gulden

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The guilder originally referred to a gold coin , but later also a unit of account and a silver coin . A distinction is therefore made between gold guilders, bill guilders and silver guilders.

The names Floren or Florene (German), Florijn (Dutch), Florin (French and English) and Forint (Hungarian) are derived from the first gold coin of this type, the Florentine (Fiorino d'oro), Latin florenus aureus also the internationally common abbreviations fl. or f. In contrast, in the south and west of the Holy Roman Empire , the name gulden (shortened from Middle High German guldin pfenninc or guldin pfennic ) prevailed early on .

Definition of terms

Note: The terms florins or florins are not always used clearly. There are coins that are referred to as such, e.g. B. the English Florins from 1343/44, which contain almost twice as much gold as the Florentine original. Often all gold coins were generally referred to as florins or florins. On the other hand, there are coins that are not designated as such, but obviously imitate it and correspond to it in terms of gold content, e.g. B. the French Petit Royal Assis of 1291.

Gold guilders

prehistory

No gold coins had been minted in western or northern Europe since the early Middle Ages, as there was hardly any gold mined there and the inflow from the Orient and Africa came to a standstill due to the collapse of the Roman Empire and the spread of Islam. The few gold coins, which still existed in the West, mostly came from the Eastern Roman Empire, and Byzantium , called the gold solidi were called "bezants" or "Bisanter".

Origin in Italy: the Fiorino d'oro 1252

Fiorino, 1347
A: FLOR – ENTIA - Florentine Lily
R: · S · IOHA – NNES · B - John the Baptist

With the onset of the Crusades and the resumption of trade in the Orient, gold flowed back into the West . Especially through the trade with North Africa ( Maghreb ) the merchants with European silver could cheaply buy African gold z. B. from the gold country Bambouk in today's Mali . In order to sell the gold acquired in the silver trade or the even more lucrative salt trade at a profit, gold coins were the appropriate medium. Gold had a considerably better price in Europe than silver (1:10 to 1:12 in Europe compared to 1: 6 to 1: 8 in the Maghreb). In this way good profits were made and at the same time a stable value means of payment came onto the market. Because with the intensification of long-distance trade, the need for a larger nominal arose . The denarius or pfennig , which had been minted alone for over five centuries, no longer met these requirements.

It was consequently the three great northern Italian Mediterranean trading powers who started the large-scale minting of gold coins: In 1252, Florence gave the impetus for the minting of gold coins in Western Europe with the Fiorino d'oro . From Venice was since 1284 the second gesamtabendländische gold coin, the Zecchino or Ducato ( Dukat ), in the same monetary standard published. In contrast, the Genovino of the third major trading power, Genoa, was less successful.

The Florentine guilder weighed 3.537 g and was supposed to be issued in pure, i.e. 24-carat gold. However, given the technical possibilities at the time, this was not entirely feasible, so the fineness was slightly lower, at around 23¾ carats , which meant a fine weight (pure gold weight) of around 3.5 g. This should correspond to the value of a bill pound of 240 pfennigs. On the front of the flor was a large lily blossom (Latin: flos ), the city symbol of Florence, on the back of the city saint John the Baptist . In Florence itself, the florets were minted with the same coin image and fineness until 1533.

Beginning of the imprints

The Florens were issued in extraordinarily large numbers from the beginning, around 1336 it is said to have been 350,000 to 400,000 annually in Florence. They spread relatively quickly: floreni aurei are mentioned in Salzburg as early as 1283, and their circulation in the rest of Germany has been documented from 1317. So it was inevitable that they would soon be reproduced by other states.

This happened mainly in Central and Eastern Europe, while in England, France and Spain Florens were only occasionally imitated. France and England had their own successful gold coins with the Écu d'or (since 1266) and the Noble (since 1344), which in turn found imitation - also in the empire.

Gold guilders with visible silver tint

While the gold content and coinage of the Florentine guilders remained essentially the same and the re-mintings initially more or less exactly imitated the originals, the mint status, especially in the west of the empire, declined as early as the middle of the 14th century due to the lack of its own gold deposits and the ever-scarcer gold about secretly reducing the gold content, i.e. adding the alloy metals silver and copper to the gold. This allowed the strike treasure to be increased considerably in favor of the mint master and the mint master. If the proportion of these metals was too large, the admixtures could no longer be concealed: the gold tone of the coins turned into whitish or bluish with too much silver (see below, Netherlands) or with too much copper into reddish. The Florentine coin design was also only retained as long as the coin base was retained. After that, the lily was replaced by the coat of arms of the minters, in imperial cities by the imperial eagle, and St. John through the respective local or regional saints, through Christ or the Madonna - or through portraits of rulers.

At the moment when the design of the coin changed, the distinction between Florentine gulden and Venetian ducat , which was only made on the basis of the minting, with (approximately) the same weight, became obsolete. So z. As the later Hungarian gold florins often (see below) as ducats called because they just like this their fine weight of about 3.5 g all along maintained while Gulden naturalized as a name for those floras that with the change of the coin design also reduced the gold content.

Spread in the Holy Roman Empire

Bohemia

Gold minting began in the Holy Roman Empire outside of Imperial Italy in 1325, when King John of Bohemia had gold guilders struck in Prague. In 1350, Emperor Charles IV changed the design of the coin for the first time: Instead of Lily and John the Baptist, the coin shows the Bohemian lion coat of arms and the emperor himself, who was later replaced by the Bohemian national saint Wenceslaus . Since Bohemia had rich gold deposits, its guilders, like the Hungarian ones issued at the same time, were minted with the same fineness for a long time and were therefore also referred to as ducats . The Bohemian gulden then lost value later, in the valuation table of the 2nd Augsburg Imperial Coin Order of 1559 it is even valued ⅓  carat lower than the Rhenish gulden, namely 18 1 ⁄ 6 carat. In addition, around 1345, flores were also struck in the Silesian duchies of Liegnitz and Schweidnitz , which were Bohemian fiefs at that time .

Lübeck

Goldgulden: Lübeck 1341
A: FLORE LUBIC
R: · S · IOHA – NNES · B ·

The first Floren in German-speaking countries was minted in Lübeck in 1340. With the Landshut deed of March 25, 1340, the city received from Emperor Ludwig IV the Bavarian (1314–1347) the privilege of paying a florentine guilder. As early as 1342, 30,000 piles with a rough weight of 3.53 g had been cut; Various types of guilder were minted until 1675, the last showing the city coat of arms on the obverse and the imperial eagle on the reverse.

Rhenish guilder of Mainz Elector Archbishop Johann II of Nassau (minted around 1400 in Höchst)

Rhenish guilder and apple guilder

In the late Middle Ages, the Rhenish guilder (Latin: florenus Rheni) was the regional gold currency within the scope of the Rhenish Mint Association . The only Münznominal that currency was also the Rheinische Gulden , abbreviation:. Rfl, and fl. (Rh.).

Saxony

The first gold florins of Wettin with the standing St. John and the orb in trefoil was the Elector Friedrich II. In mint Leipzig from 1454 to 1461 by Hans Goldmünzmeister Stockart with his Münzmeisterzeichen † beat (cross). Gold gulden minting began at the time when the Rhenish electors of Cologne, Mainz, Trier and Electoral Palatinate resumed joint gold minting after a long break. The shot and grain (weight and fine weight) of the first Saxon guilders were matched to those of the Rhenish guilders. In Saxony, apart from Leipzig, gold guilders were minted in the state capital Freiberg from 1548 and Dresden from 1557.

