1262

Assertion of royal power over monetary creation

Order of Chartres signed by Louis IX (Saint-​​Louis). In France, with the Order of Chartres, the King acquired a monopoly on mon­etary cre­ation: the royal cur­rency was forced legal tender across the country and coun­ter­feiting was pro­hibited. This monopoly enabled the gov­erning author­ities to guar­antee the quality of the pre­cious metals present in the gold coins (rein­tro­duced by Louis IX) and silver coins, and therefore to gen­erate the con­fidence needed for the cur­rency to be accepted by all.