France: coins of different historical periods

The formation and development of the monetary system of France was significantly influenced by the specific historical process of the formation of this state. Until the middle of the fourteenth century, there were no banknotes in this country, and Roman gold denarii coins were used in circulation. France, whose coins are represented in this material, as a republic was formed in the XVIII century.

Ancient French coins

After the collapse of the Roman Empire in the fifth century AD and the appearance on the map of the state of the Franks, Roman bank notes gradually lose their dominant position. The reason for this was the considerable wear and tear of these coins. On the territory of the French state, they begin to mint their own bank notes. Initially, only silver coins were launched into circulation, but eventually gold ones. Creditable banknotes in France appeared as a result of the reform carried out by King Charles the Great. They were called lyres, su or denarii. It will be by the way to say that the Frankish monarchs tried to make the minting of bank notes centralized. Nevertheless, over time, the royal issue of money is on the decline, and local rulers are starting to make their own coins.

Medieval French coins

With the advent of the Hundred Years War in 1360, the first nationwide monetary units appear in circulation in France. The new signs were called francs and contained an image of the king with the Latin word combination FRANCORUM REX, which was translated only as "king of the francs". Charles V launched the process of producing coins with the image of the monarch painted on them in full growth. Such banknotes were called "foot frank."

Gold coins were made until the middle of the XV century. In the period of the reign of King Louis XI, the ecu is replaced by the franc. Nevertheless, from 1575 to 1586 years. In turn launched silver franks, which had a mass of 14.188 grams. The coining of these 833 silver coins by medieval French cities was carried out and was subject to control until 1642. Along with this, representatives of the aristocratic estate also made their own money, which France recognized. Coins in circulation in the territories controlled by England, were called "Anglo-Gallic".

Coins of the XVII-XIX centuries

By the middle of the 17th century, the ecu minted out of silver came to the forefront of the state's monetary system. A little later, France switched to a ten-fold order. So, 1 franc consisted of 10 decimals or 100 centimes. Coins of France - franc weighing 5 grams - in its composition contained 4.5 grams of pure silver. In addition, it was minted ¼, ½, one, two and five francs. A little later, gold coins were added to these coins with the value of five, ten, twenty, forty, fifty and one hundred. During the First Republic, in accordance with the law of August 15, 1795, the franc became the official state monetary unit.

It will be by the way to say that this phenomenon, like bimetallism, was used not only by France throughout almost the next century. Coins of gold and silver were the main payment instrument of that time in the countries that were members of the Latin Monetary Union. In that era, the "exchange rate" ratio of gold and silver money was 15.5 to 1. In addition, paper notes were launched into circulation. True, literally for three years, these francs have depreciated, and a solid monetary unit has finally received the status of the main at the state level.

Modern French coins

After the end of World War II, there was a persistent tendency to various attempts to improve and develop the economies of European countries. France was no exception. Coins are gradually giving way to other payment instruments, which was the result of the implementation of a certain monetary policy of the country's leadership. To curb inflation, it was decided to move to a paper-credit monetary system. Since then, the number of paper bills and coins has been steadily declining. At the same time, the share of demand deposits and plastic cards increased. And already in 2002 the French franc was completely withdrawn from circulation. In place of him came the currency of the united Europe - the euro.