Southeastern Alpine countries

  • Habsburg lands: In Austrian documents, business deals with Florentine and Hungarian gold guilders began to increase from around 1330. The first gold guilders in the so-called Habsburg hereditary lands were minted by Duke Albrecht II (1330–1358) around 1350 in Judenburg , Styria , which developed into an important inner Austrian economic center in the course of the 13th and 14th centuries , especially for Venetian trade was significant. The gold for the Judenburg guilder came from the Hohe Tauern . Under Albrecht III. (1365–1395) the Austrian guilders were converted to a representation of the coats of arms of Austria (meaning: today's Lower and Upper Austria ) and Styria on the obverse. The gold coinage of Albrecht III. only reached a very modest extent and had to be discontinued, probably because of the poor profitability of the gold mines, but also because its guilders could no longer compete with the high-quality gold guilders of neighboring Hungary. After all, the future Emperor Ferdinand I only had ducats minted from 1527. From 1870, two gold coins worth 4 guilders = 10 francs and 8 guilders = 20 francs were minted in the Austro-Hungarian dual monarchy in preparation for joining the Latin Monetary Union . The accession did not come about after all, but the coins were minted until 1892, and even if they were not in general circulation, they became the customs currency with which the customs duties were to be paid at the borders. Today these coins are officially minted by the Austrian Mint with the year 1892 as investment coins.
  • Tyrol: The Tyrolean sovereign Sigismund von Tirol (1427–1496), Austrian Archduke, also known as “the rich in coins”, moved the Tyrolean mint from Merano in what is now South Tyrol to Hall near the provincial capital Innsbruck , where from 1478 gold guilders were minted. In the absence of his own gold deposits, he had Hungarian gold guilders and Italian ducats simply converted to the Rhenish mint. In view of the plentiful supply of silver, Sigismund then switched to having large silver coins worth ½ from 1484 and 1 Rhenish guilder from 1486. In doing so, he founded a new coin that would develop into one of the most important in Europe in the course of the 16th century: the thaler .

Switzerland

In Switzerland the guilder was widely used as a means of payment in the Middle Ages. It appears in written sources as early as 1300, but its own coinage did not appear until much later: 1429–1509 were coined by Reichs in Basel because of apple gulden ; Berne followed with its own coins in 1484, not because of an imperial but rather a papal privilege, Solothurn in the 1480s, Freiburg im Üechtland in 1509, Zurich around 1510 and the city of Basel in 1512. The Barons von Haldenstein followed in the 17th century , the city of Schaffhausen and the city and duchy of Chur . All in all, the scope of the coinage remained quite modest, as there was almost no own gold deposits. The last gold guilders were minted around 1790 in Basel-Stadt and in 1796 in Lucerne as 12 coin guilders (total weight 7.64 g) and 24 coin guilders (total weight 15.28 g) with a value of 6 2 ⁄ 5 and 12 4 ⁄ 5, respectively Reichstalern.

Netherlands

Goldgulden Bayern (Straubing) -Holland
D: Coat of arms of Bavaria-Holland with inscription FLORIN DE HOLAND -
A: Duke with 2 heraldic shields (Bavaria and Holland) with inscription GUIELMUS DUX + COMES HOL.

In the Duchy of Geldern and the County of Flanders , gold coins were minted after 1361, the so-called Golden Lions (Gouden Leeuw), which are sometimes referred to as lion guilders , despite a weight of 4.25 g or 5.36 g and one from the Florene completely different coin image. The coins of the Dukes of Burgundy from the House of Valois , who from 1386 onwards, as heirs of the Flemish counts, had gold coins with a weight of 4.07 g or 4.22 g and their own design minted are also not gulden in the strict sense of the word . The first real gold guilders, called Florijn in Dutch , were minted after 1378 by Duke Wilhelm I of Bavaria-Straubing , who also ruled as Count Wilhelm V of Holland (1350-1389). From 1467 to 1489 the dukes of Burgundy in Brabant had the Andries guilder , later also called Florin de Bourgogne , struck according to the then Rhenish coinage . The St. Andrew's Cross, which appeared on it for the first time, with its later variant, the branch cross, remained characteristic of the Habsburg coins until the end of their minting in the southern Netherlands, today's Belgium (1792/1800).

The deterioration of the monetary standard was pushed even further in the Netherlands than in the Rhineland. Sometimes the addition of silver was so strong that it displaced the gold tone for everyone to see. Gold gulden with a high silver content were also called blue gulden , Dutch blue gulden . In 1499, when a Rhenish gold gulden was still calculated at 20 stuivers , Dutch gulden only had the following values:

  • the postulate guilders of the bishopric of Utrecht : 12½ stuivers
  • Arnold's or rider's guilder of the Duchy of Geldern: 10½ stuivers
  • the Horngulden, named after the Bishop of Liège Johan van Hoorn (1484–1506): 10 Stuivers. This was the most notorious of all, containing only about 415 ‰ gold as a low. As a result, horn gulden became a general term for inferior gold , and horn gold was a term for inferior gold until the 18th century.

The first Habsburg ruler Philip the Fair (1482 / 94–1506) had the Philip or Brabant Gulden , named after him and his patron saint, minted in Bruges from 1496 onwards , with a total weight of 3.259 g (71¾ on the Cologne mark) at 16 carats was above the rest of the Dutch guilder at that time; around 1525 he was rated 25 stuivers.

In the course of the 16th century the florijn rose again to 28 stuivers as the price of gold rose and the price of silver fell. In addition, from 1517 Emperor Charles V had the Karolus guilder worth 20 stuivers in gold since 1521 ( Carolus d'or or Gouden Carolus; fine weight 2.12 g, but quickly reduced to 1.71 g at 14 carats) and since 1543 struck in silver ( Carolus d'argent or Zilveren Carolus ). As a result, both values ​​became bill guilders, which in turn were minted as silver coins in the 17th century.

other countries

Hungary

Gulden from Emperor Sigismund as King of Hungary with his coat of arms (right) and the image of St. King Ladislaus I (left)

The Hungarian guilder represents a special case among the re-mintings, insofar as it retained the original rough weight of 3.55 g with a purity of 23¾ carat, i.e. a fine weight of 3.51 g, until 1553. This was made possible by the company's own rich gold deposits in the Carpathian Mountains. Due to this stable value, the Hungarian guilder is more likely to be understood as a ducat, despite its name - and is often referred to as such. The first Floren was minted in 1325 by King Charles I Robert (1308–1342). Only the design of the coin changed over the years: the image of St. Since around 1390 John was replaced by that of King Ladislaus I, the Holy (1077-1095), in 1467 by the Madonna, the Patrona Hungariae, the classic Hungarian coin design until 1939. It was a sought-after trade coin, was used in Italy under the name Ungaro or Ongaro minted and in turn served in Poland and Sweden as a model for their gold coin issuance; a unique specimen is even reported from Russia. (For the 4 and 8 forint pieces from the years 1870-1892 see above, Habsburgische Lande.)

papacy

The first Florens minted after the original come from Pope John XXII, who resided in Avignon . (1316–1334), who had had it minted in Pont-de-Sorgues since 1322. After 1350, the Florenus de Camera was still minted in Avignon to the full gold weight of the Florene, but it was also used as a unit of account. In Rome, from 1475 onwards, the popes had another florin minted for a century in addition to the ducat and the scudo d'oro . This Fiorino di camera usually shows the coat of arms on the front, later also the bust of the Pope, on the back Peter in the ship.

France

From 1291, King Philip IV. (1285-1314) hit a gold coin, while, however, did not correspond to the weight in the character of Florene, they therefore usually not as Florin , but because of the mint design with the seated king as Petit Royal Assis is referred . Opposite was the Florin Georges Philip VI. (1328–1350) only a Floren in name, its fine weight was 4.7 g. A real florin with original embossing, the Florin d'or du Languedoc , then issued Johann II (1350-1364) in 1360; Otherwise, the French kings minted their own gold coins, especially the heavier Écu d'or in various forms, which was also minted many times over, among others. a. by Emperor Ludwig IV of Bavaria after 1337. In addition to the royal florins, there were also royal florins, the first in the Dauphiné as early as 1327 , the last from eastern France from the beginning of the 17th century.

England

As early as 1257, Heinrich III. (1216–1272) produced the gold penny , which is sometimes referred to as Floren, despite its weight of only 2.93 g with a completely different coin design. The same applies to the Florin or Double Leopard Eduards III. (1327-1377) of 1343/44. It had a gross weight of 6.998 g and a fine weight of 6.963 g, i.e. that is, it was almost twice as tall as the Florene, and also has a completely different character. It had to be withdrawn from circulation after a few months because its gold value was above the face value of 6  schillings . In the same year it was replaced by the even heavier Noble , which quickly spread alongside the gold guilder as a trading coin in western Europe as far as the Baltic Sea area and was also frequently minted.

