Carolingian monetary system

[3][4] It is characterised by having three denominations with values in the ratio 1:20:240, the units of which went under different names in the different languages, but which corresponded to the Latin terms libra (pound), solidus (shilling) and denarius (penny), respectively.

The currency reform carried out by Emperor Charlemagne around 793/794 was of crucial importance to the medieval monetary systems in what became the Holy Roman Empire and more generally affected European coinage for many centuries.

The coinage system of the classical Roman Empire was originally based on the copper coin, the as (later made of bronze) and multiples of this such as denarius = 10 as, quinarius = 5 as, sestertius = 2½ as etc.

During the last centuries of the Empire, numerous changes were made to the coinage system (e.g., by Augustus in 24 AD, Caracalla in 215, Aurelian in 274, Diocletian in 293, Constantine the Great in 312, etc.).

From AD 771, the new coinage system was introduced throughout the Carolingian Frankish Empire, which at that time extended across modern France, the Benelux, and most of Germany and Italy.

[5] In around 793 or 794, the Carolingian pound, or Karlspfund (Latin: ponus Caroli), was introduced as the basis of the system of weights and coinage in the Empire.

In 794 a decree was issued that the novi denarii were to be used and accepted throughout the Empire; they would be of pure silver and display Charlemagne's name on them.

So on one side was the inscription CARLVS REX FR ("Charles, King of the Franks") and, on the other, as before, the place where the mint was located, e.g. DORESTADO ("Dorestad").

In French the three units became known as livre, sous and denier, in Italia as the lira, soldo and denaro, in the German states as the Pfund, Schilling and Pfennig, in the Low Countries as the pond, schelling and penning and in England as the pound, shilling and penny.

[7] On the Iberian Peninsula, the Kingdom of Aragon introduced the Carolingian system, rendered in Catalan as the lliura, sou and diner, while the kingdoms of Portugal and Castile (and then Spain) retained the coinage system inherited from Islamic al-Andalus era, where the predominant coin was the maravedi with its various multiples and subdivisions.

[citation needed] In the Holy Roman Empire, the name denarius or denar was superseded by pfennig during the 10th century.

[5] In the early Middle Ages, only the denarius was physically minted and issued into circulation as an actual coin, while the libra and solidus were purely units of account.

[5] The fiction that 240 pfennigs made a pfund (pound of silver) was doggedly maintained into the early modern period, but the reality was they weighed considerably less.

[5] As well as the weight, the silver content of the coins was deliberately reduced such that pfennigs minted in the Duchy of Austria in the late 15th century were nicknamed Schinderlings ("little floggers", a pejorative term.).

Gold coins typically represented larger nominal sums, but they also introduced a bimetallic system of currency which depended on the values of two precious metals.

Russia was the first country to adopt a decimal currency during the reign of Tsar Peter the Great in 1704, under whom the rouble was worth 100 kopecks.