Many French residents, though, continued to quote prices of especially expensive items in terms of the old franc (equivalent to the new centime), up to and even after the introduction of the euro (for coins and banknotes) in 2002.

While monetary values as proclaimed by French kings would eventually be identified as the Livre Parisis, other regions almost always got by with currencies of lower standard.

The new coin's reputation and handling convenience versus those of debased deniers assured the adoption of the gros tournois to the rest of Western Europe.

Conquests led by Joan of Arc allowed Charles VII to return to sound coinage and he revived the franc à cheval.

An edict dated 20 April 1365 established the centrepiece of this policy, a gold coin officially called the denier d'or aux fleurs de lis which had a standing figure of the king on its obverse, pictured under a canopy.

[7] In accordance with the theories of the mathematician, economist and royal advisor Nicole Oresme, Charles struck fewer coins of better quality gold than his ancestors.

The Mayor of Paris, Étienne Marcel, exploited their discontent to lead the Jacquerie revolt which forced Charles V out of the city.

The new Flemish Guilder (Pound) of 20 Stuiver (shilling) contained 32.6 g fine silver and was approximately par with the Livre Parisis of 20 sols (38.24 g).

Such parities between the French livres to the Flemish and English currencies would persist up to the 1560s and would facilitate the issue of identical coin denominations across these countries.

It would also become the model for Germany when it started issuing the 1-ounce silver Guldengroschen divided into 21 Groschen (gros, shillings) or 252 Pfennige (pence).

A considerable acceleration in the debasement of the French, English and Dutch currencies occurred during the reign of the Valois-Angoulême kings in the 16th century amidst the huge influx of precious metals from the American continent arriving through the Habsburg Netherlands.

The loose enforcement of monetary standards in the Dutch provinces resulted in a significant 1⁄3rd reduction in the value of the French livre by 1549, with debasements continuing into the 17th century.

Henry III exploited the association of the franc as sound money worth one livre tournois when he sought to stabilize French currency in 1577.

By this time, inflows of gold and silver from Spanish America had caused inflation throughout the world economy and the kings of France, who weren't getting much of this wealth, only made things worse by manipulating the values assigned to their coins.

[11] In the 17th century King Louis XIII abolished its unpopular coinage of francs and ecus in favour of Spanish-modelled coins.

This ended the ancien régime's practice of striking coins with no stated denomination, such as the Louis d'or, and periodically issuing royal edicts to manipulate their value in terms of money of account, i.e. the Livre tournois.

The withdrawn gold and silver coins were used to finance the French Revolutionary Wars and to import food, which was in short supply.

As during the "Mississippi Bubble" in 1715–1720, too many assignats were put in circulation, exceeding the value of the "national properties", and the coins, due also to military requisitioning and hoarding, rarefied to pay foreign suppliers.

In 1800 the Banque de France, a federal establishment with a private board of executives, was created and commissioned to produce the national currency.

It abandoned the revolutionary symbols of the coinage 1795, now showing Napoleon in the manner of Roman emperors, first described as "Bonaparte Premier Consul" and with the country named as "République Française".

Succeeding governments maintained Napoleon's weight standard, with changes in design which traced the political history of France.

France was a founding member of the Latin Monetary Union (LMU), a single currency employed primarily by the Romance-speaking and other Mediterranean states between 1865 and the First World War.

The coins were changed, with the words Travail, famille, patrie (Work, Family, Fatherland) replacing the Republican triad Liberté, égalité, fraternité (Liberty, Equality, Fraternity), with the emblem of the Vichy regime added.

[citation needed] All franc coins and banknotes ceased to be legal tender in January 2002, upon the official adoption of the Euro.

[citation needed] In August 1795, the Monetary Law replaced the livre ("pound") with the franc, which was divided into 10 décimes ("tenths") and 100 centimes ("hundredths").

[citation needed] Copper coins were rarely issued between 1801 and 1848, so the quarter franc was the lowest current denomination in circulation.

During the Belle Époque, the 100-franc gold coin was called a "monaco", referring to the flourishing casino business in Monte Carlo.

In 1942, following German occupation and the installation of the French Vichy State, a new, short lived series of coins was released which included holed 10 and 20 centimes in zinc.

A nickel 10-franc piece was issued on 22 October 1986, in an attempt to increase usability, reduce counterfeiting, and make it easier for vending machines to recognise.

[33] By that date, franc notes worth some €550 million remained unexchanged, allowing the French state to register the corresponding sum as revenue.