10 livres. Standard and weight remained unchanged until 1709. See tables below for subsequent change.
Lis d'or have merely a transitory importance. They were issued in 1656 and shortly after, but almost immediately discontinued; 23 1⁄4 carats fine, 3 deniers 3 1⁄2 grs. the piece (60 1⁄2 to the mark) = 7 livres (to be distinguished as a third type from the fleurs de lys d'or of King John, and the separate fleur de lys d'or of Charles V.).
Silver Coins.
The silver deniers of the first royal race of France averaged 21 grs. in weight. Under the second race a much heavier system was adopted, those of Charlemagne weighing 28 grs., and those of Charles the Bold 32 Page 403 grs. At the commencement of the third race they were still of fine silver, and weighed about 23 or 24 grs.
The process of diminution by alloy and in weight began under Philippe I. For the question of the existence of a silver solidus, see Le Blanc, Introduction, p. xii. If they ever existed their place as a large silver specie was at an early date taken by that of the gros Tournois (called also gros deniers d'argent, gros deniers blancs, and sols d'argent), attributed to S. Louis; 11 deniers 12 grs. fine, 7 grs. weight (58 to the mark), and issued at an equivalence of 12 deniers or 1 sol.
In the commencement, therefore, of this piece the gros Tournois was synonymous with the sol. Tournois. With the degeneration of the standard, however, the coin (the gros) parted company from the sol., which remained as a system of reckoning.
Up to the time of Philippe de Valois this money continued of undiminished weight and standard, and of the greatest celebrity. When that prince, in 1343, returned to good money after a period of debasement, he coined the gros Tournois 60 to a mark, of fine silver, and