Spain

The first flor of today's Spain, the Florí d'or català or Florí mallorquín, was by Jaume III. Issued by Mallorca in 1342. With the exception of the legend, it corresponded to the original, just like the Florín aragonés of King of Aragon Peter IV (1336-1387) who followed him in 1346 . Its fineness then fell relatively quickly from 3.42 g at 24 carats to 18 carats in 1370. In addition, shortly after the middle of the century, following the Aragonese model, the Kingdom of Castile , where the main gold coin was the Dobla castellana , and the Kingdom of Navarre were minted . Overall, the minting numbers of the Spanish kingdoms were rather low.

Rome

Since 1350, the Roman Senate issued the Fiorino Romano , which is also known as the ducat with a weight of 3.5 g. The coin image shows on the one hand Christ with the Gospel and on the other hand St. Peter with a senator kneeling before him.

Russia

In the period after 1470, Tsar Ivan III. (1462–1505), probably designed by an Italian artist, based on the model of the Ungaro (see above), minted the first Russian gold coin based on the western model - 1.

Denmark

Here gold guilders with the alleged value of a Rhenish guilder, in Danish Rhinsk Gylden , were repeatedly issued as war coins, that is, they were used to pay war costs, which - as in such cases almost always - meant that the precious metal content was secretly reduced. In 1490 King Hans (1481–1513) had such coins minted with the number 72 from the 17-carat rough Cologne mark; the last are from Christian IV (1588–1648) from the Thirty Years War with the number 72 from the 18¼ carat rough mark. In addition, Ungersk Gylden , i.e. Hungarian gold guilders or ducats, were minted from Frederik I (1523–1533) to Christian IV.

Poland

Here coinage had been neglected throughout the 15th century. Therefore, the guilder coinage began relatively late: Only Sigismund I had 1,528 guilders, Polish zloty , shape modeled after the Hungarian guilder in Krakow. Its value was initially equivalent to 30 krongroschen, and this value was retained as a bill of exchange, even as the groschen became increasingly inferior over time.

Sweden

As in Denmark, a distinction is made between two types of floras, both of which were minted only for a very short time: once as the first Swedish gold coin ever, the 1568–1573 by King Erik XIV (1560–1568) and his brother John III. (1568–1592) Ungersk Gyllen , ie “Hungarian guilders”, which, like the latter, was actually a ducat due to its gold content, based on the Hungarian model ; on the other hand, from 1569 to 1571, the Krongyllen in the foot of the Rhenish guilder with its very reduced gold content of 2.48 g.

Portraits of saints on gold guilders

John the Baptist

John the Baptist is the first saint to be depicted on the gold guilder.

  • John the Baptist

  • CNA E1 - about 1350

  • Felke 129--1366 to 1368

Saint John with scepter of the cross, his left hand raised to blessing with a woolen cloak.

Apostle Peter

St. Laurence

The Saint Laurentius of the Nuremberg Lorenzgulden , which, in contrast to the simultaneous Sebaldusgulden, was issued inferiorly.

  • St. Laurentius with grate

  • Waiter 2 - St. Laurentius with fire grate over right shoulder

  • Kellner 10 - draft with the assistance of Albrecht Dürer

The design for St. Laurentius on the gold gulden was made with the assistance of Albrecht Dürer . The responsible mint master Dietherr minted.

Bill guilders and silver guilders

The transition from gold guilders to silver guilders often took place via the bill guilders: the latter was created by simply maintaining the value of a gold guilder expressed in a smaller denomination, i.e. groschen, kreuzer, Albus , etc. at a certain point in time , regardless of whether the underlying gold coin was in value continued to rise or fall. In the course of the 16th century, bill guilders began to be minted as silver coins.

Guldiner or Guldengroschen

Due to the lack of gold in Germany, Archduke Sigismund had silver coins minted in the county of Tyrol from 1486 onwards to the value of one Rhenish gold guilder. This coin, called the guldiner or guldengroschen , became the forerunner of the silver guild and the thaler . It had a pure silver weight of approx. 31.9 g and was divided into 60 kreuzers.

The first large silver coins minted in large numbers, the silver guilder, were minted in 1500 in the Electorate of Saxony in the Annaberg / Frohnau mint and possibly in the Wittenberg mint . Even the 1492 and 1493 in Zwickau and Schneeberg embossed Bart dime and from 1496 especially in Schneeberg in large amounts to 21 pieces on the gold florins coined Zinsgroschen served to prepare the introduced from 1500 silver guilder currency. The trade had to be supplied with the appropriate amount of small coins beforehand. The minting of the large silver coins was carried out according to the Saxon coin order of 1500 (8.53 guilders "on the fine mark "; weight 29.23 g; fine weight 27.41 g). The fine weight of the silver guilder corresponded in value to the gold value of the Rhenish gold guilder at that time until the first Saxon coin separation . From 1505 to 1525 the gulden was minted according to the changed standard from 1505: weight 29.23 g, fine weight 27.20 g. The gulden, known as folding hats , were also struck in the Buchholz and Leipzig mints .

Since 1518, the imperial barons Schlick in the Joachimstal in Bohemia minted guldengroschen from the mountain silver there with the name Joachimstaler, which were soon only called thalers and replaced the guldengroschen of all these denominations.

In the years 1524 and 1551 an attempt was made at the Diets in Esslingen and Augsburg to create an imperial guldiner, which was to be the standard coin throughout the Holy Roman Empire. Due to their size, their valuation of 63 or 72 kreuzers and their connection to the gold gulden, these imperial gulden are to be regarded as forerunners of the thaler and not the gulden. They were hardly minted because the Saxon, Bohemian and other guldengroschen, which were already in circulation in large numbers, were issued at a somewhat lighter coin rate and it would have been far too expensive and time-consuming to collect them and re-mint them according to the imperial rate.

Bill guilds

The Reich bill guilder

Right from the start, the silver guilder , which was soon to be called just a guilder , was understood as a combination of 60 kreuzers. This also corresponded to the value of the gold guilder at that time. Since fraudulent minters continued to increase their profit from minting into the 19th century by adding less and less silver, especially to the smaller denominations - those for the "common people" - the value represented by sixty Kreuzer pieces slowly but steadily decreased . The result was that the later actually minted guilder, the species guilder, rose in value relative to the small coins while the silver content remained the same, while the bill guilder fell along with them.

The guilder appears for the first time as a bill coin in the imperial farewell of 1551: 8 64 ⁄ 127 from the fine Cologne mark (233.856 g) of silver were minted by the new imperial guldiner. But since it had been set at 72 kreuzers, a fine Cologne mark in bill guilders at 60 kreuzers had a value of "toes floren, twelve kreuzers, and ain Vierthail ains kreuzers, 17 ⁄ 127 ains pfennigs", in other words 8 64 ⁄ 127 Guldiner contained silver to the value of 10 26 ⁄ 127 (bill) guilders. This remained the most important bill of exchange in southern and western Germany until the 19th century. In the middle of the 17th century, the Reichstaler became an invoice coin in northern Germany with a value of 24 good groschen = 36 Mariengroschen (= 90 Kreuzer). As far as the main bill is concerned, Germany then finally split up into the northern German “Taler countries” and the southern German “Gulden countries”. The following fixed ratios resulted: 1 Reichsgulden (Fl.) = 60 light or Rhenish cruisers (Kr. Or Xr.) = ⅔ Reichstaler (Rtl.) = 16 Good Groschen (ggr.) = 24 Mariengroschen (Mgr.).

