As well as being the name of a coin, the Schilling was an historical unit in three areas of measurement: numbers, volume and weight. It can be regarded as a European measure, because it was used in
Bohemia
Bohemia ( ; cs, Čechy ; ; hsb, Čěska; szl, Czechy) is the westernmost and largest historical region of the Czech Republic. Bohemia can also refer to a wider area consisting of the historical Lands of the Bohemian Crown ruled by the Bohem ...
,
Bavaria
Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total lan ...
,
Silesia
Silesia (, also , ) is a historical region of Central Europe that lies mostly within Poland, with small parts in the Czech Republic and Germany. Its area is approximately , and the population is estimated at around 8,000,000. Silesia is split ...
,
Austria
Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...
and
Lusatia
Lusatia (german: Lausitz, pl, Łużyce, hsb, Łužica, dsb, Łužyca, cs, Lužice, la, Lusatia, rarely also referred to as Sorbia) is a historical region in Central Europe, split between Germany and Poland. Lusatia stretches from the Bóbr ...
.
In Bohemian mines it was a measure of volume that corresponded to 5 wheelbarrows. The ''schilling'' was determined as follows:
* 1 ''schilling'' = 12 leather skins filled with water = 480 Prague
pints
* 18 ''schillings'' = 1 quantity (''Losung'') of water
In
Regensburg
Regensburg or is a city in eastern Bavaria, at the confluence of the Danube, Naab and Regen rivers. It is capital of the Upper Palatinate subregion of the state in the south of Germany. With more than 150,000 inhabitants, Regensburg is the f ...
the measure was applied to
salt
Salt is a mineral composed primarily of sodium chloride (NaCl), a chemical compound belonging to the larger class of salts; salt in the form of a natural crystalline mineral is known as rock salt or halite. Salt is present in vast quantitie ...
. In Bavaria, for example, it was used as a number and a weight.
* 1 ''schilling'' salt = 40 'slices' (''Salzscheiben'')
* 8 ''schillings'' = 1 ''Pfund'' ("pound") of salt
In
Austria
Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...
a ''schilling'' corresponded to the number 30 and
in
Silesia
Silesia (, also , ) is a historical region of Central Europe that lies mostly within Poland, with small parts in the Czech Republic and Germany. Its area is approximately , and the population is estimated at around 8,000,000. Silesia is split ...
and
Lusatia
Lusatia (german: Lausitz, pl, Łużyce, hsb, Łužica, dsb, Łužyca, cs, Lužice, la, Lusatia, rarely also referred to as Sorbia) is a historical region in Central Europe, split between Germany and Poland. Lusatia stretches from the Bóbr ...
, the number 12. In the regional dialect it was called a ''Schilger'' in Silesia and a ''Schilger'' or ''Schilk'' in Lusatia.
240 ''pfennigs'' were minted from the 367 g
Carolingian pound of silver. A ''schilling'' was determined to be twelve ''pfennigs'', but was initially not an actual coin.
[Walter Haupt: ''Sächsische Münzkunde'', Berlin 1974, p. 12]
Footnotes
{{Notelist
References
Literature
* Joachim Heinrich Campe: ''Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache.'' Volume 4, Brunswick: Schulbuchhandlung, 1810, p. 141
Obsolete units of measurement
Units of amount
Units of mass
Units of volume
Units of measurement of the Holy Roman Empire