The Silent Witness: Charles VI’s Écu Amid France’s Collapse > 자유게시판

In the late 14th and アンティークコイン early 15th centuries

France endured the relentless strain of the Hundred Years’ War and fracturing court factions,

the écu of Charles VI emerged as an unspoken testament to national endurance amid collapse.

The monarch later remembered as Charles the Mad

became king in infancy and presided over an era defined by chaos and crisis.

Periods of profound psychological collapse rendered the crown powerless, fueling bitter civil war between rival noble houses.

Even as France burned from within and without,

authorities kept turning out the écu,

a monetary symbol rooted in the legacy of Louis IX.

This silver coin featured the king, regal and upright, sheltered by a canopy, clutching both the royal scepter and the sacred fleur de lys,

emblems of God-given sovereignty and monarchical power.

The reverse side displayed a radiant cross, each arm tipped with fleurs de lys, encircled by the Latin legend: "Carolus Dei gratia Francorum rex".

This imagery was carefully crafted, refined, and intended to convey order and permanence despite the kingdom’s unraveling.

As the conflict stretched into decades, the écu’s worth became unstable,

economic strain, deliberate reduction of precious metal content, and English occupation of key provinces led to gradual devaluation.

Yet the image of the king remained unchanged, a constant in a world of shifting loyalties and broken promises.

Merchants, peasants, and soldiers alike handled these coins,

each piece bearing the silent legacy of a monarch’s collapse and a people’s perseverance.

When Charles VI passed away in 1422, the kingdom lay in shards.

Through the Treaty of Troyes, France’s throne was legally transferred from Charles VI’s son to the English monarch Henry V.

As Henry V assumed the French crown, the people still trusted and traded with Charles VI’s coin.

its image of the French king still familiar to the people who had lived under his rule.

Modern numismatists treasure the few remaining écus of Charles VI as rare and invaluable artifacts.

Yet their true significance lies beyond coinage—they are relics of a society clinging to ritual and image amid collapse.

This is not a tale of victory, but of quiet endurance.

the quiet dignity of a people who kept using the currency of their king, even when he could no longer rule them