Thepenning or penny was the Swedish variant of theNorwegian penning that was minted from about 1150 until 1548, and which remained as a unit of account in Sweden until 1777. Originally, penning was first minted inNorway by theNorwegian kingOlaf Tryggvason from the year 995, and was later adapted in bothSweden andDenmark as a coin system.

The penning was minted in imitation of thepennies,pfennig anddeniers issued elsewhere in Europe. However, although based on these coins, the accounting system was distinct, with different systems operating in different regions. All used theöre (derived from theLatinaureus) which was worth 1/8 of amark or 3örtugar. However, inSvealand, one öre was worth 24 penningar, but inGötaland it was worth 48 penningar and 36 in roughly theDiocese of Linköping and onGotland. Around 1300, by royal command, the Svealand standard became the national standard, except onGotland. The örtug was first minted around 1370 and the öre was issued as a coin from 1522. In 1524, however, the real örtug was replaced in minted form with a new one, also known ashalvöre (half öre), which had a little higher value (whereas one mark was divided into 24 örtugar, it was divided into 16 halvöre), but the old örtug remained as a counting unit until 1777.

The conversion between the different units of currency in use at that time can be summarized as:

In 1604, the daler was renamed theriksdaler. There followed a period of very complicated currency, during which both copper and silver versions of the different denominations circulated and the riksdaler rose in value relative to the other units. In 1777, the riksdaler became the basis of a new currency system and the penning ceased to exist.

The name lives on in theNorwegian language andSwedish language in the contracted form of the plural,pengar/penger, which means money.

• Norwegian penning, its former Norwegian interpretation
• penny, its British equivalent
• denier, its former French equivalent
• pfennig, its former German equivalent

• The History of the Swedish Monetary System

This article about a unit of currency is astub. You can help Wikipedia byadding missing information.

• v
• t
• e

• Currencies of Europe
• Modern obsolete currencies
• Currencies of Sweden
• Currency stubs

• All stub articles