Regional and local bill guilders

In addition to the Reichsgulden at 60 (Rhenish) cruisers, there were also many regional and local guilders, which were also usually not minted, but were "imagined" coins. The most important are:

  • the Meißnische Gulden , which is a summary of 21 Meißnischen or Guten Groschen = ⅞ Rtl. = 15 ⁄ 16 bottles depicted. In 1584 the Meißnian bill guilder was actually minted by the Electorate of Saxony, as a gold coin with the inscription: REICHSGVLDEN ZU XXI GR.
  • the Franconian guilder as the value of 60 Franconian cruisers, of which 20 good groschen = 75 Rhenish cruisers = 5 ⁄ 6 Rtl. = 1¼ bottle corresponded. (Around 1800 the north German thaler was fixed to the south German gulden at 1 fl, 45 kr., i.e. 105 kreuzers, which corresponds to the rate that the Franconian gulden had fought for against the "Preussentaler")
  • The Lower Saxony Mariengulden , also known as the Gulden coin , is the unit of account for 20 Mariengroschen worth 50 Rhenish cruisers = 5 ⁄ 9  Rtl. = 5 ⁄ 6  bottles In 1623 and 1624 the Mariengulden (I MARIEN GVLDE) and its half piece (I HALBE MARIE GULD) were also minted in Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel.
  • the billing guilders in the Rhineland: Here the situation was particularly confusing. Even at the time when there was only the golden guilder, the Cologne pagament or merchant guilder at 20 Albus since 1398 , the Cologne Rhine guilder at 20½ Albus since 1418, the Oberland gulden at 24 Albus since 1468 and the customs guilder at 27 since 1476 Albus. In Trier there was since 1444 the Mosel Gulden, lat. Florenus simplex, the 24 trie generic bus or weever worth 40 Rhenish cruisers = 4 / 9  Rtl. = ⅔ Fl. corresponded to; also since 1580 the Trier Rheingulden, lat. florenus rhenanus, valued at 36 Albus and since 1615 the Radergulden, lat. florenus rotatus, valued at 24 Raderalbus = 48 Trierian Albus or 2 Moselle guilders.
  • the Aachen guilder: The Aachen coin system was completely outside that of the empire; The Aachen guilder was a summary of 12 Aachen Albus = 6 Aachener Marks worth 10 Rhenish cruisers = 1 ⁄ 9  Rtl. = 1 ⁄ 6  bottles For a very short time, from 1619 to 1621, this guilder was also minted as a coin with the inscription VI MARCK.

The Reichsguldiner / Guldentaler from 1559

Reichsguldiner of Duke Albrecht V of Bavaria Obv .: Coat of arms of the Duchy of Bavaria Rev .: Imperial eagle with indication of value in the breastplate and inscription (Kaiser Maximilian II)

The Reichs Gildener of the 2nd Augsburg Coin Order from 1559 is to be regarded as the first independent guilder coin . Previously, it was always assumed that the silver guldiner and the gold gulden had the same value, namely 60 kreuzers. It became clear early on, from around 1510, that this was no longer true due to the rising gold prices and the falling silver content of the cruisers, but it was not until 1559 that this fact was officially taken into account: a gold coin and its silver equivalent became three different coins. The gold gulden had meanwhile risen to a value of 72 to 75 kreuzers, the larger silver coins in circulation, officially noted as taller in a Reich document for the first time in the Reichs Farewell , were set at a value of 68 or 72 kreuzers, and the new Reichsguldiner should be the original Value of 60 cruisers. As a result, species guilder and bill guilder coincided again. The Reichsguldiner had a total weight of 24.616 g with a total of 9½ to the rough Cologne Mark, which, with a fineness of 14 Lot 16 Grän = 930.55 ‰, a fine weight of 22.907 g and a total of 10 14 ⁄ 67 to the fine Mark revealed. In contrast to the vast majority of thalers, it also had a value: The imperial orb on the chest of the double-headed imperial eagle shows the number 60, and the correspondingly smaller half-guldiners have a 30.

This Reichsguldiner, later also called the Guldentaler or Güldenthaler , was not a great success either , since most of the coin stalls , as well as the trade, continued to use the Taler. With a few exceptions, the Reichsgulden was only minted by Emperor Ferdinand I for Austria itself and by some southern German territories, especially the imperial cities. Nuremberg in particular issued an uninterrupted series of these coins from 1559 to 1660; most of the other German minting states stopped minting after a few years. One reason for this may have been that the unity of species and bill coins was lost again very quickly: Just like the Reichstaler, the Reichsgulden, which was struck with a constant silver content, also increased in value compared to the increasingly inferior cruisers. In 1594 it was valued with 62 Kreuzers, when Nuremberg ended the minting as the last coin status in 1660, it was down to 1 Fl. 20 kr. = 80 cruisers increased.

Coins worth one bill guilder from the 17th to 19th centuries

Since the imperial guldiner had risen to a value of 1⅓ bill guilder from 1559 to the middle of the 17th century, coins with the original value of one gulden began to be struck again. However, with very few exceptions, these were not minted under the name guilder . The Count Palatine at the Rhine started in 1658 with the minting of 60 Kreuzer pieces: Although these also had the value 60, the inscription CHUR FÜRSTLICHER PFALZ LANDMÜNTZ made it clear that this was not about the Reichsguldiner, but about was a minted bill guilder. In northern Germany, the coin recession of Zinna in 1667 marked the start of the minting of guilder coins as ⅔ (Reichs-) thaler (= bill thaler), 24 Mariengroschen or 16 good groschen; in Lübeck and Hamburg gulden were minted as 32 Lübeck shillings. Only very few coins were actually issued under the designation Gulden , such as EIN REICHSGVLDEN XVIII SCHIL VIII PFENNI of the Principality of Münster from 1678 EIN GULDEN MECKLENBURG from 1679/80 (Mecklenburg-Güstrow), and the yield-GVLDEN of the monastery Sankt Blasien from 1694.

With the law of Emperor Leopold I of November 28, 1692, the Reichstaler was set to a value of 2 guilders in accordance with the Leipzig mint rate . Half of the Reichsspeziestaler was worth one gulden until 1750. From 1751, first in Austria, then from 1753 in southern Germany and after the Seven Years' War in 1763 in many states in northern Germany, half convention thalers were minted, which were generally referred to as convention guilders . In northern Germany, these guilders have the value ⅔ because they were considered two-thirds of the convention billing thaler.

Since the material value of the small coins, the intrinsic value, continued to decline, the silver content of these guilder coins also had to be reduced in order to preserve the unity of the species coin and the bill coin. that is, the coin mechanism became lighter and easier. As a result, while the above coins were all called guilders , they did not have the same absolute value. The important supraregional coin feet were:

Coin footer year Number 1 bottle on the fine mark Silver content 1 bottle
Zinna 1667 15¾ 14.848 g
Leipzig (= Reichsfuß 1738) 1690 18th 12.992 g
Lübeck 1726 17th 13.756 g
Convention 1748/53 20th 11.693 g
Prussia 1750 21st 11.136 g

A Leipzig guilder had, for example, B. the value of ⅞ Zinnaic guilders and a convention guilder the value of 9 ⁄ 10 Leipzig guilders.

Many states made it clear that there were no differences between the various forms of the guilder with the same coinage rate and issued the different denominations at the same time: Sayn-Wittgenstein -Wittgenstein holds the record , which in 1675 1 guilder pieces as XXIV MARIENGROSCHEN, XVI GUTE GROSCHEN, 60 Kreuzer and ⅔ Taler minted. In addition, coins often had several denominations, e.g. B. a gulden of the Principality of Paderborn from 1765 with the information: 24 MARIENGROSCHEN, XX PIECES EINE FEINE MARCK (= ½ convention thaler) and ⅔ (Reichstaler); or a Gulden from Sachsen-Weimar-Eisenach from 1760 reads ⅔ (Taler), 60 (Kreuzer) and 20 St. EINE FEINE MARCK. This clearly shows the tendency towards the standardization of the German coinage, even if different coin stands in addition to the supra-regional ones repeatedly issued their own regional or even locally restricted coins.

Gulden coins of this kind were minted until the 19th century, a 60-Kreuzer piece in the convention base last time in 1760 by Saxony-Weimar-Eisenach (see above), a 24-Mariengroschen piece in the Leipzig base in 1834 through Braunschweig-Lüneburg , a 16- Good groschen piece in the convention foot in 1834 by the Kingdom of Hanover, a ⅔ thaler in the Leipzig foot in 1845 through Mecklenburg-Schwerin and a convention gulden in Germany in 1835 through Saxons Coburg and Gotha , in Austria in 1856.

