]0i CUBEENCY OF GUERNSEY, ETC. 



There were never actual coins of the Tours currency, as 

 fixed in the reign of Queen Anne. It was a money of ac- 

 count, or perhaps it would be more correct to call it a legal 

 standard of value, a means of co-ordinating the medley of 

 coins which formed the currency of Guernsey at the com- 

 mencement of written history into some sort of comparative 

 monetary values. In early will? and documents in which 

 actual money is mentioned, hardly two refer to the same cur- 

 rency. Sometimes it is moidores, sometimes nobles, in 

 another document it is ducats, and it is not surprising that 

 the Royal Court found it necessary to publish Ordinances 

 from time to time regulating the values of the various foreign 

 coins current at the time. 



In the 1 6th century the following coins appeared to 

 have been commonly in use, as they received legal recognition 

 by having their values fixed by Ordinance in 1581 : — 



Ecu of France(i), ditto of Flanders(2), Pistolet(3), 

 Double Duckat(4), Double Milleray(5), Noble Henry of 

 France(6), Croyzade, small arosisi(^), Croyzade, po- 

 tence(8), Poll head(g), Spanish real(io). 



Later the following were added : — 



Francdi), and Teston in 1586. 



It is noteworthy that the corresponding value in Guern- 

 sey currency was fixed, not in livres, sols and deniers tour- 

 nois, but in gros d'argent, sols sterling, gros, and deniers 

 obole sterling. Now the word sterling (derived from the 

 word Easterling, "the men from the East" or the Hanse 

 Merchants, who were privileged to coin money in England in 

 the 13th century) designates British currency, and this use 

 of the term qualifying the legal value of sols and deniers is 

 the first mention of the intrusion of British monetary terms 

 into our island currency. 



Other coins or values are found in various histories and 

 books dealing with Guernsey. None of these, however, were 

 legally recognised by having their values fixed by the Royal 



(1) ECU. Monnaie d'argent, ainsi elite parce que sur une des faces elle portait 

 comme un ecu de blason. trois fleurs de lis— Lit Ire. 



(3) PISTOLET or PISTOLE. Terme de compte qui se disait dc dix livres tournois, 

 et qui se dit aujourd'hui de dix francs. 



(4) DUCAT. Monnaie d'or fin dont la valeur vario de dix a douze francs, selon 

 les pays ; il porte ordinairement d'un cote la tete du Prince dans les Etats duquel il 

 a ete frapoe. et de l'autre cdte ses amies. 



(5) MILLEREY or MILREI. A Portuguese gold coin equal to 1000 reis. 



'6) NOBLE. Ancienne monnaie d'Angleterrc et de France : la valeur en varie 

 de 20 a 24 francs. 



(7) CROYZADE or CROISAT. Monnaie d'argent, marquee d'une croix, et d'une 

 image de la Sainte Vierge, qui se fabriquait a Genes et qui valait environ un ecu et 

 demi de France— Littre. 



(8) The word "potenee " signifies a heraldic shape like our letter T. Probably 

 this replaced the cross referred to in (7). 



(9) Probably the vulgar designation of some foreign coin. 



(10) REAL. Monnaie d'argent d'Espagne qui vaut un quart de franc, 



(11) Synonyme de la livre tournois valant 20 sous, 



