Pound sterling
England’s penny–pound account tradition, with qualified Frankish ancestry and a continuing history as sterling.
- Dates in use
- Still in use; introduction date not established here
- Currency code
- GBP · GIP
- Ancestry branch
- Sterling
Where this money came from
6 ancestors · 47 descendants. Follow a name to its history. Select a dated connection for its evidence.
This currency also received later contributions, distinguished below from its origins.
Show 16 more successors
The story
The Royal Mint Museum traces the reckoning system to the Frankish kingdom. That supports an older ancestry link, while the date and immediate regional stages remain open. Offa’s use of Frankish penny models is separate corroborating evidence. Early English shillings varied: a twelve-pence shilling should not be assumed for every period. [1] [2]
Turning points
Account-unit observation
Beonna’s Swineshead lease fixes consideration at 1, 000 shillings and an annual render of hospitality or thirty sicli; heirs remain liable. This extends qualified early-English account evidence. [3]
Account-unit observation
Cuthred’s Eythorne grant values the transferred land at 3, 000 pence. This contemporary account transaction supports the existing English penny lineage before the 833–839 pound-of-pennies witness. [4]
Account-unit observation
Burgred’s London grant describes sixty silver solidi, an earlier one-pound purchase, and annual rent of twelve denarii. [5]
Gold standard suspended
Britain suspended the gold standard in September 1931. [6]
Territorial unit derivation
Inference: The Bermuda pound replaced in 1970 was the locally issued sterling-denominated predecessor of the Bermuda dollar. The transition attests the inherited pound system; 1970 is not its origin date. [7]
Pound divided into 100 new pence
Decimalisation on 15 February 1971 retained the pound and changed its subdivision from 240 old pence to 100 new pence. [8]
Sources and evidence
- 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 C2097 ↗
- 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 C2094 ↗
- Electronic Sawyer, University of Cambridge · S 1412: Beonna lease to Cuthbert, 786–796; King’s College London, Anglo-Saxon Charters · S 1412 Latin transcription C1829 ↗
- Electronic Sawyer, Kings College London / University of Cambridge · S 41: Cuthred grant at Eythorne, 805–807; Rory Naismith · Medieval European Coinage, volume 8: Britain and Ireland c.400–1066 (Cambridge, 2017) C1828 ↗
- Electronic Sawyer, University of Cambridge · S 208: Burgred grant to Alhhun, 857 C1830 ↗
- Bank of England · History of the Bank of England C255 ↗
- Bermuda Monetary Authority · Bermuda Monetary Authority: Celebrating 50 Years — 20 February 2019 release C987 ↗
- The Royal Mint · The Royal Mint and Decimalisation C253 ↗
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Cite this page
“Pound sterling.” The Family Tree of Money. © Field Technologies, Inc. Reader edition 2026-10-13; research dataset v44. https://familytreeofmoney.org/currency/T-FTM000497.html