The guilders of the 19th century

The Rhenish (silver) guilder

The last guilders minted in the German-speaking area then became a matter for the states of Bavaria, Baden, Württemberg and Austria, where the bill guilder was also at home, although it was here that the conventional thalers and their parts had been marketed by the crown thaler since around 1790 In other words, in southern and western Germany calculations were made in gulden, but for a long time no corresponding coins were minted (60 kreuzers or half convention thalers), while in northern Germany calculations were made in Reichstalers, but until the middle of the 19th century the gulden coins listed above were used coined.

Bavaria and Austria

In 1753 Austria and Bavaria concluded a coinage convention in which Bavaria took over the Austrian 20 guilder foot from 1748/50, which from this point on is called the convention foot . In both countries, half convention thalers were minted as guilders with the addition of XX EINE FEINE MARK. However, Bavaria quickly found out that the circulating cruisers were a lot worse than the convention footing required: The good convention money was bought up with inferior cruisers rated too high and disappeared as quickly as it was minted. In order to prevent this, Bavaria reached an agreement with Austria in 1754 that it would continue to mint the convention coins, but valued them 20% higher, i.e. made them more expensive. In Bavaria a convention thaler was valued at 144 kr instead of 120 kr., A convention gulden at 72 kr. Instead of 60 kr. Etc. This variant of the convention foot was subsequently adopted by most of the southern and western German states.

Since a guilder was considered to be the sum of 60 kreuzers according to the ideas at the time, a new bill guilder , the so-called Rhenish guilder , was now available for this part of the Holy Roman Empire . This meant that the convention guilder, i.e. half the speciestaler, and the invoice guilder fell apart again: 1 convention guilder (Fl. CM) = 1 1/5 invoice guilder (Fl. Rhein.). For the latter there was a common denomination of 24 guilders per fine Cologne mark.

Under the influence of the Brabant crown thalers, which penetrated en masse from the Austrian Netherlands towards the end of the 18th century and were valued too highly, the currency rate of the Rhenish guilder deteriorated from around 1793. This was exacerbated by the effects of the French Revolutionary Wars. However, since the Kronentaler were very unreliable in their coin rate, there was disagreement about the exact rate: It was estimated at 24 3 ⁄ 10 , 24½, 24 54 ⁄ 100 or even 24¾.

With their valuation of 162 kreuzers, the Kronentaler did not fit well into the traditional coin system, so that after the chaos of war ended in 1815, a reform of the coinage system in the states of Bavaria, Baden, Württemberg and Austria seemed urgent. Since the official convention thaler was still in effect and a larger number of crown thaler were minted, it did not seem advisable to introduce another thaler. Instead, guilders were minted from 1821 and were actually referred to as such for the first time.

The early guilders 1821–1837

The Grand Duchy of Baden took on the pioneering role - as with the minting of gold guilders in 1819 (see above) and thalers of 100 kreuzers in 1829 - and issued guilders from 1821 to 1826 and also double guilders from 1821 to 1825. They are labeled 1 G or 2 G and were applied in the 24½ guilder foot, i. In other words, the fine weight was 9.545 g or 19.090 g, with a fineness of 750 ‰ this meant a total weight of 12.727 g or 25.454 g. The Kingdom of Württemberg followed and in 1824 and 1825 minted guilders (inscription: EIN GULDEN-ST.) And double guilders (inscription: ZWEY GULDEN) in the same footer. The Duchy of Saxony-Meiningen issued the third of these early florins from 1830 to 1837. It bears the inscription EIN GULDEN RHEIN, was minted in 24 3 ⁄ 10 feet, had a fine weight of 9.624 g and weighed 12.832 g with a fineness of 750 ‰. → Hirschgulden

The guilders of the Munich Mint Treaty 1837–1856

Guilders of the Munich Mint Treaty
Double guilders of the Munich Mint Treaty

However, these three attempts lacked a broad basis, and it took until 1837 for the states of Bavaria, Baden and Württemberg to agree on the general issue of guilders in the Munich Coin Treaty. A mean value of 24½ guilders was applied to the fine mark for the poorer Rhenish coin foot (i.e. 24 3 ⁄ 10 to 24¾ instead of 24 guilders) or the crown taler foot and the coins were minted with the typical mint: 1 GULDEN, with the year in an oak wreath . The fine weight was 9.545 g, but a fineness of 900 ‰ meant, unlike the Baden and Württemberg guilders, a gross weight of only 10.606 g.

The agreement on a 24½ guilder foot also meant that the new southern German key coin was in a comfortable relationship to the Prussian Reichstaler in the 14 thaler foot . In the Dresden Coin Treaty of 1838, the participating northern and southern German states agreed on the issue of a club coin of 2 thalers = 3½ gulden (fine weight: 33.408 g, purity: 900 ‰, rough weight: 37.12 g), whereby the club coins of the southern German states usually have the Mint of the guilder retained: value in the oak wreath. Also from 1838 half guilders (30 kreuzers ) were minted.

From 1845 they then issued 2 guilder pieces (fine weight 19.090 g; inscription: ZWEY GULDEN) in order to have a coin comparable to the thaler after the unreliable and worn Kronentaler had begun to be finally withdrawn.

The guilders of the Vienna Mint Treaty 1857

In 1857, at the instigation of Austria, the Vienna Coin Treaty was concluded, with which Austria (together with Hungary) and Liechtenstein wanted to tie their currency back to the German customs union. After the Cologne mark of 233.856 g as the basic weight had been replaced by the inch pound of 500 g, the north German, south German and Austrian currencies began to be put into a practicable relationship to one another. A precise conversion of the respective coin feet would have resulted in very crooked values; therefore it was decided to round up this, i.e. H. Devaluation of the coins, to be "straightened out".

area Coin foot on the Cologne mark Coin foot on the inch pound Devaluation%
converted rounded
Northern Germany 14 thaler feet (= 21 bottle feet) 29.93 30th 0.223
Bavaria, Württemberg and Baden 24½ guilder feet 52.38 52.5 0.223
Austria and Hungary 20 guilder feet 42.76 45 4.975
"1/2 Gulden Southern German Currency" of the Vienna Mint Treaty
"Gulden of southern German currency" of the Vienna Mint Treaty

The devaluation was hardly significant for the states of Bavaria, Württemberg and Baden at 0.223%, so that the old Prussian thalers (fine weight 16.704 g) and the southern German guilders (fine weight 9.545 g) with the new club thalers (fine weight 16.667 g) and the new Gulden (fine weight 9.524 g) were simply equated. In the new coin system, the gulden, the “southern German currency”, was only minted by a few states, and these also reduced their output considerably in favor of the Vereinstaler. The south German guilder coins were suspended as follows: double guilders 1874 at an exchange value of 3 3 ⁄ 7 marks, half guilders 1875 at 6 ⁄ 7 marks and one gulden 1876 at 1 5 ⁄ 7 marks.

For Austria, the changeover to the pound as the basic weight of the coin had greater effects: The new guilder “Austrian currency” (Fl. Ö. W.), also known as florin and in Hungary forint (Frt.), Had to be devalued by almost 5%; If the convention guilder had a fine weight of 11.693 g, the new gulden only contained 11.111 g of silver; with a fineness of 900 ‰ it weighed 12.34567 g. With such a radical reform, Austria took the opportunity to change the denomination: Instead of 60 kreuzers, the new guilder was divided into 100 new kreuzers.

