The historical features of the formation of France as a state influenced significant influence on the history of development French money and coins. Until the middle of the 14th century, France did not have its own monetary unit, and the monetary system was based on the circulation of denarii - Roman gold coins.
Ancient French coins: history of origin
After the fall of Rome in the 5th century. and the formation of the Frankish state, Roman coins gradually went out of circulation due to damage and erasure, and on the territory of France they began to mint their own French coins: first silver, and soon gold.
After the monetary reform of Charlemagne, countable monetary units appeared in France.
On large sums The money was counted in livres, sous and denarii. The Frankish kings sought to centralize coinage.
Gradually, the royal coinage fell into decay, and the appanage kings switched to issuing each their own coins.
Medieval coins of France
For the first time, a generally accepted state currency appeared at the beginning Hundred Years' War(1360). These were francs - gold coins with the image of the king and the Latin inscription FRANCORUM REX (from Latin king of the Franks).
The king was depicted on horseback on the coin, which is why it was popularly called the “horse” franc. When King Charles V began minting coins with the image of the king in his full height, they began to call it the “foot” franc.
The gold franc was issued until the middle of the 15th century, and during the reign of Louis XI it was replaced by the gold ecu.
In 1575-1586, a silver franc weighing 14.188 g began to be produced. The minting of francs from 833-carat silver continued until 1642.
The issue of coins was carried out and controlled by the cities of medieval France. At the same time, aristocrats began minting their own coins. In the territories subject to England, so-called Anglo-Gallic coins appeared.
Coins of the 17th - 19th centuries
IN mid-17th century century, the silver ecus temporarily took a leading position in the monetary circulation of France. Later, the coinage system "golden ecu" was decimalized, when 1 franc was equal to 10 decimes (or 100 centimes). The five gram 1 franc coin contained 4.5 grams of pure silver. Coins were issued in denominations of 5 francs, 2 francs, 1 franc, ½ and ¼ francs, which were later supplemented by gold coins in denominations of 100, 50, 40, 20, 10 and 5 francs.
During the First Republic, the Law of August 15, 1795 established the national currency - the franc.
Bimetallism existed in France for almost all of its history. XIX century. The law provided for the free minting of gold and silver coins having the force of the main means of payment. The value ratio of silver and gold is accepted as 1: 15.5, respectively.
At the same time, paper francs began to be printed, which depreciated in value within three years, and hard currency was finally approved at the state level.
French gold and silver coins
In 1800, by order of Napoleon Bonaparte, the Bank of France was created, which had the exclusive right to issue money. After 65 years, the Paris Convention was signed, as a result of which the Latin Union was formed, uniting the monetary systems of France, Switzerland, Belgium, Italy, and later Greece and Finland.
The basis for the creation of the Union was the recognition of the French franc as the cost standard for the minting of silver coins of the same mass and denomination by all participating countries. The monetary units of the countries of the Latin Union were characterized by the same metal content, which amounted to 0.29 g of pure gold and 4.5 g of silver.
Silver and gold coins were legally subject to free circulation as the main means of payment in the territory of all countries included in the Latin Union. At the same time, the monetary units of each country had their own name, but maintained equal parity. Thus, 1 French franc was equal to 1 Belgian franc and 1 Swiss franc.
Excessive release paper money in France and Italy provoked the instability of the Union. There was a sharp decline in the market value of silver, and soon, when exchanging depreciated silver coins, participating countries suffered losses of gold.
The minting of silver coins was stopped, and from 1873 to 1926 the Latin Union existed in the regime of gold monometallism. During the First World War and the post-war period, changes occurred in the monetary policy of the participating countries of the Latin Union, which led to the collapse of the Union and the transition to a new stage of development of the monetary system directly in France.
During the war, gold coins were replaced by banknotes to finance government military expenditures. The stabilization of the franc occurred only in 1926 after the monetary reform, the essence of which was the exchange of banknotes for gold bullion at par.
In 1928, France switched to the gold bullion standard, which lasted until 1936.
During the Second World War, there was an increase in the issue of banknotes, the devaluation and redenomination of the franc. From now on, the new franc received 0.18 g of pure gold and was equal to 100 old ones.
Modern coins of France
The post-war period in France was characterized by numerous attempts to “recover” the economy to reduce inflation, which ultimately led to the emergence and development of a paper-credit monetary system.
The modern monetary system of France has gone through two stages of its development.
