W. C a r e w H a z l i t t Coinage of the European Continent

24 The Coins of Europe
series, and the continuation of the very striking deniers and
double tournois in copper, which had been commenced under
Henry III., and remained in use till
they were replaced by
the Hard and the sol.
They are, which seems curious, far
more carefully struck than some of the higher denominations.
The operations of the French mints during the revolutionary
era and under the First Republic deserve attentive
consideration, and included several patterns, novel terminology,
countermarked pieces, and hybrid productions between
the assignat and the current coin. It was then that the
earliest centime appeared, and the modern type of the franc ;
but the Republic limited itself to a piece of 5 francs, just as
it issued 6 livres in silver and 24 livres in gold, yet no unit.
A few words on the coinage of Napoleon
I. will be all
that the circumstances render necessary. The most noteworthy
specimens connected with Napoleon himself are the
presumed patterns for a sol or a piece of 5 centimes struck
by Gengembre in 1802, with the earliest portrait of the First
Consul, the loo francs, and the silver type of 1807 (tte de
the circula-
negre}> which does not seem to have gone beyond
tion of the ^ franc. The bust of the emperor somewhat
resembles in style that on his Italian currency.
The feudal money, which was current in parts
of France
down to comparatively modern times, comprises many productions
of artistic merit and historical importance, and is a
series of vast extent. It divides itself, in common with that
of Germany and the Low Countries, into two principal
sections, Lay and Ecclesiastical, of which the latter offers to
view the coinage of archbishops, bishops, abbots, and priors,
and the former exhibits a limited number of grand fiefs of
the Crown, such as Brittany, Normandy, and Burgundy,
with a long roll of names of minor dependencies, each
in many respects self-governing and jealous of interference
or control. With such a political fabric the English found
it an easy task to deal when the war of succession between
Edward III. and the Valois dynasty commenced about 1340.
The origin of the SPANISH coinage
is to be found in the
Gothic conquest and occupation of Spain, Portugal, and a