The new number of 45 to one pound also meant that the Prussian thaler, or the Vereinstaler with its number of 30, still received its own gulden in the traditional value of thalers, while the south German gulden was 60 kreuzers, but only 4 ⁄ 7  thalers corresponded. As a result, the Austrian guilders migrated en masse at the rate of 70 kreuzers to southern Germany and Saxony, although according to the Vienna Treaty they were Austrian land coins that were not intended for circulation in the entire treaty area. In Austria, however, they almost completely disappeared from circulation. When the imperial currency was introduced in the German Empire in 1871, the thalers corresponded to a 3-mark piece, and the Austrian guilder to a 2-mark piece. Although the Austrian guilder was banned in Germany in 1874, the population had become so used to it that from 1876, contrary to the original plan, 2-mark pieces were issued as a replacement. (If you put the value of the euro at around 2 marks, the euro over the German 2-mark piece would be regarded as - for the time being - the last descendant of the Austrian guilder.)

In Austria, the guilder was minted until 1892, the year in which Austria also took monetary consequences from its departure from Germany and introduced the Krone zu 100 Hellern as the new currency . However, the gulden remained in circulation until 1900 at a value of 2 kroner.

Switzerland

In Switzerland, the company's own coinage was rather modest. The need for circulation money was therefore also covered by foreign coins, e.g. For example, South German guilders circulated in large numbers in north-eastern Switzerland in the 19th century. In Basel (since 1564) and Schaffhausen in the 16th and 17th centuries the Guldentaler were brought out to 60 cruisers; other gulden coins were minted in the prince-bishopric of Chur in the 16th and 17th centuries , in the 18th century in Freiburg the florins bons as 20 sous pieces until 1710, in Lucerne coin guilders until 1714; Sections up to 1796, in Schwyz Gulden in the Lucerne Münzgulden-Fuß in 1785 and 1797, and finally in the St. Gallen Abbey in the Convention base and in the Rhenish 24-Guldenfuß from 1776 to 1782. Furthermore, many cantons used the gulden as bill coin. Between 1803 and 1850 these were Graubünden , Glarus , Lucerne , Schwyz , Unterwalden , Zug , Zurich , Uri , St. Gallen , Appenzell , Schaffhausen , Thurgau and Neuchâtel . The subdivision and the exchange rates fluctuated considerably. B. 1 Reichsgulden = 1¼ Lucerne coin gulden = 2½ Sion gulden = 3 Freiburg florins bons = 3¾ Freiburg florins petits = 5 florins de Genève ; for the 19th century the following values ​​are given: 10 Zürcher Fl. = 10½ Glarner Fl. = 10⅔ Berner and Basler Fl. = 11 St. Gallen Fl, which corresponded to the southern German bill in 24 guilder feet = 12 Lucerne Fl. = 12½ Zuger Fl. = 13 Uri bottles = 13 3 ⁄ 5 Grisons bottles = 50½ Geneva florins. None of these guilders was minted.

Guilders in other countries

  • (Northern) Netherlands: There were two bill guilders, the one based on the Florijn at 28 stuivers and the one based on the Karolus guilder at 20 stuivers. The former was minted as a silver coin in Friesland from 1601 under the name Achtentwintig . In the course of the 17th century it was taken over by many Dutch provinces and cities - and also by East Frisia - but it was increasingly poorly applied, so that circulation was severely restricted in 1693; However , the good pieces that were still in circulation were only demonetized in 1846. From 1680 it was replaced by the guilder at 20 stuivers. This originally contained 9.65 g of silver and remained the main currency coin in the Netherlands until 2002. In 1816 it was divided into 100 cents and since 1967, due to the explosion in silver prices, it has only been minted in nickel.
  • Hungary: A long tradition with the medieval gold gulden (1325–1553), the convention gulden (Konvenciós forint 1751–1857), the forint of the revolutionary year 1848/49 (banknotes only), the association gulden (1857–1866) and the subsequent Austrian Hungarian guilder (1867–1892; Hungarian issues since 1868) continued in 1946 after hyperinflation with the forint , which is still valid today . This was issued in base metal from the start.
  • Poland: The Golden zloty was evaluated at its launch in 1528 with 30 Krongroschen. This value of 30 grosz = 1 złoty was retained as a bill of exchange, even when the penny rapidly lost its value in the course of the 16th and 17th centuries - and the value of the minted złoty rose accordingly. In the course of time, the zloty adjusted to a stable relationship to the imperial coins; The rule was: 1 zloty = 4 good groschen , 4 zloty = 1 guilder, 6 zloty = 1 Reichstaler, 8 zloty = 1 specialty thaler. From the middle of the 18th century these were minted in various denominations and coin feet, 1 złoty z. B. as 30 Polish groschen (1762,) as 4 (good) groschen (1766–1795) as ⅛ convention thaler (1766–1786) and without a value in 1771 After the end of the Polish kingdom in 1795, zlotys were minted: in the Prussian part 1796–1809 as 4 groschen, in the Duchy of Warsaw 1810–1814 as 1 ⁄ 6 gown ; in the Republic of Cracow in 1835; in Congress Poland 1817–1841; Value against Russian coins: 1 zloty = 15 kopecks = 3/20 rubles. Since 1924, the 100 groszen zloty has been the Polish currency unit again. The 1-zloty piece was only issued in silver until 1925, the larger denominations until 1939; Since then, there have only been special issues in silver, the circulation coins are made of copper-nickel.
  • Prussia: Prussia also had an invoice guilder at 30 groschen, but this was valued twice as high as the zloty in relation to the imperial coins, i.e. 1 Prussian gulden = 8 good groschen, 3 gulden = 1 Reichstaler. Accordingly, such a gulden was minted as 3 EIN R.TH COUR, i.e. ⅓ Reichstaler, during the Russian occupation in 1761.
  • Danzig : Up until 1793, the Prussian guilder was used here as well; It and its double were pronounced by the Polish kings in 1762/63 as 30 GR, 1760 as 2 PR. GULDEN and 1767 as 60 GR. After Prussia came to power in 1793, the guilder was devalued; From now on: 1 Danziger Gulden = 6 Good Groschen, 4 Gulden = 1 Reichstaler. After the First World War , Danzig left the German Reich again in 1920, but kept the German currency until 1923. After the hyperinflation in Germany, aguilder currency linkedto the British pound sterling was introducedon October 23, 1923: the 100 pfennig guilders and their multiples of up to 5 guilders were minted in silver until 1932 (1 guilder = 5 g 750 silver), then in Nickel.
  • Denmark: In 1516 Christian II (1513–1523) minted the first Sølvgylden, ie silver guilders, with a fine weight of 23.68 g. Later Sølvgylden can be seen with a fine weight of over 26 g as the forerunner of the Danish thaler, the Speciedaler or Rigsdaler , by which they were replaced from the reign of Frederik II (1559–1588).
Florin from 1849
  • Great Britain: The 2-shilling piece issued from 1849 onwards was named Florin and in the course of its history bore the values ​​ONE FLORIN (until 1936), ONE TENTH OF A POUND (until 1887) and TWO SHILLINGS (since 1893). This was the first British coin in the decimal system; The name Florin was chosen because its size and weight (rough weight 11.31 g, fine weight 10.462 g) roughly corresponded to the guilder coins that were in circulation on the mainland. The original silver content of 925 ‰ was reduced to 500 ‰ (= 5.66 g silver) in 1920, from 1947 the coin, still popularly known as florin , was issued in cupernickel, with the introduction of the decimal system in 1971 by the 10 new pence. Piece replaced and finally dismantled in 1993.
  • Ireland: Based on the British mint, the flóirín worth 2 shillings was issued from 1928 , which had the same rough weight as the British florin, but contained 8.48 g of silver with a fineness of 750 ‰. 1951-1971 it was minted in cupronickel, with the introduction of the decimal system in 1971 replaced by the 10-new pingin piece and finally demonetized in 1994.

value

Around 1700 a guilder had the purchasing power of around 40–50 euros in 2009  . In 1747, for example, in the county of Sayn-Altenkirchen, a master had to work two days for one guilder, a journeyman around 2½ and a day laborer three days of 13½ hours each on the manorial buildings.

