This specific
Gulden was based on the
Gulden or
florin used in the
Holy Roman Empire during the
Late Middle Ages and
Early Modern period. The
Gulden first emerged as a common currency of the
Holy Roman Empire after the 1524
Reichsmünzordnung in the form of the
Guldengroschen. In the succeeding centuries the
Gulden was then defined as a fraction of the
Reichsthaler specie or silver coin. As of 1690 the
Gulden used in Southern Germany and the
Austrian Empire adhered to the Leipzig standard, with the
Gulden worth a
Cologne Mark of fine silver or the
Reichsthaler specie coin, or 12.992 g per
Gulden. Below is a history (in terms of grams of silver) of the standards of the South German Gulden from 1690 until the gold standard was introduced in 1873. A comparison with the higher-valued
Austro-Hungarian gulden is also included. The course of value of the
Gulden before 1618 is found under
Reichsthaler. The
Gulden departed from this standard in the 1730s when the gold-silver price ratio dropped from 15 to 14.5, prompting many states to reissue their
Gulden in cheaper gold. The South German
Gulden then departed from the Austro-Hungarian gulden after it valued the
Carolin d'or of 7.51 g fine gold at 11 Gulden in Southern Germany versus 9 Gulden in Austria. Each South German gulden was therefore worth = 0.6827 g fine gold or = 9.9 g fine silver. The South German states therefore could not comply with the Austrian currency convention of 1754 which set the Austro-Hungarian gulden at
Conventionsthaler, or 11.6928 g fine silver. They instead adopted a lower-valued
South German Gulden worth
Cologne Mark of fine silver, or
Conventionsthaler, or 9.744 g silver per gulden. Currency was issued only up to 3 and 6
kreutzer Landmünze (or local coins, of and
Gulden), with larger Austrian coins accepted at a 20% higher value in Southern Germany. This
Conventionsthaler, containing 23.3856 g fine silver and valued at 2.4
Gulden (or 9.744 g per
Gulden), was superseded between 1807 and 1837 by the minting of
Kronenthaler coins containing 25.71 g fine silver but valued at 2.7 gulden (or only 9.524 g per
Gulden), in a competitive currency depreciation between the various South German states. The French écu of 26.67 g fine silver was also accepted at 2.8 gulden. The situation above was only resolved by the
Munich Coin Treaty of 1837 which redefined the Gulden at
Cologne mark or 9.545 g of silver. This allowed for an exchange rate of Gulden to 1
Prussian Thaler. In addition to the 3 and 6 kreutzer and smaller pieces, new coins were introduced in denominations of , 1 and 2 Gulden, as well as the Vereinsmünze (Union Coin) worth South German gulden or 2
Prussian thalers. In 1857 the
Vienna Monetary Treaty introduced a second Vereinsmünze in the form of the
Vereinsthaler, with fractionally less silver than the Prussian Thaler, but still valued at Gulden. While the South German gulden coin was redenominated as 2 Vereinsthaler, no changes were made to the other denominations. Following the
Unification of Germany in 1871, the newly formed
German Empire adopted the
Goldmark in 1873 as it began to standardise to a single currency within its borders, and chose to decimalise. One Mark, (written as
1ℳ ), was subdivided into one-hundred Pfennig (written as
100₰ ), with the mark having an exchange equal to 35 kreutzer, or gulden, as the South German Gulden began to be withdrawn over the next three years. From 1 January 1876 the Gulden and the Kreuzer, along with all other forms of currency which existed previously in what was now the German Empire, were abolished. (The decimal Goldmark became the only legal tender, until 4 August 1914 when the link between the Mark and gold was abandoned with the outbreak of World War I, and replaced by the
Papiermark). == References ==