Frankish Coinage and Monetary Change

Frankish coinage changed between the Merovingian and Carolingian periods. Gold denominations inherited from Roman monetary traditions were prominent in early issues, while silver became increasingly important. Carolingian rulers regulated the silver coin known as the denier and used designs and inscriptions to express royal authority. Coins circulated alongside payments in goods and labour, and units used to calculate value were not always physical coins.

On this page5 sections

Merovingian gold and local production

The solidus and the tremissis, valued at a third of a solidus, supplied important gold denominations. Many Merovingian coins name a moneyer and a place associated with production. The moneyer’s name identifies a participant in minting, but does not by itself explain how closely a particular workshop was supervised by the king.

Coins adapted Roman forms while acquiring local inscriptions and designs. Their portable value suited significant transfers, gifts and the retention of wealth. Their survival is uneven, however, and a gold coin cannot tell us how a neighbouring farmer usually obtained food or met labour obligations.

The growing importance of silver

Silver deniers became important during the later Merovingian period, before the Carolingian dynasty assumed kingship. The change was connected with the availability of metal and forms of exchange as well as royal policy. It should not be described as a currency system suddenly invented by Charlemagne.

Carolingian reforms strengthened royal regulation of silver issues. Coins bearing a ruler’s name or monogram associated a locally struck object with the wider political order. Minting still depended on obtaining metal, preparing blanks and dies, and performing skilled work at particular places.

Coins and units of account

In the Carolingian accounting system, twelve deniers made a solidus and twenty solidi made a pound, giving 240 deniers to the pound. The denier was a circulating silver coin; the larger units supplied a way to calculate substantial sums without requiring equivalent large coins.

Accounts could therefore state an obligation in monetary terms even when its settlement involved goods. The distinction matters when reading rents, fines and estate records. A written sum records an assessed value, while its means of payment may require additional evidence.

Minting and movement

Coins could identify a mint as well as a ruler. A British Museum specimen attributed to Charles the Bald, dated 840–877, was struck at Melle in western Francia. It was later deposited in the Cuerdale hoard in England. The two places record production and accumulation at different points in the object’s history.

Such finds help trace monetary connections, but their distribution reflects loss, concealment and recovery as well as circulation. One hoard is not a count of all transactions, and its contents need not have arrived by one journey.

Monetary authority in changing realms

The division of Carolingian territories created several rulers whose names could appear on coins. Their issues expressed authority while using inherited denominations and accounting relationships. Older coins and precious metal could also remain available after a ruler’s death.

Money thus connected practical payment with public claims of rule. Its role was significant without being identical in a port, a royal household and a rural holding. The coin, the account and the actual transfer of resources each reveal a different part of that relationship.

For the wider setting, see The Frankish Economy.