A convention thaler or an Austrian guilder (florin) in 2009 corresponded to the following current monetary value:

  • Fl. convention coin 1819–1850, fl. 1869: 6.24 euros
  • fl. 1873, 1894: 5.93 euros
  • for further purchasing power parities see

literature

swell
  • David Thoman ab Hagelstein (Ed.): ACTA PUBLICA MONETARIA… , Augspurg 1692. (online at: books.google.de )
  • Johann Christoph Hirsch: The key to the German Empire's coin archive ... Nuremberg MDCCLXVI. (Online edition only accessible via title search)
  • Georg Caspar Chelius: Aphorisms from the subject of coin legislation and the coinage of the past and present. Frankfurt am Main 1817. (online at: books.google.de )
  • Christian Noback : Complete Handbook of Coin, Bank and Exchange Relationships. Rudolstadt 1833. (online at: books.google.de )
Coin catalogs & coin collections
  • N. Douglas Nicol: Standard Catalog of German Coins 1501-Present. 3. Edition. Krause Publications, Iola 2011, ISBN 978-1-4402-1402-8 .
  • Gerhard Schön: German coin catalog 18th century: 1700–1806. 4th edition. Battenberg Verlag, Munich 2008, ISBN 978-3-86646-025-6 .
  • Paul Arnold, Harald Küthmann, Dirk Steinhilber; edited by Dieter Faßbender: Large German coin catalog from 1800 to today. 26th edition. Battenberg Verlag, Munich 2010-2011, ISBN 978-3-86646-056-0 .
  • Günter Schön, Jean-François Cartier: World coin catalog 19th century. 15th edition. Battenberg Verlag, Munich 2004, ISBN 3-89441-561-4 .
  • Günter Schön, Gerhard Schön: World coin catalog 20th & 21st centuries: 1900–2010. 39th edition. Battenberg Verlag, Munich 2011, ISBN 978-3-86646-057-7 .
  • Money Museum online catalog
  • Lodewijk van Nevers: De Munten van Vlaanderen. In: Ons Meetjesland. 5th year, No. 2 1972. (online)
  • Herbert Appold Grueber: Handbook of the coins of Great Britain and Ireland in the British Museum. London 1899. (Reprint: Adamant Media Corporation, 2002, ISBN 1-4021-1090-1 ) (online excerpt from: books.google.it )
  • The Fitzwilliam Museum online catalog
  • Nos Rois et leurs Monnaies d'or et d'argent. Online catalog
  • Numismática española online catalog
  • Niels Jørgen Jensens, Mogens Skjoldagers: Dansk Mønt. Online catalog
Lexicons
Representations
  • William R. Day, Jr: Antiquity, Rome, and Florence: coinage and transmissions across time and space. In: Claudia Bolgia, Rosamund McKitterick, John Osborne (Eds.): Rome Across Time and Space… Cambridge University Press, 2011, ISBN 978-0-521-19217-0 . (online excerpt from: books.google.de )
  • Willy Fuchs: From the coin history of the city of Frankfurt am Main. In: Monetary History News. Issue 23, May 1971, pp. 130-136. (Online edition) (PDF; 1.5 MB)
  • Hermann Kellenbenz : Coins and currencies in the Middle Ages with special consideration of Germany. In: Great Historical World Atlas. Second part: Middle Ages, explanations. Pp. 344-347.
  • Herbert Rittmann: German monetary history 1484-1914 (= monetary history ). Munich 1975.
  • Herbert Rittmann: German coin and money history of the modern era up to 1914 (= archive for postal history, issue 1). Frankfurt am Main 1976.
  • Michael Rothmann: The Frankfurt trade fairs in the Middle Ages. Franz Steiner Verlag, Stuttgart 1998, ISBN 3-515-06883-X . (online excerpt from: books.google.de )
  • Konrad Schneider: Investigations into the circulation of money in the Lower Main and Middle Rhine area from the end of the 15th century to the time of the Imperial Coin Regulations (1st part). In: Archive for Hessian History and Archeology. New episode 57. Volume 1999. (Online edition) (PDF; 3.7 MB)
  • Arthur Suhle: Cultural history of the coins. Battenberg Verlag, Munich 1969.
  • Wolfgang Trapp , Torsten Fried: Handbook of coinage. 2nd Edition. Reclam Verlag, Stuttgart 2006, ISBN 3-15-010617-6 .
  • Moneda española (online edition)
  • Joachim Weschke: The beginnings of the German Reich gold coinage in the 14th century. In: Berlin Numismatic Journal. Vol. 2 (1956), pp. 190-196. (Online edition) (PDF; 38 kB)

Web links

Commons : Gulden  - Collection of images, videos and audio files
Wikisource: Announcement regarding the suspension of the two-guilders of southern German currency. July 2, 1874.  - Sources and full texts

