Écu

Last updated
The first ecu, issued by Louis IX of France, in 1266. First ecu, issued by Louis IX of France in 1266.jpg
The first écu, issued by Louis IX of France, in 1266.

The term écu (French pronunciation: [eky] ) may refer to one of several French coins. [1] The first écu was a gold coin (the écu d'or) minted during the reign of Louis IX of France, in 1266. The value of the écu varied considerably over time, and silver coins (known as écu d'argent) were also introduced.

Contents

Écu (from Latin scutum) means shield, and the coin was so called because its design included the coat of arms of France. The word is related to the Catalan escut , Italian scudo, or Portuguese and Castilian escudo . In English, the écu was often referred to as the crown, [2] or the French crown in the eras of the English crown, British crown, and other crowns.

History

Origin

When Louis IX took the throne, France still used small silver deniers (abbreviated d.), which had circulated since the time of Charlemagne to the exclusion of larger silver or gold coins. Over the years, French kings had granted numerous nobles and bishops the right to strike coins and their “feudal” coinages competed with the royal coinage. Venice and Florence had already shown that there was demand for larger silver and gold coins and in 1266 Louis IX sought an advantage for the royal coinage by expanding it in these areas. [3] His gold écu d'or showed a shield strewn with fleur-de-lis, which was the coat of arms of the kings of France at the time. These coins were valued as if gold was worth only 10 times as much as silver, an unrealistic ratio which Edward III of England had unsuccessfully tried to use. It failed again, Louis IX's silver coins were a great success but his gold was not accepted at this rate and his successor discontinued gold coinage. [4]

Écu d'or

ecu a la chaise of Philip VI Philip VI ecu 1348 631767.jpg
écu a la chaise of Philip VI

Philip IV reintroduced gold coinage to France in 1296 and began a sequence of extravagantly designed but rapidly changing types. These coins were generally named for their obverse design, and the écu à la chaise which Philip VI introduced in 1337 showed a shield with the coat of arms of the kings of France beside the seated king. Philip VI spent vast quantities of these coins subsidizing his allies in the Netherlands at the outset of the Hundred Years' War, and this coin was widely copied in the Netherlands. [5]

ecu a la couronne of Charles VI Ecu d'or a la couronne sous Charles VI le Fou.jpg
écu à la couronne of Charles VI

Charles VI ended the practice of frequently changing gold coin designs (but not that of tampering with their weight and value) with his écu à la couronne in 1385. This is again named after the shield on the obverse, which now has a crown above it and the modern coat of arms of the kings of France with three fleur-de-lis. Charles VI's father had scored major gains against the English but had passed the cost on to his children. The government of the child Charles VI abandoned his father's sound money policy by replacing his gold franc à cheval. The new écu à la couronne weighed less than the franc but its value was increased from 1 livre (₶.), i.e. 20 sous (abbr. s), for the franc to 22s.  6d. (i.e. 1. 2s. 6d.) for the écu. Not only was this a devaluation, but while the franc had been identified with its valuation of one livre the valuation of the écu à la couronne was subject to manipulation. [6]

ecu au soleil of Louis XII Ecu louis XII.jpg
écu au soleil of Louis XII

In 1475, Louis XI created a variant of the écu à la couronne called an écu au soleil because the Sun now appeared above the shield. The process of devaluation continued. In 1515 the écu au soleil was valued at 36s. 9d., but this was increased to 45s. by 1547 even though its weight and fineness had been decreased in 1519. [7] The écu design continued, essentially unchanged, on French gold coins until 1640 when the louis d’or replaced it. [8]

In the second half of the 1500s gold and silver imported from Spanish America impacted the French economy, but the king of France was not getting much of the new wealth. He responded by revaluing the écu d’or in stages from 45s. in 1547 to 60s., i.e. 3 ₶. , in 1577. This exacerbated the inflation caused by the increase in the supply of gold and silver, and the Estates General, which met at Blois in 1576, added to the public pressure to stop currency manipulation.

