The reckoning by livres, sols., deniers was derived from the Frankish kings. For a time the system of reckoning by the mark threatened to replace it, but in 1313 it was again authorised by Philippe le Bel.
The origin of the difference between the livres Tournois and the livres Parisis is to be sought in the feudal Mint franchises of the barons. At one time there was a difference between the two systems of 25 per cent., the barons who had the right of minting preferring to do so at Tours, or according to the Tours weight, which was the more depreciated of the two, while at Paris the French kings attempted to keep up a tradition of a better weight standard.1
The distinction of livres Tournois and livres Parisis was maintained until the days of Louis XIV., when (1667) it was abolished, and the reckoning by a single livre, sol., denier, was established. (For the intermediate experiment of Henry III. see text p. 87.)2
The monetary system of Charlemagne was the precursor and source of the chief currency systems of mediæval and modern Europe, with the exception of Spain. It was itself an imitation of the system of the Eastern Empire. Page 398
Its basis was the libra or pound, which occurs in two forms—(1) the gold pound, (2) the silver pound. Under the first race of the French kings the monetary divisions of the former were—
- The gold solidus, a name which gave birth to the Spanish and Italian soldo and the French sol. (sou).
- The third of the gold solidus (Triens or Tremissis).
Of the latter the aliquot parts were—