CHAPTER 28: King of the French, For a While
= Late 18th Century =July 14, 1789. The Bastille, the medieval fortress used as a prison in Paris, is stormed by an angry crowd of Parisians. They want the arms and gunpowder that has been transferred there as a precaution, following earlier outbreaks of unrest in the city. The commandant of the Bastille initially resists but eventually surrenders. He is brutally killed by the mob and the Bastille is taken. The French Revolution has begun.
The storming of the Bastille, July 14, 1789.
Source: Painting by Jean-Baptiste Lallemand, ca 1790. parismuseescollections.paris.fr. Public domain under Creative Commons Zero license.
Two bad harvests in a row followed by food shortage and price rises, on top of that increased taxes (with the cost for military support to the American colonists against Britain being one reason) - those were some of the factors that triggered the outbreak of the revolution. I shall not go into the details of the events, there is plenty of information for those who want to know. Let me just point out that the revolution was not - to begin with - anti-monarchist. Louis XVI remained king, but no longer an absolute ruler, he was forced to settle for being a constitutional monarch, who shared his power with a parliament elected by the people. One effect of that was that he no longer was allowed to call himself "King of France", he was from now on "King of the French". A technicality, it may seem, but "King of France" was associated with having been placed on the throne by God, as an unquestionable fact. "King of the French" was something you were only as long as "the French", the people, agreed to it. We can see the shift on this constitutional liard:
3 deniers tournois, France 1792, Louis XVI, Lyon. Copper. 3.11 g, 21.5 mm. Dup 1725.
Obverse: LOUIS XVI ROI DES FRANCOIS (Louis XVI King of the French). Louis XVI, draped. 'D' right of year, mintmark for Lyon. Eagle head left of year, mintmark for master engraver Jean Humbert Bernavon. Point below 'U' in 'LOUIS' indicates minting during 2nd half of the year.
Reverse: LA NATION LA LOI LE ROI // L'AN 4 DE LA LIBERTe (The Nation, The Law, The King // Year 4 of Freedom). Fasces with Phrygian cap, surrounded by oak leaves.
The king has aged, clearly. But the big differences are found on the reverse. The inscription clarifies the new priorities: First comes the nation, then the law,
then the king. The fasces has a twofold symbolism here. Firstly, it is the traditional symbol for the law, and the power to uphold the law. The Phrygian cap, the likewise traditional symbol for freedom, placed on top of the fasces shows that the law is under the control of the liberated people. Secondly, the fasces with its bundle of rods symbolizes the strength that comes from unity (of the people).
"Year 4 of Freedom" refers to the number of years since the revolution, with 1789 being year 1 of freedom. (This is different from the
Revolutionary or
Republican calendar, which was introduced in 1793 and by which "Year 1 of the
Republic" started Sept 22, 1792. Yes, it is messy.)
One more thing. Now, for the first time, the denomination of a liard is stated in deniers. "3 D" on the reverse stands, of course, for
3 deniers. This is in line with doing away with the habit of the old regime to not mark larger coins with their value - silver coins were called
ecu, ½ ecu, and so on, gold coins came as
louis d'or, ½ louis d'or and
double louis d'or, but how much an
ecu and a
louis d'or were worth, in
livres and
sous, was up to the king to decide, and change as he saw fit. The (few) silver and gold coins minted by the revolutionary government had the value in livres clearly stated on them. Consequently, the smaller denominations, in copper, should have too.
Sept 21, 1792, the National Convention (the parliament) abolished monarchy and declared the Republic, effective the next day. Louis XVI became "citizen Capet", was accused of conspiracy and guillotined January 21, 1793. The absolute monarchy was replaced by a reign of terror and the traces of the
ancien regime were washed away, in blood. Soon enough the First Republic would itself be swept away, by a man rising through its military ranks. But the story of Napoleon Bonaparte, and the rest of French history, is outside the scope of this thread.
Epilogue to the French LiardWe are not quite done with the liards yet, but this is the last we will see of French liards. The "3 D" liard was minted only during 1792 and it was the last of its kind. In 1795, the old livre-sol-denier system was replaced by the
franc, divided into 100
centimes. But copper was scarce, and France had other priorities than to mint small change, so the old copper coins remained valid. Not until 1856 were old liards demonetized. Up until then, they could be used at a value of 2 centimes.
The Very Last Liards. . . are yet to come. Not so much later, but the Austrian Netherlands held out until 1794. In the next Chapter, it is time to look at those.
Before doing that, let's take another break, to give a day or two to breath and search out those liards I am sure you have out there and show!
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Posted 05/29/2024 6:45 pm
