Livre tournois || an already minted at Coin appraisals

Livre tournois || an already minted

Published February 27th, 2008 in Uncategorized

The livre tournois (”Tours pound”) was:

one of numerous currencies used in France in the Middle Ages; 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.

Circulating currency

The denier tournois coin was initially minted by the abbey of Saint Martin in the Tours region of France. Soon after Philip II of France seized the counties of Anjou and Tours 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 coin of the Capetian dynasty.

The livre tournois was, in common with the original livre of Charlemagne, divided into 20 sols (sous after 1715), 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”). Other francs were minted under Charles V of France, Henri III of France and Henri IV of France. 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 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 and ducat 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, 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 écu, Louis, teston d’argent, denier, double, franc; the Spanish doubloon, pistole, real; the Italian florin, ducat or sequin; the German 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 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, 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.