Heller were first minted in 1228 at Halle, but by the year 1420 they had sunk to the equivalence of a half-pfennige. Of the origin of the kreutzer less is known, as few, if any, records of it occur before its minting in the Tyrol in 1490. Its subsequent variation in different parts of Germany, and at different times, it is almost impossible to give account of.

"En 1359 année de grandes secousses dans le prix du marc d'argent le public adopte comme unité l'écu d'or qui n'a pas varié." Vicomte D'Avenel, Histoire de la propriété, etc., i. p. 54.

For an account of the remaining species of livres, all differing in value, and amounting to at least twenty in number, la livre de Provins, du Mans, de Bretagne, Languedoc, Dauphiné, Bourgogne, la livre Augevin, etc. etc., see Vicomte D'Avenel, Histoire de la propriété, etc., i. 37-39, 482-494.