France 1641 Ecu d'Or (Louis13).jpg
1641 Ecu d'Or, reign of Louis XIII
1644 quarter ecu of Louis XIV France 1644-A Quarter Ecu (Louis14).jpg
1644 quarter écu of Louis XIV

In 1577, Henri III agreed to stabilize the écu d’or at 3₶. and to adopt a new monetary system with prices quoted in écus. As part of this system, he introduced quarter and eighth écu coins struck in silver. The types of quarter and eighth écus d'argent paralleled those of the écu d’or, with the royal arms on the obverse and a cross on the reverse. For the first time in French history, these coins had a mark of value, with IIII or VIII placed on either side of the shield. [9] Royal coins struck at mints in Navarre and Béarn added local heraldry to the fleur-de-lis of France. Feudal coinages at Bouillon and Sedan, Château-Renaud, and Rethel also struck quarter écus, with their own arms replacing the royal arms. [10] By the 17th century this écu d’or would rise in value from 3₶. to more than 5₶., while the hammered silver quarter écu struck until 1646 would rise in value from 15s. to 1₶. [11]

Silver Louis or écu of 1641

Louis d'argent of Louis XIII, 1642 Ecu d'argent de Louis XIII le Juste.jpg
Louis d'argent of Louis XIII, 1642

This still did not give France a coin which could compete with the thalers which were popular in Germany. Moreover, French coins were still made by hand, so precious metal could be illegally shaved from the edges of the coins before passing them on. Finally, the écu d’or was made of 23 carat gold, which was not the international standard. Louis XIII fixed all this. He installed coinage making machinery in the Paris mint and replaced the écu d’or with the Louis d'or in 1640. In 1641 he introduced a thaler-sized silver coin originally called a Louis d’argent, issued at 9 to a French Mark of silver, 11/12 fine (24.93 g fine silver), and valued at three livres tournois - the same value in which the écu d’or was stabilized in 1577. This new 3₶. coin also came to be called an écu.

Silver écu of 1726

Silver coin: 1 ecu - Louis XVI, 1784 1 ecu Louis XVI 1- 1784 M.png
Silver coin: 1 écu - Louis XVI, 1784
1792 half ecu of Louis XVI France 1792-A Half Ecu (Louis16).jpg
1792 half écu of Louis XVI

From 1690 to 1725 rates were unstable, resulting in the discontinuation of the Louis d'argent in favor of the new silver écu. In 1726 it was first issued at issued 8.3 to a French Mark of silver, 11/12 fine (or 27.03 g fine silver), and valued at 6. The silver écu was further broken down into a 18 value coin (huitième d'écu), a 14 value coin (the quart d'écu) and a 12 value coin (the demi-écu). All had the king's bust on the obverse and the royal coat of arms on the reverse.

This silver écu was known as the laubthaler in Germany. It circulated in Southern Germany at 2.8 South German gulden. [12] In Switzerland it was worth four Berne livres or four francs of the Helvetic Republic. [13] For more on the 17th-18th centuries currency system, see Louis d'or, livre tournois and Italian scudo.

French Revolution

The silver écu disappeared during the French Revolution and was replaced by the franc at the rate of 6₶. = 6/1.0125 or 5.93 francs. At 4.5 g fine silver per franc this implied each écu contained only 26.66 g fine silver.

But the 5-franc silver coins minted throughout the 19th century were just a continuation of the old écus, and were often still called écu by French people. The écu, as it existed immediately before the French Revolution, was approximately equivalent (in terms of purchasing power) to 24 euro or 30 U.S. dollars in 2017.[ citation needed ]

References in novels

The Count of Monte Cristo (Penguin Classics - by Alexandre Dumas -translated by Robin Buss) “The speculators were the richer by eight hundred thousand écus.” (Page 179)

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Franc</span> Name of several currency units

The franc is any of various units of currency. One franc is typically divided into 100 centimes. The name is said to derive from the Latin inscription francorum rex used on early French coins and until the 18th century, or from the French franc, meaning "frank".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Coins of the pound sterling</span> British current and historic coinage

The standard circulating coinage of the United Kingdom, British Crown Dependencies and British Overseas Territories is denominated in pennies and pounds sterling, and ranges in value from one penny sterling to two pounds. Since decimalisation, on 15 February 1971, the pound has been divided into 100 pence. Before decimalisation, twelve pence made a shilling, and twenty shillings made a pound.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thaler</span> Large silver coin used in 16th- to 19th-century Europe

A thaler or taler is one of the large silver coins minted in the states and territories of the Holy Roman Empire and the Habsburg monarchy during the Early Modern period. A thaler size silver coin has a diameter of about 40 mm and a weight of about 25 to 30 grams. The word is shortened from Joachimsthaler, the original thaler coin minted in Joachimsthal, Bohemia, from 1520.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Napoléon (coin)</span> Former French gold coin

