History UsefulNotes / OldFrenchMoney

Today, the "sou" no longer refers to any particular coin, but is merely a generic term for money, roughly comparable to "change". In UsefulNotes/{{Quebec}}, however, a sou means a Canadian cent--as the old royal ''sou'' was approximately equal to the British ha'penny when the British rolled in. That said, confusingly, a "thirty-sou piece" is a quarter, i.e. 25 cent piece, because before Canada adopted decimal currency, it tried using a native Canadian pound valued at exactly 1 pound for 4 U.S. dollars (the exchange rate for sterling was slightly more than 4 dollars to the pound). The result was that 1 U.S. dollar was worth 5 shillings Canadian meaning that 25 cents was worth 1 shilling 3 pence, which is 15 pence, which is 30 ha'pennies, or 30 sous. The name transferred over to the Canadian quarter when Canada adopted its own native dollar even though ''sou'' in general became the word for the Canadian cent.

The livre continued to be used, but its value declined along with the écu. Finally, King Louis XIII stepped in and replaced the écu with two coins:

You're reading ''Literature/TheThreeMusketeers'', and learn that d'Artagnan arrived in Paris with only fifteen "écu" in his pocket, and that three of them are are apparently worth nine "livre". Later, he receives 40 whole "pistoles" as a reward. Is that a lot of money? How many écus are in a pistole? And then, when you set down the Three Musketeers and watch your disc of ''Film/LesMiserables'', suddenly there's not an écu to be seen and they're all about "Francs" and "sou". You look these up on a modern currency exchange, and see that the only "Franc" around anymore is used exclusively by Switzerland; France uses only the Euro. ''Now'' what?

The first French monetary unit was the ''livre'', introduced all the way back in 781 A.D. under King Charles the Great (Charlemagne). It was equal in value to 1 troy pound of silver. It was subdivided into 20 solidi (later nicknamed "sol" or "sou"), each of which was further subdivided into 12 denarii (''deniers'').

If this system sounds familiar, that's because it was later used as the basis for Britain's system of [[UsefulNotes/OldBritishMoney pounds, shillings, and pence]], right down to the letters "L", "s", and "d".

The first écu, (literally "shield", from the shield design on its reverse) called the ''écu d'or'' (gold écu), was ordained by King Louis IX around 1250, when he returned from UsefulNotes/TheCrusades. It was a gold coin worth about the same as a livre tournois. He also started minting a silver coin called the ''gros tournai'', which was worth about the same as a sou.

The word "franc" had been used as a euphemism for certain livre tournais coins as early as 1360. When the French Revolution rolled around, it was a natural term to adopt for their new currency. [[note]] In the first (liberal constitutional monarchist) and second (Jacobin radical democratic) phases of the Revolution, they experimented with a kind of paper currency (originally a bond) called the ''assignat'' based on the value of the monasteries the government nationalized, but they didn't stick due to inflation and novelty. [[/note]]

Today, the "sou" no longer refers to any particular coin, but is merely a generic term for money, roughly comparable to "change". In Quebec, however, a sou means a Canadian cent--as the old royal ''sou'' was approximately equal to the British ha'penny when the British rolled in. That said, confusingly, a "thirty-sou piece" is a quarter, i.e. 25 cent piece, because before Canada adopted decimal currency, it tried using a native Canadian pound valued at exactly 1 pound for 4 U.S. dollars (the exchange rate for sterling was slightly more than 4 dollars to the pound). The result was that 1 U.S. dollar was worth 5 shillings Canadian meaning that 25 cents was worth 1 shilling 3 pence, which is 15 pence, which is 30 ha'pennies, or 30 sous. The name transferred over to the Canadian quarter when Canada adopted its own native dollar even though ''sou'' in general became the word for the Canadian cent.

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In 1999, France, as a member of UsefulNotes/{{the European Union}}'s "Eurozone", officially adopted the Euro (€) as its unit of currency. Francs were converted to euros at a rate of exactly 6.55957 francs to 1 euro. Euro coins and bank notes were released in 2002.

In 1999, France, as a member of the European Union's "Eurozone", officially adopted the Euro (€) as its unit of currency. Francs were converted to euros at a rate of exactly 6.55957 francs to 1 euro. Euro coins and bank notes were released in 2002.

