Thedenier (/dəˈnɪər/;Latin:denarius,Italian:denaro,Greek:δηνάριο,romanized: dinario;abbr. d.) orpenny was a medievalcoin which takes its name from theFrankish coin first issued in the late seventh century;[1] in English it is sometimes referred to as a silver penny. Its appearance represents the end of gold coinage, which, at the start of Frankish rule, had either been Roman (Byzantine) or "pseudo-imperial" (minted by the Franks in imitation of Byzantine coinage). Silver would be the basis for Frankish coinage from then on. Thedenier was minted in France, Cyprus and parts of the Italian peninsula for the whole of the Middle Ages, in states such as thepatriarchate of Aquileia, theKingdom of Sicily, theRepublic of Genoa, theRepublic of Siena,Kingdom of Cyprus, and thecrusader stateKingdom of Jerusalem, among others.[2][3]
Around 755, amid theCarolingian Reforms,Pepin the Short introduced a newcurrency system which was eventually adjusted so that 12 pence (Latin:denarii;French:deniers) equaled oneshilling (solidi;sols orsous) and 20 shillings equaled onepound (libra,librae, orlirae;livres).[4] Later, three deniers equaled oneliard. Only the denier was an actual coin; the rest weremoney of account. This system and the denier itself served as the model for many of Europe's currencies, includingsterling, theItalian lira, theSpanish dinero and thePortuguese dinheiro.
InAncien Régime France, the denier was used as a notional measure ofinterest rates on loans. Thus, a rate of 4% (1/25) would be expressed as "denier 25"; a rate of 5% (1/20) as "denier 20"; and so forth.[5]
