Livre tournois

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Livre tournois

The livre tournois ("Tours

Tours

Tours is a city in central France, the capital of the Indre-et-Loire Departments of France.It is located on the lower reaches of the river River Loire, between Orl?ans and the Atlantic Ocean coast....
pound

Pound (currency)

The pound, a unit of currency, originated in England, as the value of a pound mass of silver. For a long time, ?1 worth of silver coins were a troy pound in mass....
") was:

one of numerous currencies used in France
France

France , officially the French Republic , is a country whose Metropolitan France is located in Western Europe and that also comprises various Overseas departments and territories of France....
in the Middle Ages
France in the Middle Ages

France in the Middle Ages covers an area roughly corresponding to modern day France, from the death of Charlemagne in 814 to the middle of the 15th century....
; and
a money of account (i.e., a monetary unit used in accounting) used in France in the Middle Ages and the early modern period
Early Modern France

Early Modern France is the early modern period of French history from the end of the 15th century to the end of the 18th century . During this period France evolved from a feudalism regime to an increasingly centralized state organized around a powerful absolute monarchy that relied on the doctrine of the Divine Right of Kings and the explic...
.

denier tournois coin was initially minted by the abbey of Saint Martin in the Touraine

Touraine

Philip II of France

Philip II Augustus was the King of France from 1180 until his death. A member of the House of Capet, Philip Augustus was born at Gonesse in the Val-d'Oise, the son of Louis VII of France and his third wife, Ad?le of Champagne....
seized the counties of Anjou

Anjou

Anjou is a former county , duchy and Provinces of France centred on the city of Angers in the lower Loire Valley of western France. It corresponds largely to the present-day d?partement in France of Maine-et-Loire....
and Touraine

Touraine

The Touraine is a provinces of France of France. Its capital was Tours. During the political reorganization of French territory in 1790, the Touraine was divided between the d?partement in Frances of Indre-et-Loire, Loir-et-Cher and Indre....
in 1203 and standardized the use of the livre tournois there, the livre tournois began to supersede the livre parisis
Livre parisis

The livre parisis was a standard for minting French coins and a unit of account. Like the livre tournois, which was divided into 20 solidus tournois each of 12 denier tournois, the livre parisis was also divided into 20 sols parisis each of 12 deniers parisis, but the livre parisis was worth 25 sols tournois ....
(Paris pound) which had been up to that point the official currency of the Capetian dynasty

Capetian dynasty

The Capetian dynasty is the largest European royal house. It includes any of the direct descendants of Hugh Capet of France. King Juan Carlos of Spain and Grand Duke Henri%2C_Grand_Duke_of_Luxembourg of Luxembourg are members of this family, both through the House of Bourbon of the dynasty....
.

The livre tournois was, in common with the original livre

French livre

The livre was the currency of France until 1795. Several different livres existed, some concurrently. The livre was the name of both units of account and coins....
of Charlemagne, divided into 20 sols
Solidus (coin)

The solidus was originally a gold coin issued by the Ancient Rome.The solidus was first introduced by Diocletian around 301, struck at 60 to the Roman pound of pure gold and with an initial value equal to 1000 denarius....
(sous after 1715), each of which was divided into 12 deniers

French denier

File:Pepin_I_Aquitaine_denier_817_838.jpgThe denier was a French coin created by Charlemagne in the Early Middle Ages. It was introduced together with an accounting system in which twelve deniers equaled one sou and twenty sous equalled one French livre....
.

Between 1360 and 1641, coins worth one livre tournois were minted, known as francs
French franc

The franc is a former currency of France. Between 1360 and 1641, it was the name of coins worth 1 livre tournois and it remained in common parlance as a term for this amount of money....
(the name coming from the inscription "Johannes Dei Gratia Francorum Rex", "Jean, by the grace of God, King of the French").

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Encyclopedia

The livre tournois ("Tours

Tours

Pound (currency)

The pound, a unit of currency, originated in England, as the value of a pound mass of silver. For a long time, ?1 worth of silver coins were a troy pound in mass....
") was:

one of numerous currencies used in France
France

France , officially the French Republic , is a country whose Metropolitan France is located in Western Europe and that also comprises various Overseas departments and territories of France....
in the Middle Ages
France in the Middle Ages

France in the Middle Ages covers an area roughly corresponding to modern day France, from the death of Charlemagne in 814 to the middle of the 15th century....
; and
a money of account (i.e., a monetary unit used in accounting) used in France in the Middle Ages and the early modern period
Early Modern France

Early Modern France is the early modern period of French history from the end of the 15th century to the end of the 18th century . During this period France evolved from a feudalism regime to an increasingly centralized state organized around a powerful absolute monarchy that relied on the doctrine of the Divine Right of Kings and the explic...
.