1. Circulation of the franc (until 2002).
During this period, money was issued by: the Central Bank of France, some financial institutions, and the Ministry of Finance. Responsibility for implementing a unified monetary policy was assigned to the Central Bank of France.
There is a decrease in the number of banknotes and small change in circulation and a simultaneous increase in demand deposits on current accounts and credit cards.
2. Transition to a single currency - the euro.
Since January 2002, the French franc has been withdrawn from circulation. A single European currency - the euro - appears.
Currently, France is a member of the European Economic Community and actively participates in all reforms.
The only legal tender is the euro.
Marianne - a symbol of free France - VIDEO
Marianne - national symbol France since 1972. Depicted as a young woman wearing a Phrygian cap. She is the personification of the French national motto “Liberty, equality, fraternity”. Sculptural images of Marianna are a mandatory attribute of government agencies, courts, municipalities, and so on. Before the introduction of the euro, images of Marianne were placed on centimes and francs; currently they can be seen on eurocents (1, 2, 5) of French coinage.
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Until the middle of the 14th century. France did not have its own monetary unit; the monetary system was based on the circulation of Roman gold coins - denarii, which is explained historical features formation of the French state. In ancient times, most of the modern territory of France was inhabited by the Celtic tribes of the Gauls. In the middle of the 1st century. BC. they were conquered by Julius Caesar, and the Romans called this country Gaul. With the fall of Rome, one of the strongest German tribes - the Franks (i.e. free) conquered Gaul, and in the 5th century. AD its leader Clovis founded the state of the Franks, which from the 10th century. called France.
Gradually, the Roman coin went out of circulation due to abrasion and damage; silver and then gold coins began to be minted in France. After the unification of France by the Carolingians, Charlemagne carried out a monetary reform, which played a big role in the history of Europe, as counting monetary units appeared in circulation. Large sums of money were counted in livres (pounds), sous (solids) and deniers (denarii).
The basis was denier; 1 livre was equal to 20 sous, 1 sou was 12 denier. The Frankish kings, like the Roman ones, tried to centralize coinage. Later, royal coinage fell into decline, and appanage kings switched to minting their own coins.
Franc- this is how gold coins began to be called, on which the image of the king and the Latin inscription FRANCORUM REX - king of the Franks - were minted - first appeared as a monetary unit at the beginning of the Hundred Years War, in 1360.
During the First Republic, the law of 28 Thermidor (August 15, 1795) made the franc the national currency. Throughout most of the 19th century. Bimetallism existed in France. According to the law of 1803, gold and silver were subject to free coinage, and coins made from these metals had the force of legal tender. According to the law, the value ratio between silver and gold was accepted as 1: 15.5.
The issue of paper money in France was organized by the Scotsman John Loy (1671 - 1729). In 1718, Lowe, having founded a bank in Paris, received permission from the French king to issue banknotes backed by silver. IN short term The “Low system” shook up the economic life of France; the state issued banknotes in almost unlimited quantities, removing coins made of precious metals from circulation. As a result, in 1720, the system collapsed, since it turned out that tickets issued for 3 billion were firmly backed by only 50 million in gold and silver. The bank was declared bankrupt, and Low fled abroad.
Paper money appeared again only 70 years later. In 1790-1796. The French revolutionary authorities issued paper money - assignats (Latin assigno - I assign). In 1790, the assignats depreciated and in 1796 were supplemented by other paper money - territorial mandates.
Since 1795, the franc became the main monetary unit. However, too much money was printed and it quickly became worthless. In 1796 printing presses were broken and the money was burned. By 1798, all issued paper money had finally become worthless, and a legislative transition to hard currency was made.
In 1800, Napoleon Bonaparte created the Bank of France, which in 1803 received the exclusive right to issue money. In 1865, on the initiative of Napoleon III, the so-called Paris Convention was signed, uniting the monetary systems of France, Belgium, Switzerland and Italy. This association was called the Latin Union, which was joined by the Vatican and Greece in 1868, and by Finland in 1877. The Union was created on the basis of the recognition of the French franc as the standard of value and minting by the participating countries of national silver coins of the same denomination and weight based on bimetallism and accepted in
In France, the ratio of the value of gold and silver is 1 to 15.5. The metal content of the monetary units of the countries of the Latin Union should have been the same and amounted to 0.29 g of pure gold and 4.5 g of pure silver. Gold and silver coins of the participating countries could circulate freely as legal tender on the territory of each state that was part of the union. In other words, the monetary units of the states retained their names, but had equal parity, i.e. 5 French francs equaled 5 Belgian francs, 5 Swiss francs, etc.
