Écu
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.
Écu (from
History
Origin
When Louis IX took the throne, France still used small silver
Écu d'or
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]
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
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.
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
This still did not give France a coin which could compete with the
Silver écu of 1726
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 1⁄8 value coin (huitième d'écu), a 1⁄4 value coin (the quart d'écu) and a 1⁄2 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
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)
References
- OCLC 562733020.
- ^ 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.
- ^ Coins In History, John Porteous, page 89.
- ^ Coins In History, John Porteous, page 93
- ^ Coins of Medieval Europe, Philip Grierson, pages 143, 159, and 176
- ^ Coins of Medieval Europe, Philip Grierson, page 144
- ^ Coins in History, John Porteous, page 164.
- ^ Gold Coins of the World, Robert Friedberg
- ^ Coins In History, John Porteous, page 182.
- ^ The Silver Coins of Medieval France, James Roberts, page 341
- ^ Coins In History, John Porteous, page 210.
- ^ 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.
- ^ 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.