Monetary system of the “Ancient régime” (Third to eighteenth centuries)

Abstract

The monetary system of the “Ancient Régime” can designate the period in monetary history when the unit of account was not physically represented by a coin. It can mean the long period from the first coins to the appearance of marks of value, that is, the period ending more or less with the nineteenth century. This chapter analyzes the evolution of the relation between the unit of account and currencies from the Roman empire to the end of the system. It overviews the main periods and empires, and also considers the technical evolutions which allowed the transformation of the monetary system.