Monetary systems in Champlain’s era were in some ways more complex than those of our own time. Most national economies had two sets of monetary units: money of account, and money of exchange. Money of account did not commonly exist in the form of hard coin. In early modern England, for example, pounds sterling did not exist as actual coins. They were accounting terms, used to reckon values in sterling accounts. English money of exchange included actual golden guineas, silver shillings, copper pennies and other coins. In our own time, ironically, pounds sterling (20 shillings) are now a money of exchange, and guineas (21 shillings) have become a pretentious money of account, used for calculating the cost of Rolls Royce automobiles, tickets to Oxford Commemoration Balls, and bills from Harley Street physicians. They were actually paid in pounds.1
The French monetary system was similar, but not the same. In 1602, French money of account was fixed thus:
Twelve deniers equaled one sou.
Twenty sous equaled one livre tournois.
Three livres tournois (comparable to English pounds) equalled one écu.
Deniers were roughly comparable to English pennies (twelve to a shilling); sous to English shillings (twenty to a pound), livres to English pounds, and écus to three English pounds. The value of these monetary units varied by region. For example, one livre parisis equaled twenty-five sous. But livres tournois (twenty sous) were increasingly standard in Champlain’s world. French money of exchange (hard coins that actually circulated) included billon, copper, silver, and later gold, coins. Billon was a base alloy of tin, copper and silver, meant to resemble silver. Denominations of hard coin circulating in New France included:
|
billon |
douzain = 12 deniers |
|
copper |
double tournois = 2 deniers (4 deniers in New France) |
|
silver |
mousquetaire = 20 deniers |
|
gold |
demi-Louis d’or = approximately 3 écus |
The coins most commonly found at archaeological sites in Quebec have been the copper double tournois, the copper douzain, the billon douzain, the copper liard, and the silver quatre sols.
What were these monetary units worth in the values of our own time? This question is impossible to answer in any meaningful way by a single estimate, because the value of many commodities changed in different ways, and monetary units have fluctuated in relation to one another. Market-basket price-indicator series have been constructed with limited success. A better answer might be given in terms of wages. On the voyage that founded Quebec in 1608, “Gentlemen” were paid 500 livres tournois for two years. Skilled locksmiths received 120 livres tournois for two years’ service. Gardener Martin Beguin was paid 90 livres tournois for the same two-year period, and laborers Clément Morel and Guillaume Morel got 75 livres tournois. All these salaries were for two years’ service in addition to food and lodging.2