Frankish denier–livre reckoning
Frankish denier, solidus and livre reckoning: a post-Roman account tradition behind several later European currencies.
- Dates in use
- Introduction and ending not established
- Ancestry branch
- Roman solidus
Its place in the family
All ancestors and descendants ↗The diagram shows up to three parents and three children. Every direct connection is listed below.
Frankish denier–livre
This currencyChildren 10
- Livre tournoisEvidence period: AD 794–1204 · Qualified
- Livre parisisEvidence period: AD 794–1204 · Qualified
- Barcelona diner–sou–lliura accountingEvidence period: AD 800–AD 991 · Qualified
Show 7 more children
- Portuguese dinheiro–soldo–libra accountingEvidence period: AD 800–1145 · Qualified
- Navarrese denier–libra and real accountingEvidence period: AD 800–1198 · Qualified
- Aragonese Jaca account moneyEvidence period: AD 800–1263 · Qualified
- Pound sterlingEvidence period: AD 600–1087 · Qualified
- Valencian account moneyEvidence period: AD 800–1300 · Qualified
- Mallorcan account moneyEvidence period: AD 800–1300 · Qualified
- Genoese liraEvidence period: 1138–1141 · Qualified
Trace its ancestry backward
Frankish denier–livre
Roman solidus–nomisma
Roman as–denarius accounting
Earlier ancestry is not established here.
The story
The Roman connection follows continued solidus accounting through the shift from gold to silver money. The denier, solidus and livre are scales within this account tradition, not three separate currency ancestors. Regional branches developed in France, England and Iberia; the links identify ancestry without pretending that every intermediate stage is known. [1] [2] [3]
Turning points
Account unit observation
Liptines requires an annual solidus, defined as twelve denarii, per casada of retained church property; the text is dated 743–744. [4]
Account unit observation
Rovelli interprets the 755 reckoning as twelve denarii per account solidus. [5]
Account unit observation
By the 794 reform, the reckoning comprised 240 denarii, twenty solidi and an account pound. [6]
Sources and evidence
- Peter Spufford (1988) · Money and its Use in Medieval Europe, Cambridge University Press; Horst Lößlein · Solidus (2021), Formulae–Litterae–Chartae
- Royal Mint Museum · Pounds, Shillings and Pence (undated); John Hines, The Antiquaries Journal 90 (2010), pp.153–173; DOI 10.1017/S0003581510000089 · Units of account in gold and silver in seventh-century England: scillingas, sceattas and pæningas; Rory Naismith, British Numismatic Journal 80 (2010), 76–106 · The Coinage of Offa Revisited
- Miquel Crusafont, Anna M. Balaguer and Philip Grierson · Medieval European Coinage, volume 6 (2013)
- Patrologia Latina 89, cols. 809–810, transcription · Concilium Liptinense, canon on ecclesiastical property; Capitularia, University of Cologne · Karlmanni principis capitulare Liptinense [BK 11]
- Alessia Rovelli, in Rory Naismith (ed.), Money and Coinage in the Middle Ages (2018), pp. 63–92 · From the Fall of Rome to Charlemagne (c.400–800)
- Alessia Rovelli, in Rory Naismith (ed.), Money and Coinage in the Middle Ages (2018), pp. 63–92 · From the Fall of Rome to Charlemagne (c.400–800)
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Full claims, evidence coverage, corrections and earlier interpretations are kept separately.
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“Frankish denier–livre reckoning.” The Family Tree of Money. © Field Technologies, Inc. Updated 2026-10-14; data version v49. https://familytreeofmoney.org/currency/T-FTM000560.html