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Currency history

Livre tournois

Livre tournois: a historical unit of account.

Dates in use
Introduction and ending not established
Ancestry branch
Roman solidus

Its place in the family

All ancestors and descendants ↗
Livre tournois: documented and qualified family connections PARENTS THIS CURRENCY CHILDREN Frankish denier–livre reckoningFrankish denier–livrereckoning AD 794–1204 · QualifiedQualified connection · AD 794–1204 · Period of differentiation, not an exact foundation date. French franc — 1795 to euro conversionFrench franc 1795–1799 · DocumentedThe tariff equates 1.0125 livres tournoiswith 1 franc. Preferred reported date: 25Documented connection · 1795–1799 · The tariff equates 1.0125 livres tournois with 1 franc. Preferred reported date: 25 germinal IV / 14 April 1796 (S16). S17 says 24 germinal. Day remains withheld pending the original act. Livre tournoisLivre tournois Currency history

Parents 1

Livre tournois

This currency

Children 1

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The story

Chicago dates the first assignat authorization to December 1789, linking livre-denominated claims to sales of state lands. [1]

The law of 18 Germinal III names the monetary unit franc instead of livre and calls its hundredths centimes. [2]

Delage dates decimal subdivision of the monetary livre to 24 August 1793. [3]

Turning points

Royal adoption

Philippe Auguste adopts the Saint-Martin type for western royal money after the Norman conquest. Parisis money coexisted. This does not establish a universal replacement in 1203. [4]

Regional accounting system

Inference: Tournois is the Tours-derived variant of the livre–sou–denier system. No claim that metal content stayed fixed from the Carolingian period. [5]

Sources and evidence

  1. University of Chicago Library · Guide to the French Currency Collection 1791 to 1796 C210 ↗
  2. Convention nationale; Newberry Library digitization, Internet Archive · Loi relative aux poids et mesures, 18 Germinal an III C219 ↗
  3. Irène Delage; Fondation Napoléon · A history of the Franc: the key moments C221 ↗
  4. Jean Lafaurie, 1970, pp. 117–137 · Numismatique. Des Carolingiens aux Capétiens C725 ↗
  5. Académie française · Académie française — Tournois; Jean Lafaurie, 1970, pp. 117–137 · Numismatique. Des Carolingiens aux Capétiens C727 ↗

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Cite this page

“Livre tournois.” The Family Tree of Money. © Field Technologies, Inc. Reader edition 2026-10-13; research dataset v44. https://familytreeofmoney.org/currency/T-FTM000535.html

Editorial evidence supplement · Download dataset v44

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