The instability of the Latin Union is due to the excessive issue of paper money in Italy and France. After a sharp decline in the market value of silver, the participating countries suffered losses of gold during the mandatory exchange of depreciated silver coins. The minting of silver coins was first limited and then stopped, which meant a transition (in 1873) to gold monometallism. Formally, the Latin Union existed until 1926. The final reason for its collapse was the difference in the monetary policies of the participating countries during the First World War and in the post-war period.
At the beginning of the First World War, the French monetary system entered a period of gradual demonetization of gold. On August 5, 1914, a law was passed that abolished the exchange of banknotes of the Bank of France for gold and gave it the right to issue banknotes with a forced exchange rate. During the war, gold coins almost completely disappeared from the canals. money circulation and were replaced by irredeemable banknotes, the issue of which was used to finance the state’s military expenses and stimulated the development of inflationary processes.
The period of stabilization of the franc began in 1926, when the state budget was balanced through additional taxes, which reduced the need for paper credit issues. As a result of deflationary policies, the money supply in 1926-1927. decreased slightly, and in 1928 a monetary reform was carried out.
The essence of the reform was to carry out a hidden devaluation - banknotes were subject to exchange for gold bullion at par, but at the same time gold content the franc was reduced almost fivefold. The result of the monetary reform of 1928 in France was the introduction of a gold bullion standard, and the convertibility of banknotes into gold was curtailed: banknotes could be exchanged for gold bars only if they were presented in the amount of at least 215 thousand francs, which was equal to 12.5 kg of gold. Therefore, for small holders, banknotes were virtually irredeemable. The gold bullion standard existed in France until 1936, which was due to the fact that the crisis of 1929-1933. embraced it later than other countries, since the monetary reform of 1928 stimulated the repatriation of capital from abroad and an increase in the gold reserves of the Bank of France.
Relying on increased gold reserves, France headed the so-called gold bloc, which included several other Western European countries (Belgium, Holland, Switzerland). Only in October 1936, the government carried out three successive devaluations of the franc, while the exchange of banknotes for gold was stopped.
In 1939, the franc zone was legally established, which included the French colonies. The Bank of France carried out general coordination of monetary policy within the boundaries of the franc zone, providing assistance to its member countries. After independence, many colonies left the franc zone.
The period of World War II was characterized by high rates of inflation, caused by a significant increase in banknote emission caused by the need to provide emergency loans to the government. In the post-war period, devaluations of the franc were repeatedly carried out, caused by both external and internal factors, which led to the need for monetary reform. At the beginning of 1960, the franc was redenominated. The new franc was equal to 100 old francs and received a gold content of 0.18 g of pure gold, and the dollar exchange rate in new francs increased.
In September 1969, the French government published a “recovery plan” that included a reduction in domestic consumption, a reduction in the budget deficit and an increase in exports. Credit restriction measures were again applied ( discount rate The Bank of France was raised in 1969 from 6 to 8%; Bank and consumer loans are limited), and taxes are increased to reduce the budget deficit. However, the devaluation of the franc in 1969 and subsequent measures did not eliminate the roots of inflation; retail prices continued. Starting from this period, France entered the period of functioning of the paper-credit monetary system.
The modern monetary circulation of France has gone through two major stages in its development: the circulation of the franc until February 2002 and the subsequent transition to the single currency euro.
Until 2002, the sources of money emission in France were:
- Central Bank (Bank of France);
- banks and some financial institutions that create conditions for the supply of money based on time deposits and special accounts (savings deposits, cash coupons, savings accounts for housing construction, bonds of the national agricultural credit office);
- The Ministry of Finance, which, by lending to the economy, issues money;
- A depository and safekeeping office that indirectly issues money.
The functions of the monetary authority are assigned to the Bank of France, one of the oldest central banks in Europe. According to the law of December 2, 1945, the capital of the Bank of France was transferred to the state and to this day retains its state status. In accordance with the act of August 4, 1993, the Bank of France became independent for the first time in its history, which was one of the conditions for entering the euro zone. The bank was given responsibility for defining and implementing a unified monetary policy to ensure price stability (inflation targeting) within the framework of the general monetary policy of the European System of Central Banks.
The structure of monetary circulation in France is divided into two main concepts: money supply and liquid funds in the economy. The structure of the money supply is characterized by a decrease in the share of banknotes and small change with an increase in demand deposits and stability in the share of postal check accounts.