Circulating currency

The denier tournois coin was initially minted by the abbey of Saint Martin in the Touraine

Touraine

Philip II of France

Anjou

Touraine

Capetian dynasty

French livre

French denier

Charles V of France

Charles V , called the Wise, was List of French monarchs from 1364 to his death and a member of the House of Valois. His reign marked a high point for France during the Hundred Years' War, with his armies recovering much of the territory ceded to England at the Treaty of Br?tigny....
, Henri III of France

Henry III of France

Henry III of France , born Alexandre-?douard de Valois-Angoul?me, was King of France from 1574 to 1589, and as Henry of Valois, first elected List of Polish rulers#Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and List of Lithuanian rulers#Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth from 1573 to 1574....
and Henri IV of France

Henry IV of France

Henry de Bourbon, , ruled as Henry III, List of Navarrese monarchs, from 1572 to 1610, and as Henry IV, List of French monarchs, from 1589 to 1610....
. 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 livres 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

Livre parisis

The livre parisis was a standard for minting French coins and a unit of account. Like the livre tournois, which was divided into 20 solidus tournois each of 12 denier tournois, the livre parisis was also divided into 20 sols parisis each of 12 deniers parisis, but the livre parisis was worth 25 sols tournois ....
having finally been abolished in 1667.

Accounting currency

With many forms of domestic and international currency (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

Italian coin florin

The Italy florin was a coin struck from 1252 to 1523 with no significant change in its design or metal content standard. It had 54 grain of gold ....
and ducat

Ducat

The ducat is a gold coin that was used as a trade currency throughout Europe before World War I. Its weight is 3.4909 grams of .986 gold, which is 0.1107 troy ounce, actual gold weight, actual gold weight....
which 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.

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 écu

ECU

ECU may refer to:* East Carolina University, a university in Greenville, North Carolina * East Central University, a university in Ada, Oklahoma ...
, 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

Louis XIV of France

Louis XIV ruled as List of French monarchs and of King of Navarre. He ascended the throne a few months before his fifth birthday, but did not assume actual personal control of the government until the death of his prime minister , the Italians Jules Cardinal Mazarin, in 1661....
).

Since coins in Europe in the Middle Ages and the Early modern period (the French écu

Écu (coin)

The term ?cu may refer to one of several France coins. The first ?cu was a gold coin minted during the reign of Louis IX of France, in 1266. Ecu means shield, and the coin was so called because its design included a shield bearing a coat of arms....
, Louis, teston d'argent, denier

Denier

Denier can refer to:* Units of textile measurement#Denier, unit of measurement of linear density of textile fiber mass- calculated as one gram per 9000 meters...
, double, franc

Franc

The franc is the name of several currency units, most notably the French franc, the currency of France until it adopted the euro in 1999 , and the Swiss franc, still a major world currency today due to the prominence of Switzerland Banking in Switzerland....
; the Spanish doubloon

Doubloon

The word doubloon , was a two-escudo or 32-reales gold coin, weighing 6.77 grams . Doubloons were minted in Spain, Mexico, Peru, and Viceroyalty of New Granada....
, pistole

Pistole

Pistole is the French name given to a Spain gold coin in use in 1537; it was a double escudo, the gold unit. The name was also given to the Louis d'Or of Louis XIII of France of France, and to other European gold coins of about the value of the Spanish coin....
, real

Spanish real

The real was a unit of currency in Spain for several centuries....
; the Italian florin

Florin

Florin may refer to:Modern currency* The Netherlands Antillean guilder is also known as a "florin", and abbreviated NAFl* Aruban florin, the currency of Aruba...
, ducat

Ducat

Sequin (coin)

Sequin is a gold coin weighed 3.5 grams of .986 pure gold, minted by the Republic of Venice in 1284.Initially called ducat, it was called the zecchino after the name of the Venice mint, the "Zecca", since 1543 when Venice began minting a silver coin also called a ducat....
; the German and Austrian thaler

Thaler

The Thaler was a silver coin used throughout Europe for almost four hundred years. Its name lives on in various currencies as the dollar or Slovenian tolar....
; the Dutch gulden

Dutch gulden

The guilder , represented by the symbol Florin sign or fl., was the currency of the Netherlands from the 13th century until 2002, when it was replaced by the euro....
, 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 livres 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 écu d'or, a French gold coin, was changed from 60 sols to 57 sols in 1573.
to curb increasing use of the Spanish real
Spanish real

The real was a unit of currency in Spain for several centuries....
, 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

Billon

Billon is an alloy of a precious metal with a majority base metal content . It is used chiefly for making coins, medals, and token coins.The word comes from the middle Latin billo, meaning "a coin containing mostly copper", or just "unit of payment"....
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

Monetary policy

Monetary policy is the process by which the government, central bank, or monetary authority of a country controls the supply of money, availability of money, and cost of money or rate of interest, in order to attain a set of objectives oriented towards the growth and stability of the economy....
and Gresham's Law

Gresham's Law

Gresham's law is commonly stated: "Bad money drives out good."Gresham's law applies specifically when there are two forms of commodity money in circulation which are forced, by the application of legal tender laws, to be respected as having face value in a fixed-ratio for marketplace transactions....
.

Livre tournois

Circulating currency

Accounting currency

See also