It may be raining pennies from heaven, but my musings are even cheaper! For non-anglophiles, a farthing was a quarter of a penny in the days when the pound was the standard unit of English currency and the monarch would issue new coin with his own stamp. In fact, this very behavior would eventually lead to Louis XVI’s own undoing when he tried to escape France at the end of the French Revolution. (See Louis XVI’s flight from Paris by Richard Cavendish).

By the time they reached Sainte-Menehould, news of their flight had reached the town and the national guard had been alerted. 

 

The local postmaster, Jean-Baptiste Drouet, had seen Marie Antoinette when he was in the army and he recognized her. He checked the face of the party’s ‘valet’ against the king’s on a paper currency note and they fitted.

Apparently, it’s not always good to be king. But if you were and you wanted to strengthen the border along France, you’d need to tax your subjects. And they might have paid with a whole lot of these:

Medieval_silver_farthing_of_Henry_V_(FindID_437142)

Medieval silver farthing of Henry V (Portable Antiquities Scheme, WikiCommons)

I’m not funding a war or escaping my revolting peasants, but I do like writing about history, art, music and current social issues. And this is why I’m starting this blog, for free. What a world we live in!