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Cf. sacra-moneta: Florin: "le peuple donnait généralement le nom de florin à toutes les monnaies d'or".
  2. ↑ In southern Italy and on the Iberian Peninsula, gold coins based on the Islamic model had existed to a small extent as early as the 12th century.
  3. ↑ Not “pounds of weight”, but an arithmetic unit for 20 solidi or shillings of 12 denarii or pfennigs each.
  4. ↑ Kellenbenz, p. 346.
  5. ↑ This was common practice well into the 19th century: you simply minted your own motto. As long as this was done in the given currency, it did not even qualify as counterfeiting. In the years 1794–1810, Brandenburg-Prussia minted convention thalers (Schön: German coin catalog 18th century: 1700–1806. 2008, p. A162), Albertustaler (Schön: German coin catalog 18th century: 1700–1806. 2008, p . 162) and Leipzig ⅔ thalers (Arnold et al.: Großer Deutscher Münzkatalog from 1800 to today. 2010/11, p. 19) as trading coins .
  6. ↑ This is e.g. B. illustrated in Der Schlüßel zu des Teutschen Reichs Münz-Archiv , where it says under the year 1354: "In this year Arch-Bishop Gerlach zu Maynz had ducats struck, with names, the small florins", ie this florin was still fully developed and therefore referred to as a ducat. The designation of small guilders is explained by the custom that guilders were often used simply to mean gold coins ; large guilders were then the heavier French Écus or English nobles .
  7. ↑ See Schrötter: Goldgulden ; Money Museum: Czech Republic
  8. ↑ See Acta publica monetaria, p. 301.
  9. ↑ Perhaps Florens were minted in Speyer as early as 1323/24; see. Weschke, p. 190.
  10. ↑ Coin abbreviations (found in GenWiki on November 28, 2012); see. Markus Wenninger: You don't need Jews anymore. 1981, ISBN 3-205-07152-2 , list of abbreviations: "fl (rh) = (florenus) = Gulden (Rhenish)".
  11. ↑ Minting inferior coins might be profitable in the short term, but in the long term it posed serious economic problems.
  12. ↑ See Kahnt: Dukat.
  13. ↑ See Rittmann, Geldgeschichte, pp. 823–825.
  14. ↑ In purely mathematical terms, around 270 ducats turned into around 350 Rhenish guilders.
  15. ↑ Fine, 36 & 37; Inscription: MZ: GL
  16. ^ Money Museum: Flanders
  17. ↑ See Rittmann, Geldgeschichte, pp. 71–80.
  18. ↑ See Money Museum: Belgium
  19. ↑ Gulden rarely have dates, so dates can usually only be given on the basis of the formative regent.
  20. ↑ For example Money Museum or The Fitzwilliam Museum
  21. ↑ See Weschke, p. 190 and Nos Rois et leurs Monnaies d'or et d'argent .
  22. ^ So Suhle, p. 115.
  23. ↑ Indicated as florin both in Kahnt, Münzlexikon and in the Handbook of the coins of Great Britain and Ireland in the British Museum . If anything, the half-piece, the leopard, at 3.46 g , would be called a florin.
  24. ↑ See enciclopedia.cat
  25. ↑ See Kroha: Ungaro
  26. ↑ See Schrötter: Goldgulden
  27. ↑ See Dansk Mønt
  28. ↑ See Suhle, p. 125.
  29. ↑ See Kahnt: Ungersk Gyllen
  30. ↑ Kellner, p. 10.
  31. ↑ Silver coins minted under the name Fiorino d'argento or just Fiorino in Italy have nothing to do with the guilder, but are groschen coins.
  32. ↑ Up until the 19th century, the value of a coin was determined almost exclusively by its material value, i.e. H. in the case of silver coins only determined by the weight of the silver contained in them (fine weight).
  33. ↑ So the contemporary expression for bill coin .
  34. ↑ See Kahnt: Gulden
  35. ^ Max Döllner : History of the development of the city of Neustadt an der Aisch until 1933. Ph. CW Schmidt, Neustadt ad Aisch 1950, pp. 498 and 506.
  36. ^ Nicol: Standard Catalog of German Coins. 2011, p. 342.
  37. ^ Nicol: Standard Catalog of German Coins. 2011, p. 347.
  38. ↑ See Schrötter: Goldgulden
  39. ^ Nicol: Standard Catalog of German Coins. 2011, pp. 12-13.
  40. ↑ That means, from a fine Cologne mark, i.e. a weight mark of pure silver, 10 14 ⁄ 67 guilders were struck.
  41. ↑ In many copies that still exist today, this value was filed away with the fraudulent intention of issuing the Reichsgulden as Reichstaler.
  42. ↑ This was therefore also declared an imperial coin in 1566.
  43. ^ Nicol: Standard Catalog of German Coins. 2011, p. 87.
  44. ^ Nicol: Standard Catalog of German Coins. 2011, p. 100.
  45. ^ Nicol: Standard Catalog of German Coins. 2011, p. 6.
  46. ↑ Becher, Siegfried: Das Österreichische Münzwesen from 1524 to 1838, Volume 1, 1st Department, Vienna 1838, pp. 79f.
  47. ↑ The Konventionstaler was a speciedaler , which had a value of 120 cruisers, therefore its Gulden was half dollars. The bill thaler was only worth 90 kreuzers, the gulden of which was equivalent to a two-thirds thaler.
  48. ↑ The only gulden in the Prussian or Graumann coinage from 1750 was not minted for Brandenburg itself, but for the Hohenzollern principalities of Ansbach and Bayreuth. It is a coin with the number XXI EINE FEINE MARK with a value of ⅔ Prussian thalers. The Prussian ⅔ thalers from 1796 to 1810 were used in the Leipzig base.
  49. ^ Nicol: Standard Catalog of German Coins. 2011, pp. 48-49.
  50. ^ Nicol: Standard Catalog of German Coins. 2011, pp. 51–54.
  51. ^ Nicol: Standard Catalog of German Coins. 2011, pp. 55, 57-59.
  52. ^ Nicol: Standard Catalog of German Coins. 2011, pp. 61–63.
  53. ^ Schön: German coin catalog 18th century: 1700–1806. 2008, p. 54.
  54. ^ Schön: German coin catalog 18th century: 1700–1806. 2008, p. 102.
  55. ^ Arnold et al.: Large German coin catalog from 1800 to today. 2010/11, p. 82.
  56. ^ Arnold et al.: Large German coin catalog from 1800 to today. 2010/11, p. 66.
  57. ^ Arnold et al.: Large German coin catalog from 1800 to today. 2010/11, p. 39.
  58. ^ Arnold et al.: Large German coin catalog from 1800 to today. 2010/11, p. 74.
  59. ↑ Well, Cartier: Weltmünzkatalog 19th century. 2004, p. 110.
  60. ↑ See Gresham's Law, "Bad money drives out good."
  61. ↑ The term Rheinischer Gulden referred to a large number of different coins and bill coins in the course of the history of coins, e.g. B. the Rhenish gold guilder, the Cologne bill guilder from 1418, the Trier bill guilder from 1580 and the Rhenish silver guilder mentioned here.
  62. ↑ 1 bottle Rhine. = 5 ⁄ 6 bottles CM → 20 bottles CM = 5 ⁄ 6 × 24 bottles Rhine.
  63. ↑ See Rittmann, Neuzeit, p. 124.
  64. ↑ Cf. Rittmann, Geldgeschichte, p. 473: "[A] in a precisely known coin base for the Kronentaler [there] no longer existed."
  65. ↑ If you disregard the outsiders mentioned above. The half crown thalers, with a weight of approx. 12.8 g, roughly corresponded to the Leipzig guilder and were also regarded as a kind of guilder, although they had a mathematical value of 81 kreuzers if they weren't too worn out; see. Rittmann, Geldgeschichte, p. 536.
  66. ^ According to Arnold u. a .: Large German coin catalog from 1800 to today. 2010/11, p. 186. A contemporary estimate puts it at 24 4 ⁄ 9 ; see. Rittmann, Geldgeschichte, p. 474.
  67. ↑ The value of a guldens was therefore around 60 ⁄ 162 Kronentaler.
  68. ↑ It was not until 1857 that it was possible to bring about the adoption of the Prussian thaler; see. Rittmann, Geldgeschichte, p. 543.
  69. ↑ Liechtenstein formed a customs and tax area with the Austrian Vorarlberg from 1852 to 1919.
  70. ↑ The Zollpfund was the pound of the German Customs Union, in contrast to the different regional and local pounds.
  71. ↑ Bavaria z. B. minted over 22 million club thalers and a little over three million guilders from 1857.
  72. ↑ Allegedly 150 million pieces; see. Rittmann, Geldgeschichte, p. 837.
  73. ↑ Only the Vereinstaler and the double Vereinstaler were legal tender in all three areas.
  74. ↑ See Rittmann, Geldgeschichte, pp. 775 and 833 ff.
  75. ^ Schön: German coin catalog 18th century: 1700–1806. 2008, p. 4.
  76. ^ Schön: German coin catalog 18th century: 1700–1806. 2008, p. 6.
  77. ^ Schön: German coin catalog 18th century: 1700–1806. 2008, pp. 15, 21.
  78. ↑ List according to Schön, Cartier: World coin catalog 19th century. 2004.
  79. ↑ Calculated from Schön: German coin catalog 18th century: 1700–1806. 2008, p. 22.
  80. ↑ So Noback, pp 385-414, Switzerland . Note: Many of the equivalents given in the literature sometimes differ significantly from one another; Noback also gives different values.
  81. ↑ Schön: German coin catalog 18th century: 1700–1806 , 2008, p. 31
  82. ^ Schön: German coin catalog 18th century: 1700–1806 , 2008, pp. 46, 78, 85
  83. ^ Schön: German coin catalog 18th century: 1700–1806 , 2008, p. 46
  84. ↑ Schön: German coin catalog 18th century: 1700–1806 , 2008, p. 68
  85. ↑ 1766–1786, 1, 2, 4 and 8 złoty pieces were used in the convention base.
  86. ↑ Schön: German coin catalog 18th century: 1700–1806 , 2008, p. 97
  87. ↑ Well, Cartier: Weltmünzkatalog 19th century. 2004, p. 5.
  88. ↑ Schön, Cartier: World Coin Catalog 19th Century , 2004, p. 5
  89. ↑ Schön, Cartier: World Coin Catalog 19th Century , 2004, pp. 6, 18, 27, 36
  90. ↑ Not the state of Brandenburg-Prussia, but the later East Prussia , in which the newly reformed Brandenburg-Prussian coin system was only introduced in 1821.
  91. ^ Schön: German coin catalog 18th century: 1700–1806. 2008, p. 42.
  92. ^ Schön: German coin catalog 18th century: 1700–1806. 2008, p. 9.
  93. ^ Schön: German coin catalog 18th century: 1700–1806. 2008, p. 10.
  94. ^ Schön: German coin catalog 18th century: 1700–1806. 2008, p. 14.
  95. ↑ See Dansk Mønt
  96. ↑ The original introduction for 2012 has been suspended.
  97. ↑ Data from: Schön, Schön: World Coin Catalog 20th & 21st Century: 1900–2010. 2011. The numbers after the slash refer to the currency changeover.
  98. ^ First Austrian Spar-Casse (Ed.): Vienna, am Graben 21. 150 years of the First Austrian Spar-Casse, 150 years of Austrian history, Vienna 1969.
  99. ↑ Consumer price index 1966
  100. ↑ Josef Holzapfel (2010): "In view of the different cost ratios, this is only a rough approximation" - no sources / evidence
This version was added to the list of articles worth reading on September 22, 2005 .