During the final decades of the 1300s and the opening years of the 1400s

France was torn apart by war abroad and civil strife at home,

a single silver piece silently bore witness to a kingdom’s anguish and endurance—the écu minted under Charles VI.

The monarch later remembered as Charles the Mad

inherited the throne as a child and ruled during one of the most turbulent periods in French history.

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

Amid relentless internal conflict and relentless English offensives,

the king’s mint persisted in striking the écu,

a tradition dating back to the reign of Saint Louis.

Charles VI’s écu was minted in high-purity silver, depicting the monarch upright under a royal canopy, grasping a scepter and the fleur de lys,

signs of sacred kingship and legitimate rule.

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 war dragged on, the value of the écu fluctuated,

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.

Traders, farmers, and foot soldiers passed these coins from hand to hand,

each one carrying the weight of a king’s madness and a nation’s endurance.

By the time Charles VI died in 1422, France was divided.

The Treaty of Troyes stripped Charles VII of his birthright, naming Henry V of England as heir.

Even while English forces held the title of French king, the écu remained in daily use.

its likeness of the monarch still etched in the minds of those who remembered his reign.

Only a handful of these coins endure today, making them coveted treasures among historians and collectors alike.

But beyond their numismatic value, they are artifacts of a time when a nation clung to symbols of order even as it fell apart.

Its legacy is not conquest, but the stubborn will to carry on.

the quiet dignity of a people who kept using the currency of their king, アンティークコイン投資 even when he could no longer rule them