) used in
Early Modern France
.
The 1262 monetary reform established the
livre tournois
as 20
sous tournois
, or 80.88
grams
of
fine silver
. The
franc a cheval
was a gold coin of one
livre tournois
minted in large numbers from 1360.
In 1549, the
livre tournois
was decreed a unit of account, and in 1667 it officially replaced the
livre parisis
.
In 1720, the
livre tournois
was redefined as 0.31 grams of pure gold, and in 1726, in a devaluation under
Louis XV
, as 4.50516 grams of fine silver.
It was the basis of the revolutionary
French franc
of 1795, defined as 4.5 grams of fine silver exactly.
Circulating currency
[
edit
]
John II of France
|
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John, armored, on horseback left, holding sword. Around IOHANNES DEI GRATIA ? FRANCORV REX
|
Cross fleuree; lis in quarters; all within tressure; trefoils in angles; around + XP'C* VInCIT* XP'C* REGNAT* XP'C* INPERAT
|
Franc a cheval
, 1360
|
Charles V of France
|
|
Charles standing facing, holding sword, in Gothic arch flanked by lis; KAROLVS x DI x GR FRANCOR x REX ; there is an R at end of legend
(
La Rochelle
mint)
|
Ornate cross with trefoils at ends; lis and crowns in quarters; all within tressure; lis in angles. XPC* VINCIT x XRC REGNAT XRC* IMPERAT
|
Franc a pied
|
In France, the
livre
was worth 240
deniers
(the "Tours penny"). These deniers were first minted by the
abbey of Saint Martin
, in the
province
of
Touraine
. Soon after
Philip II of France
seized the counties of
Anjou
and
Touraine
in 1203 and standardized the use of the
livre tournois
there, the
livre tournois
began to supersede the
livre parisis
(Paris pound) which had been up to that point the official currency of the
Capetian dynasty
.
The
livre tournois
was, in common with the original
livre of Charlemagne
, divided into 20
sols
(
sous
after 1715),
[
citation needed
]
each of which was divided into 12
deniers
.
Between 1360 and 1641, coins worth one
livre tournois
were minted, known as
francs
(the name coming from the inscription
Johannes Dei Gratia Francorum Rex
, [
Jean, by the grace of God, King of the French
]).
[
citation needed
]
Other francs were minted under
Charles V
,
Henry III
and
Henry IV
. The use of the name "franc" became a synonym for
livre tournois
in accounting.
The first French paper money, issued between 1701 and 1720, was denominated in
livre tournois
(see "Standard Catalog of World Paper Money", Albert Pick). This was the last time the name was used officially, as later notes and coins were denominated simply in
livres
, the
livre parisis
having finally been abolished in 1667.
[
citation needed
]
Accounting currency
[
edit
]
With many forms of domestic and international money (with different weights, purities and quality) circulating throughout Europe in the late Middle Ages and the early modern period, the use of an
accounting currency
became a financial necessity. In the world of international banking of the 13th century, it was the
florin
and
ducat
that were often used. In France, the
livre tournois
and the currency system based on it became a standard monetary unit of accounting and continued to be used even when the
livre tournois
ceased to exist as an actual coin. For example, the
Louisiana Purchase
treaty of 1803 specified the relative ratios of the
franc
,
dollar
and
livre tournois
.
The official use of the
livre tournois
accounting unit in all contracts in France was legislated in 1549, but it had been one of the standard units of accounting in France since the 13th century. In 1577 the
livre tournois
accounting unit was officially abolished and accountants switched to the
ecu
, which was at that time the major French gold coin in actual circulation, but in 1602 the
livre tournois
accounting unit was brought back. (A monetary unit of accounting based on the
livre parisis
continued to be used for minor uses in and around Paris and was not officially abolished until 1667 by
Louis XIV
).
Since coins in Europe in the Middle Ages and the Early modern period (the French
ecu
,
Louis
,
teston d'argent
,
denier
, double,
franc
; the Spanish
doubloon
,
pistole
,
real
; the Italian
florin
,
ducat
or
sequin
; the German and Austrian
thaler
; the
Dutch gulden
, etc.) did not have any indication of their value, their official value was determined by royal edicts. In cases of financial need, French kings could use the official value for
currency devaluation
. This could be done in two ways: (1) the amount of precious metal in a newly minted French coin could be reduced while nevertheless maintaining the old value in
livre tournois
or (2) the official value of a domestic or foreign coin in circulation could be increased. By reversing these techniques, currencies could be reinforced.
For example:
- the worth of an ecu d'or, a French gold coin, was changed from 60 to 57 sols in 1573.
- to curb increasing use of the
Spanish real
, its official worth was decreased to 4 sols 2 deniers in the 1570s.
Royal finance officers faced many difficulties. In addition to currency speculation, forgery and the
intentional shaving of precious metal from coins
(which was harshly punished), they had the difficult problem of setting values for gold, silver, copper and
billon
coins, responding to the often large influx of foreign coin and the appearance of inferior foreign coins of intentionally similar design. For more on these issues, see
Monetary policy
and
Gresham's Law
.
Unicode symbol
[
edit
]
?
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In
Unicode
| U+20B6
₶
LIVRE TOURNOIS SIGN
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A glyph for the
livre tournois
was added to Unicode 5.2, in the
Currency Symbols
block at code point U+20B6.
See also
[
edit
]
Currency units named
pound
,
lira
, or similar
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Circulating
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Local alternative currency
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Defunct
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Historical antecedents (mass)
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See also
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