Franc à Pied - Raymond V

Raymond V ruled Orange from 1340 until his death in 1393, presiding over a principality that jealously guarded its nominal independence while hemmed in by the expanding Valois crown and the Avignon papacy. The franc à pied coinage of Orange directly imitated the royal French franc à pied introduced by Jean II in 1360 — itself a coin literally named for the king's ransom paid after his capture at Poitiers. Orange's right to mint gold was a privilege fiercely maintained and occasionally contested; the principality sat as an enclave within Provence, and its monetary issues served as much as political declarations as practical currency.

Surviving examples are rare. Orange's gold output was modest at the best of times, and the principality passed to the House of Châlon-Orange shortly after Raymond's death, disrupting any continuity of production.