The Napoléon is the colloquial term for a former French gold coin. The coins were minted in denominations of 5, 10, 20, 40, 50, and 100 francs. This article focuses on the 20 franc coins issued during the reign of Napoléon Bonaparte, which are 21 mm in diameter, weigh 6.45 grams and, at 90% pure, contain 0.1867 troy ounces (5.807 g) of pure gold. The coin was issued during the reign of Napoleon I and features his portrait on the obverse. The denomination continued in use through the 19th century and later French gold coins in the same denomination were generally referred to as "Napoléons". Earlier French gold coins are referred to as Louis or écu. Gold Napoléons have historically proven more resilient than other gold coins to economic forces, such as after the Suez crisis when unlike other coins Napoléons did not weaken.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Half sovereign</span> British gold coin

The half sovereign is a British gold coin denominated at one-half of a pound sterling. First issued in its present form in 1817, it has been struck by the Royal Mint in most years since 1980 as a collector's and bullion piece.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Louis d'or</span> French coins minted by Louis XIII

The Louis d'or is any number of French coins first introduced by Louis XIII in 1640. The name derives from the depiction of the portrait of King Louis on one side of the coin; the French royal coat of arms is on the reverse. The coin was replaced by the French franc at the time of the revolution and later the similarly valued Napoléon. The actual value of the coins fluctuated according to monetary and fiscal policy, but in 1726 the value was stabilized.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Swiss franc</span> Currency of Switzerland and Liechtenstein

The Swiss franc, or simply the franc, is the currency and legal tender of Switzerland and Liechtenstein. It is also legal tender in the Italian exclave of Campione d'Italia which is surrounded by Swiss territory. The Swiss National Bank (SNB) issues banknotes and the federal mint Swissmint issues coins.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">French franc</span> Currency of France from 1795 to 2002

The franc, also commonly distinguished as the French franc (FF), was a 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. It was reintroduced in 1795. After two centuries of inflation, it was redenominated in 1960, with each new franc (NF) being worth 100 old francs. The NF designation was continued for a few years before the currency returned to being simply the franc. Many French residents, though, continued to quote prices of especially expensive items in terms of the old franc, up to and even after the introduction of the euro in 2002. The French franc was a commonly held international reserve currency of reference in the 19th and 20th centuries. Between 1998 and 2002, the conversion of francs to euros was carried out at a rate of 6.55957 francs to 1 euro.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Livre tournois</span> Medieval French currency

The livre tournois was one of numerous currencies used in medieval France, and a unit of account used in Early Modern France.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ducat</span> Gold or silver coin used as a trade coin in Europe

The ducat coin was used as a trade coin in Europe from the later Middle Ages to the 19th century. Its most familiar version, the gold ducat or sequin containing around 3.5 grams of 98.6% fine gold, originated in Venice in 1284 and gained wide international acceptance over the centuries. Similarly named silver ducatons also existed. The gold ducat circulated along with the Florentine florin and preceded both the modern British pound sterling and the United States dollar.

From c. 1124 until 1709 the coinage of Scotland was unique, and minted locally. A wide variety of coins, such as the plack, bodle, bawbee, dollar and ryal were produced over that time. For trading purposes coins of Northumbria and various other places had been used before that time; and since 1709 those of the Kingdom of Great Britain, and then of the UK.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">French livre</span> French currency from 781 to 1794

The livre was the currency of Kingdom of France and its predecessor states of Francia and West Francia from 781 to 1794. Several different livres existed, some concurrently. The livre was the name of coins and of units of account.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kronenthaler</span> Silver coin of the Austrian Netherlands

The Kronenthaler was a silver coin first issued in 1755 in the Austrian Netherlands and which became a popular trade coin in early 19th century Europe. Most examples show the bust of the Austrian ruler on the obverse and three or four crowns on the reverse, hence the name which means "crown thaler" (also Brabanter and crocione.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shilling (Australian)</span>