The word "franc" had been used as a euphemism for certain livre tournais coins as early as 1360. When the French Revolution rolled around, it was a natural term to adopt for their new currency.

Today, the "sou" no longer refers to any particular coin, but is merely a generic term for money, roughly comparable to "change". In Quebec, however, a sou means a Canadian cent--as the old royal ''sou'' was approximately equal to the British ha'penny when the British rolled in--and confusingly, a "thirty-sou piece" is a quarter, i.e. 25 cent piece, as the ha'penny--called a ''sou''--was worth slightly less than the new Canadian cent.

The first écu, (literally "shield", from the shield design on its reverse) called the ''écu d'or'' (gold écu), was ordained by King Louis IX around 1250, when he returned from UsefulNotes/TheCrusades. It was a gold coin worth about the same as a livre tournois. He also started minting a silver coin called the ''gros d'argent'', which was worth about the same as a denier.

The first écu, (literally "shield", from the shield design on its reverse) called the ''écu d'or'' (gold écu), was ordained by King Louis IX around 1250, when he returned from the Crusades. It was a gold coin worth about the same as a livre tournois. He also started minting a silver coin called the ''gros d'argent'', which was worth about the same as a denier.

In 1999, France, as a member of the European Union's "Eurozone", officially adopted the Euro as its unit of currency. Francs were converted to euros at a rate of exactly 6.55957 francs to 1 euro. Euro coins and bank notes were released in 2002.

Today, the "sou" no longer refers to any particular coin, but is merely a generic term for money, roughly comparable to "change". In Quebec, however, a sou means a Canadian cent--as the old royal ''sou'' was approximately equal to the British ha'penny when the British rolled in--and confusingly, a "thirty-sou piece" is a quarter, i.e. 25 cent piece, as the ha'penny--called a ''sou''--was worth slightly less than the new Canadian cent.

In WorldWarI, France left the gold standard, and the franc dwindled in value. By 1934, its value was only 17% of what it was in 1915; by 1959, it was worth only 2.5% of what it was in 1934. Finally in 1960 they'd had enough, and replaced the franc with the ''nouveau franc'' (NF) at a rate of 100 old francs to the new franc. This in turn continued to lose value, until in 1999 the (new) franc was worth less than 1/8 of what it was in 1960.

Any PresentDay fiction produced before 1999 and featuring francs can be considered an UnintentionalPeriodPiece by now.

In 1999, France, as a member of the European Union's "Eurozone", officially adopted the Euro as its unit of currency. Francs were converted to euros at a rate of exactly 6.55957 francs to 1 euro.

The first French monetary unit was the ''livre'', introduced all the way back in 781 A.D. under King Charles the Great (Charlemagne). It was equal in value to 1 pound of silver. It was subdivided into 20 solidi (later nicknamed "sol" or "sou"), each of which was further subdivided into 12 denarii (''deniers'').

This system of pistoles (10 livres), écus (3 livres), livres, and sou (1/20 livre) continued pretty much unabated right up until TheFrenchRevolution. Wanting to do away with anything resembling a monarchy, every coin with a king's picture on it was ditched, and in their place arose:

