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The pound (
Modern Modern may refer to: History *Modern history ** Early Modern period ** Late Modern period *** 18th century *** 19th century *** 20th century ** Contemporary history * Moderns, a faction of Freemasonry that existed in the 18th century Philosophy ...
and Middle Scots: ''Pund'') was the currency of Scotland prior to the 1707 Treaty of Union between the Kingdom of Scotland and the Kingdom of England, which created the Kingdom of Great Britain. It was introduced by David I, in the 12th century, on the Carolingian monetary system of a pound divided into 20
shilling The shilling is a historical coin, and the name of a unit of modern currency, currencies formerly used in the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, other British Commonwealth countries and Ireland, where they were generally equivalent to 1 ...
s, each of 12 pence. The Scottish currency was later devalued relative to sterling by debasement of its coinage. By the time of James III, one pound Scots was valued at five shillings sterling. Silver coins were issued denominated in merk, worth 13s.4d. Scots (two-thirds of a pound Scots). When James VI became King James I of England in 1603, the coinage was reformed to closely match sterling coin, with £12 Scots equal to £1 sterling. No gold coinage was issued from 1638 to 1700, but new silver coinage was issued from 1664 to 1707. With the Acts of Union 1707, the pound Scots was replaced by sterling coin at the rate of 12:1 (£1 Scots = 1s.8d. stg), although the pound Scots continued to be used in Scotland as a unit of account for most of the 18th century. Today there is no distinct Scots currency; but Scotland's three largest clearing banks (the Royal Bank of Scotland, the
Bank of Scotland The Bank of Scotland plc (Scottish Gaelic: ''Banca na h-Alba'') is a commercial and clearing bank based in Scotland and is part of the Lloyds Banking Group, following the Bank of Scotland's implosion in 2008. The bank was established by the ...
and the
Clydesdale Bank Clydesdale Bank ( gd, Banca Dhail Chluaidh) is a trading name used by Clydesdale Bank plc for its retail banking operations in Scotland. In June 2018, it was announced that Clydesdale Bank's holding company CYBG would acquire Virgin Money f ...
) issue banknotes denominated in sterling. These notes may be accepted as payment throughout the United Kingdom, but are much more commonly seen in Scotland; their value is backed by non-circulating large denomination notes issued by the
Bank of England The Bank of England is the central bank of the United Kingdom and the model on which most modern central banks have been based. Established in 1694 to act as the English Government's banker, and still one of the bankers for the Government o ...
(the "
giants A giant is a being of human appearance, sometimes of prodigious size and strength, common in folklore. Giant(s) or The Giant(s) may also refer to: Mythology and religion *Giants (Greek mythology) *Jötunn, a Germanic term often translated as 'gi ...
" and " titans").


List of coins of the pound Scots

* Pistole – Gold, 12 pounds Scots * Dollar – Replacement for the ryal, 60 shillings Scots (James VI) * Ryal – Gold, 1565 * Crown or Lion – Gold ( James I) * Half-crown, Demi-Lion or Demys – Gold (James I) * Ducat or "bonnet" – 40 shillings, 1539 ( James V) * Mark or merk – Gold (giving rise to the term
markland Markland () is the name given to one of three lands on North America's Atlantic shore discovered by Leif Eriksson around 1000 AD. It was located south of Helluland and north of Vinland. Although it was never recorded to be settled by Norsemen, ...
) * Noble – Gold, worth half a mark, 1357 ( David II, reintroduced by Robert III) *
Unicorn The unicorn is a legendary creature that has been described since antiquity as a beast with a single large, pointed, spiraling horn projecting from its forehead. In European literature and art, the unicorn has for the last thousand years o ...
 – Gold, 18 shillings Scots, 1484–85 ( James III) * Half-unicorn – Gold, 9 shillings Scots (
James IV James IV (17 March 1473 – 9 September 1513) was King of Scotland from 11 June 1488 until his death at the Battle of Flodden in 1513. He inherited the throne at the age of fifteen on the death of his father, James III, at the Battle of Sauch ...
) * Testoun – silver, 1553. Was produced in France with the new process of mill and screw, being the first
milled coinage In numismatics, the term milled coinage (also known as machine-struck coinage) is used to describe coins which are produced by some form of machine, rather than by manually hammering coin blanks between two dies ( hammered coinage) or casting co ...
of Scotland.Stewart: ''The Scottish Coinage'' *
Bawbee A bawbee was a Scottish sixpence. The word means a debased copper coin, valued at six pence Scots (equal at the time to an English half-penny), issued from the reign of James V of Scotland to the reign of William II of Scotland. They were hamme ...
 – Billon, six pence from 1537 * Shilling * Groat – Silver, equivalent to four pence, from 1357 (giving rise to the term groatland) * Half-groat – Silver, equivalent to two pence, from 1357 * Turner – Billon, two pence (James VI), later copper. * Bodle – Copper, two pence ( Charles II) *
Hardhead The hardhead (''Aythya australis''), also known as the white-eyed duck, is the only true diving duck found in Australia. The common name "hardhead" has nothing to do with the density of the bird's skull, instead referring to the difficulty encou ...
 – also called Lion, billon coin circulated in the reigns of Mary and James VI * Penny – Billon, one of the earliest coins, dating from David I. Later made of copper, giving rise to the term pennyland. * Halfpennies – Initially literally half of a penny, these became minted coins in their own right in c.1280. Later made of copper. * Farthing or quarter-penny – These were originally quarters of pennies, but as with Halfpennies, became coins in their own right in c.1280. Later made of copper. * Plack – value of four pence Scots or by 1707 one-third of a penny sterling.


See also

*
Banknotes of Scotland Banknotes of Scotland are the banknotes of the pound sterling that are issued by three Scottish retail banks and in circulation in Scotland. The issuing of banknotes by retail banks in Scotland is subject to the Banking Act 2009, which repealed ...
(modern Sterling banknotes) * Scottish coinage ** Penny Scots **
Merk (coin) The merk is a long-obsolete Scottish silver coin. Originally the same word as a money mark of silver, the merk was in circulation at the end of the 16th century and in the 17th century. It was originally valued at 13 shillings 4 pence (exactly ...
* Testoon (English shilling) * (Robbie Burns poem)


References

{{Scotland topics Currencies of Scotland Economic history of Scotland Coins of Scotland 12th-century establishments in Scotland 1707 disestablishments in Scotland Medieval currencies