The shilling, informally called a "bob", was a type of silver coinage issued by the Commonwealth of Australia, that circulated prior to the decimalisation of Australian coinage. The Australian shilling was derived from the British pre-decimal sterling pound system and was first issued following the passing of the Australian Coinage Act 1909, which established Australia's first formal currency system. The shilling was issued as part of Australia's silver coinage, which included the two-shilling (florin), the sixpence and the threepence. The shilling was minted from 1910 until 1963. During this period there was one significant modification to the design of the Australian shilling, the change in its reverse design, which occurred in 1938 when the design was altered from the Australian coat of arms (1910–1936) to the visage of a Merino ram's head (1938–1963).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sixpence (Australian)</span> Australian coin

The Australian sixpence circulated from 1910 up until the decimalisation of Australian Currency in 1966. The coins were initially minted in England; however, Australia began to mint their own from the year of 1916 at branches of the Royal Mint in Sydney and Melbourne. The coins which made up Australia's pre-decimal currency were identical to British currency in the characteristics of weight and size. The Coinage Act of 1909–1947, authorised the issue of Australian coins in the select denominations, including the sixpence. By 1916 all silver denominations, including the sixpence, could be minted at the Royal Mint branch in Melbourne. Unique Australian currency was created with decimalisation in 1966.

A Crown of the Rose is an extremely rare gold coin of the Kingdom of England introduced in 1526 during the reign of Henry VIII, in an attempt to compete with the French écu au soleil. The coin was not a success and just a few months later it was replaced by the Crown of the Double-Rose.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Currency of Spanish America</span>

This article provides an outline of the currency of Spanish America from Spanish colonization in the 15th century until Spanish American independencies in the 19th. This great realm was divided into the Viceroyalty of New Spain, which came to include all Spanish territory north of Panama, the West Indies, Venezuela, and the Philippines, and the Viceroyalty of Peru, which included Panama and all Spanish territory in South America except Venezuela. The monetary system of Spanish America, originally identical to that of Spain, soon diverged and took on a distinctive character of its own, which it passed on to the independent nations that followed after.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Coins of the Swiss franc</span> Official coins used in Switzerland and Liechtenstein

The coins of the Swiss franc are the official coins used in Switzerland and Liechtenstein. The name of the subunit is centime in French and internationally, Rappen in German, centesimo in Italian, and rap in Romansh. There are coins in denominations of 5 centimes, 10 centimes, 20 centimes, 12 franc, 1 franc, 2 francs, and 5 francs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shooting thaler</span> Swiss Coin

A shooting thaler is a silver coin in thaler size minted to commemorate a Schützenfest or free shooting in Switzerland.

The gigliato, also gillat or carlino, was a coin of pure silver established in 1303 by Charles II of Anjou in Naples, and then also in Provence from 1330. Its name derives from the Lilies ("giglio") depicted on the reverse entwined around a cross. The coin weighed 4 grams. This type of coin was widely copied in the Eastern Mediterranean, especially by the Turks, such as the Emir of Saruhan.

References

  1. R. L. in Palgrave, Robert Harry Inglis, ed. (1901). Dictionary of political economy, Volume 1 Archived 2024-01-04 at the Wayback Machine . London: Macmillan. OCLC   562733020.
  2. Ede, James (1808). A View of the Gold and Silver Coins of All Nations (2nd ed.). London: J. M. Richardson. Archived from the original on 2024-01-04. Retrieved 2020-10-24.
  3. Coins In History, John Porteous, page 89.
  4. Coins In History, John Porteous, page 93
  5. Coins of Medieval Europe, Philip Grierson, pages 143, 159, and 176
  6. Coins of Medieval Europe, Philip Grierson, page 144
  7. Coins in History, John Porteous, page 164.
  8. Gold Coins of the World, Robert Friedberg
  9. Coins In History, John Porteous, page 182.
  10. The Silver Coins of Medieval France, James Roberts, page 341
  11. Coins In History, John Porteous, page 210.
  12. Shaw, William Arthur (1896). "The History of Currency, 1252-1894: Being an Account of the Gold and Silver Moneys and Monetary Standards of Europe and America, Together with an Examination of the Effects of Currency and Exchange Phenomena on Commercial and National Progress and Well-being". Archived from the original on 2024-01-04. Retrieved 2021-05-13.
  13. Audin, Jean-Marie-Vincent (1843). Manuel du voyageur en Suisse: suivi du Guide complet dans le Tyrol[...] (in French). Maison. Archived from the original on 2024-01-04. Retrieved 2023-03-24.