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Maille Blanche - PHILIPPE IV LE BEL

Issuer Royal Mint of France
Year 1296-1314
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Currency Livre tournois (987-1795)
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Reverse description Representation of the Tournois castle (chateau tournois) at centre, depicted as a stylised fortified tower surmounted by a cross, set within a beaded inner circle. The surrounding field features an exterior border of twelve fleurs-de-lis arranged symmetrically, a characteristic decorative element of the Capetian tournois coinage type. The overall composition closely follows the established iconography of the denier tournois, adapted here for the maille denomination. Legend in Gothic majuscule surrounds the design.
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Reverse lettering TVRONVS CIVIS
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Additional information

Philippe IV's aggressive war financing — particularly the ruinous campaigns against Flanders after 1297 — drove repeated debasements of the French coinage, making a billon-free silver issue like this one a relative rarity within his own monetary program. The maille blanche sits at the cleaner end of a reign otherwise notorious for currency manipulation, including the wholesale expulsion of Jewish and Templar creditors when debasement alone proved insufficient to close the fiscal gap.

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