At the same time, in France there are three main channels for issuing money:
- bank lending to the national economy;
- bank lending to the state through banknotes issued against government bonds;
- issue of banknotes against the increase in official gold and foreign exchange reserves.
Before the transition to cash euros, banknotes in circulation were in denominations of 20, 50, 100, 200 and 500 francs. In France, checks, current accounts, and credit cards are widely used for non-cash transactions.
On January 1, 2002, the French franc was withdrawn from circulation and replaced by the single European currency, the euro. Having been a member of the European Economic Community since 1957, France gradually moved towards this event, actively participating in all reforms. Thus, since July 1, 2002, the French franc is no longer legal tender in France, and the euro has taken its place.
The stages of development of the French monetary system are presented in Fig. 4.4.
Rice. 4.4. Significant stages in the development of the French monetary system
The franc is a gold coin that has been in circulation in the country since April 7, 1795. Livres, the money of France that was in use before him, depreciated, so residents of the state were forced to switch to a new monetary unit. The first French franc coin weighed about 5 g and contained 4.5 g of silver.
An interesting fact is that the French currency pushed other European countries to switch to the decimal principle of monetary accounting. It lies in the ratio of gold and silver in coins (1:15.5). Some other states that were not part of the European Union, including Russian empire, also used the French standard for gold content in coins.
During the reign of Napoleon I, the development of money in France reached highest point. A week after he came to power, the government's safes were opened, they contained only 167 thousand francs, which would not even be enough to pay for postal services that would inform the French about the change of government. At that time, the state debt amounted to 474 million francs.
The fact that today the national currency is the euro, and not the famous French franc, greatly facilitates the travel of tourists. Now those who wish to visit the country no longer have problems with currency exchange, and this helps to significantly save costs during the trip.
France is a participating country. The monetary unit is the euro, equal to 100 euro cents.
Until January 1, 2002 in cash banknotes France had francs - equal to 100 centimes. The nominal series of the national currency of France was represented by banknotes in denominations of 20, 50, 100, 200, 500 francs.
The French franc was introduced into circulation in 1799 instead of the livre, which was divided into 20 sous and 240 deniers. Since 1803, a bimetallic monetary system existed in France with the gold content of the franc being 0.290323 g of pure gold and the silver content of 4.5 g of pure silver.
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From 1865 to 1926, France headed the Latin Monetary Union, a convention concluded between France, Belgium, Italy, Switzerland and Greece, which provided for the functioning of a uniform monetary system in these countries on the basis of bimetallism, based on the official ratio between gold and silver that existed in France. The monetary units of the countries that were members of this union had the same metal content - 0.290323 g of pure gold and 4.5 g of pure silver; gold and silver coins of all countries participating in the union could circulate as legal tender in any of these countries.
During the First World War and especially in post-war years There was a sharp depreciation of the French franc - by almost 90%. Based on the law of June 5, 1928, its gold content was reduced from 0.290323 to 0.05895 g of pure gold.
Since 1933, France led the so-called Golden Bloc, which, in addition to France, included Belgium, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Italy and Poland, which pledged to provide mutual assistance to maintain the gold standard in these countries. Under the influence of the currency crisis, the Gold Bloc began to disintegrate and was liquidated in 1936.
After the surrender of France on May 17, 1940, tickets in occupation stamps began to circulate in the occupied territory. The ratio of the occupation mark to French franc was set by the occupation authorities at a low level. After the liberation of France, from June 4 to June 15, 1945, all circulating banknotes with a face value of 50 francs and above were exchanged at a ratio of 1: 1 without limiting the amount.
Following the cessation of the US exchange of dollars for gold in France, on August 23, 1971, double currency market. The dual currency market remained in place until March 20, 1974. From April 24, 1972 to January 19, 1974 and from July 10, 1975 to March 15, 1976, France participated in a system of narrowed limits for deviations in the mutual exchange rates of member countries of the Common Market. Since March 13, 1979, France has been a member of the European Monetary System.
On the obverse of the last series of banknotes before being replaced by the euro, prominent people of France are depicted, such as: 20 francs - Claude Debussy (1862-1918), French composer And musical critic; 50 francs - Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (1900-1944), French writer, poet, pilot; 100 francs - Paul Cézanne (1839-1906), French artist, post-impressionist.
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200 francs - Gustave Eiffel (1832-1923), French engineer, designer of a tower in Paris, later named after him; 500 francs - Pierre (1859-1906) and Marie (1867-1934) Curie, husband and wife, physicists, early researchers of radioactivity.