Shilling

Schilling ( schilling , scilling , scylling , shilling , skilling ) - the common name of a number of West European coins , as well as the currency of a number of countries of the XX century. From here come the old Russian names of the coins “ shelyag ” and “vial”.

The Germanized name of the solid . At first it was only a monetary unit, equated to 12 denarii . Like a coin, shilling was minted in Germany from the 14th century , in Denmark and the Netherlands from the 15th , and in England from the 16th century .

The 1 shilling coin minted in Germany in the 14th century had a weight of 1.39 g of silver . In Württemberg, shilling was discontinued after the Thirty Years War , in Würzburg in 1803 , in Lübeck in 1789 , in Hamburg in 1855 (1/48 thaler, from 1725 with a denomination of “shilling”). In the XVII - XIX centuries multiple shillings were minted: 32, 16, 12, 8 and 4 shillings.

In 1559 - 1810 the Brandenburg-Prussian coins were minted in 2 and 1/2 shillings from base silver, then billions and from 1790 - from copper .

In England, King Henry VII first minted a shilling (then this coin was called a dough ) in 1502 . The coin got its final name in the reign of Edward VI .

The shilling remained in use in England until 1971 (as a bargaining chip equal to 1/20 pound or 12 pence ). Coins were also minted in 2 shillings: originally silver, since 1947 - copper-nickel (for some time the coin in 2 shillings was called florin ).

Since the 20th century, shilling has been the monetary unit of a number of countries: Austria (before the introduction of the euro in 2002 ), as well as British East Africa (since 1921 ) and later proclaimed the independence of Kenya , Somalia , Somaliland , Tanzania and Uganda .