English
日本語English中文ItalianoFrançaisDeutschEspañol
Sign in Admissions
NOMISMA SCHOLA
Read the textbooks TextbooksRoutesColumnFilms & narration
Go deeper by course Courses
Verify with the coins CoinsGlossarySourcesPractice
Think with the patterns Patterns
About the school Start hereFacultyContactThe discipline
Admissions Sign in
Language
日本語English中文ItalianoFrançaisDeutschEspañol

Franc à cheval (the franc on horseback)

1360　・　gold　・　14th century　・　John II

Franc à cheval (the franc on horseback)（obverse）
BnF / World Digital Library / Public domain（Wikimedia Commons）

On 5 December 1360, by the ordinance of Compiègne, John II created a new gold coin, the franc à cheval, the franc on horseback. It shows the king in armour riding at a gallop with his sword held high: pure gold, about 3.82 grams in weight, value one livre tournois. Its first purpose was to pay the ransom for the king himself, taken prisoner at Poitiers. Opinions differ on where the name franc comes from, but the name of this one coin goes on living as the name of France's currency for some six centuries afterward.