You'd have to ask a Frenchman whether a 5-euro-cent piece is now called a "sou" or not. (Confusingly, in Quebec, a sou means a Canadian cent--as the old royal ''sou'' was approximately equal to the British ha'penny when the British rolled in--and a "thirty-sou piece" is a quarter, i.e. 25 cent piece, as the ha'penny--called a ''sou''--was worth slightly less than the new Canadian cent)
* As for the first sentence, it [[AvertedTrope sadly]] [[RuleOfCool isn't]], we just call them some variation of "[[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin 5-cent coins]]". Interestingly, although the official Europe-wide name for the subdivision of the euro is the somewhat American-sounding "cent" [[note]]it helps that the euro was originally intended to be pegged to the dollar[[/note]], everyone in France calls them "centimes", which used to refer to 1/100's of a (post-1960) franc. Today the actual word "sou" is generally used as a colloquialism for an indeterminate amount of money, as in the phrase "j'ai pas un sou" (I haven't got a penny), although since a surprising amount of the French colloquial lexicon is regionalised, [[RunningGag you'd have to ask a Marseillais]] whether this is a [[BuffySpeak region thing]] or a [[BuffySpeak France thing]].
* As for colloquialisms, there's also "balle"[[note]]"bullet"[[/note]][[note]]or possibly "ball"[[/note]] which used to refer to one franc, which before then referred to one old (pre-1960) franc, and which today almost always refers to one euro. This can still be incredibly confusing, as older people tend to speak in francs, [[note]]in some cases because [[TheyChangedItNowItSucks they don't like the euro]][[/note]] and even older people sometimes speak in ''old'' francs, so one shouldn't be entirely surprised if one's SeniorCitizen neighbour mentions having bought their Fiat Panda for "un million de balles". Other colloquialisms are affected, such as "plaque" [[note]]plate[[/note]], "brique" [[note]]brick[[/note]] or "patate" [[note]]potato[[/note]], refering each to 10000 francs/euros.

You'd have to ask a Frenchman whether a 5-euro-cent piece is now called a "sou" or not. (Confusingly, in Quebec, a sou means a Canadian cent, and a "thirty-sou piece" is a 25 cent piece.)

The first écu, called the ''écu d'or'' (gold écu), was ordained by King Louis IX around 1250, when he returned from the Crusades. It was a gold coin worth about the same as a livre tournois. He also started minting a silver coin called the ''gros d'argent'', which was worth about the same as a denier.

If this system sounds familiar, that's because it was later used as the basis for Britain's system of [[UserfulNotes/OldBritishMoney pounds, shillings, and pence]], right down to the letters "L", "s", and "d".

In WorldWarI, France left the gold standard, and the franc dwindled in value. By 1959, the franc was worth only 2.5% of the value it had in 1934; and its 1934 value was in turn only 17% of the value it had in 1915. Finally in 1960 they'd had enough, and replaced the franc with the ''nouveau franc'' (NF) at a rate of 100 old francs to the new franc. This in turn continued to lose value, until in 1999 the (new) franc was worth less than 1/8 of what it was in 1960.

* As for colloquialisms, there's also "balle"[[note]]"bullet"[[/note]][[note]]or possibly "ball"[[/note]] which used to refer to one franc, which before then referred to one old (pre-1960) franc, and which today almost always refers to one euro. This can still be incredibly confusing, as older people tend to speak in francs, [[note]]in some cases because [[TheyChangedItNowItSucks they don't like the euro]][[/note]] and even older people sometimes speak in ''old'' francs, so one shouldn't be entirely surprised if one's SeniorCitizen neighbour mentions having bought their Fiat Panda for "un million de balles".

The first French monetary unit was the ''livre'', introduced all the way back in 781 A.D.. under King Charles the Great (Charlemagne). It was equal in value to 1 pound of silver. It was subdivided into 20 solidi (later nicknamed "sol" or "sou"), each of which was further subdivided into 12 denarii (''deniers'').

You'd have to ask a Frenchman whether a 5-euro-cent piece is now called a "sou" or not.

The first écu, called the ''écu d'or" (gold écu), was ordained by King Louis IX around 1250, when he returned from the Crusades. It was a gold coin worth about the same as a livre tournois. He also started minting a silver coin called the ''gros d'argent'', which was worth about the same as a denier.

Unlike UsefulNotes/OldBritishMoney and UsefulNotes/AmericanMoney, the French didn't stick with one currency system through their whole history. Not only did the buying power of these old currencies [[RidiculousFutuereInflation change over time]], but they changed in value ''relative to one another'' depending on what century you found yourself in.

You're reading [[Literature/TheThreeMusketeers]], and learn that d'Artagnan arrived in Paris with only fifteen "écu" in his pocket, and that three of them are are apparently worth nine "livre". Later, he receives 40 whole "pistoles" as a reward. Is that a lot of money? How many écus are in a pistole? And then, when you set down the Three Musketeers and watch your disc of ''[[Film/LesMiserables]]'', suddenly there's not an écu to be seen and they're all about "Francs" and "sou".