1290 - 1360

Monetary manipulations, in particular to finance royal spending

In France, in par­ticular during the reign of King Philip IV the Fair (1285−1314).

In France, in order to finance royal spending but also to facil­itate trade, King Philip IV the Fair (who reigned from 1285 to 1314) con­ducted a series of cur­rency manip­u­la­tions by cre­ating new cur­rencies and by reducing their metal content without changing their face value. These manip­u­la­tions con­tinued throughout the first half of the 14th century, to finance mil­itary spending brought about by the Hundred Years’ War.