DOUBLE TOURNOIS: COIN OF FRANCE
Double tournois, 1639: Kingdom of France
Ruler: Louis XIII — King of France from 1610 until 1643 and King of Navarre (as Louis II) from 1610 to 1620, when the crown of Navarre was merged with the French crown.
DOVBLE TOVRNOIS. 1639.
Three golden heraldic lilies (French "fleur de lys") from the coat of arms of the French kings (monarchical symbol of France).
LOYS XIII R DE FRAN ET NAV: French "LOVIS XIII ROY DE FRANCE ET DE NAVARRE" — Louis XIII King of France and Navarre.
Portrait of Louis XIII the Just.
This type of coin was minted for quite a long time and in large numbers at several mints in France.
- Copper: 20 mm - 2.48 g
- Reference price: 15$
COIN DOUBLE TOURNOIS — WHERE & WHEN (coins catalog: by names & emitents)
- KINGDOM OF FRANCE (13th-17th centuries): double tournois = 2 denier
- FRENCH REGIONAL ISSUES (14th-17th centuries) — Principality of Arches-Charleville, Principality of Boisbelle-Henrichemont, Duchy of Brittany, Duchy of Burgundy, Principality of Château-Regnault, Principality of Dombes, Principality of Orange, Comtat Venaissin…: double tournois = 2 denier
- GERMAN STATES (17th century) — County of Löwenstein-Wertheim-Rochefort: double tournois
DOUBLE TOURNOIS as coin name.
Double tournois — historical billon and copper small French coin. It was produced during the 13th-17th centuries.
Before the introduction of the franc in 1795, the main monetary unit in France was the livre, or rather two of its varieties: the livre parisis (the city of Paris) dominated until the 13th century, after which it was replaced by its analogue from the city of Tours — the livre tournois.
The livre tournois consisted of 20 sous (until the middle of the 14th century, its predecessor — gros tournois — was used) or 240 denier tournois. That is, each gros tournois, which first became the prototype of the sol coin, and then transformed into the sous, was equated to 12 denier tournois.
In the second half of the 13th century a high-quality silver gros tournois appeared and spread rapidly. However, soon, already during the reign of King Philip IV the Handsome, the emission of inferior credit coins — low-quality billon double tournois — began. Their appearance made it possible to obtain cheap resources "from the air", since two coins with a denomination of denier tournois contained significantly more silver than one double tournois. Nominally, the gros tournois was equal to six double tournois, which, of course, did not please the population (6 low quality double tournois = 12 higher quality denier tournois). The king was nicknamed the counterfeiter.
One way or another, double tournois has long been established in the monetary system of France. At first, the coin was issued from billon, but during the reign of King Henry III (second half of the 16th century), low-grade silver was replaced by copper.
During the reign of Louis XIII the Just (the first half of the 17th century), due to the active use of copper from Sweden, copper double tournae became widespread. It was clearly expressed fiduciary money, the existence of which the French population meekly accepted. At the same time, during the reign of Louis XIV, the liard, equal to three denier tournois, rapidly came to the fore.
The most common in modern numismatic collections are copper double tournois of the 17th century with a portrait of the ruler and an image of three lilies.
The name of the double tournois coin obviously indicates the coin's equality of two tournois. However, we are not talking about two gros tournois (a high-quality silver coin that eventually transformed into a sol coin), but about two denier tournois.
