Livre tournois

From Freepedia

The livre tournois (or Tournoise pound) was (1) one of numerous currencies used in France in the Middle Ages (it was named after the town of Tours in which it was first minted) and (2) a money of account (i.e. a monetary unit used in accounting) used in France in the Middle Ages and the Early Modern period.

In the early Middle Ages, many lords and localities minted their own coins. The "livre tounois" coin was initially minted by the Abby of Saint-Martin in the Tournois region of France. With the seizure of the Angevin region around Tours by Philip II of France in 1203, use of the "livre tournois" outstripped use of the "livre parisis" (or Paris pound) which had been up to that point the official coin of Capetian dynasty.

The livre tournois (£ or l) was divided into 20 sols (s) (sous after 1715), each of which was divided into 12 deniers (d). These divisions were also adopted by the English for their Pound Sterling: sols became shillings and deniers became pence.

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 financially 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. (Upon his return from the crusades, Louis IX of France instigated a royal monopoly on the minting of currency in France and minted the first "écu d'or" and "gros dargent", whose weights (and thus monetary divisions) were roughly equivalent to the "livre tournois" and the "denier".)

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 swtiched 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 in some places in France 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 d'or, teston d'argent, denier, double, franc; the Spanish doubloon, pistole, real; the Italian florin, ducat or sequin; the German taler; 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 corresponding values for gold, silver, copper and mixed metal coins and of responding to the massive influx of foreign coins and the appearance on inferior foreign coins. For more on these issues, see Monetary policy.

The French "franc" was a coin first minted in 1360 (its name comes from the inscription reading Johannes Dei Gratia Francorum Rex "Jean by the grace of God King of the French") and its value was set as one "livre tournois". Other "francs' were minted under Charles V of France, Henri III of France and Henri IV of France. Louis XIII of France stopped minting the "franc" in 1641, but use of the name continued in accounting as a synonym for "livre tournois". During the French Revolution, the accounting system of the "livre tournois" with its "sols" and "deniers" was abolished and a decimal system was chosen. The name of the new system, adopted on March 27, 1803), was the franc.

Today Basque language calls the French franc libera.

The livre tournois had also been used as the legal currency of the Channel Islands. It remained legal currency in Jersey until 1837 when dwindling supplies of no-longer minted livres tournois obliged the adoption of the pound sterling as legal tender.

The word "livre" comes from the Latin word "libra" which was a Roman unity of weight. In French the word "livre" meaning pound (weight) has existed in France from the Middles Ages, and although the French metric system has largely to replace it with kilograms, it continues to be used today in some commercial contexts (such as shopping at a butcher's or a vegetable stand).

See also

• Livre carolienne
• Livre parisis (Paris pound)
• French Franc
• Roman currency