Silver denier of Charlemagne
794 onward ・ silver ・ 8th century ・ Charlemagne
In 793–794 Charlemagne reformed the coinage thoroughly, laying down that 240 deniers be struck from a new pound of silver. The system of 1 livre = 20 sous = 240 deniers was fixed, and this became the model for £sd (pounds, shillings, pence) and for medieval accounting. The only coin actually in circulation was the denier; sou and livre were units of account on the page. The capitulary of the Council of Frankfurt orders that the new silver penny cut with the emperor's monogram pass throughout the realm. It was a declaration of power, taking hold of scattered minting again through one single standard.