The penning or penny was the Swedish variant of the Norwegian penning that was minted from about 1150 until 1548, and which remained as a unit of account in Sweden until 1777. Originally penning was first minted in

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

by the Norwegian king Olaf Tryggvason from the year 995, and was later adapted in both Sweden and

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of Denmark , establishe ...

as a coin system. The penning was minted in imitation of the pennies, pfennig and deniers issued elsewhere in Europe. However, although based on these coins, the accounting system was distinct, with different systems operating in different regions. All used the ''

öre Öre () is the centesimal subdivision of the Swedish krona. In the Swedish language, the plural of ''öre'' is either ''öre'' or ''ören''. The name ''öre'' derives from the Latin word ''aereus/aurum'', meaning gold. The corresponding subdivisio ...

'' (derived from the

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power ...

'' aureus'') which was worth 1/8 of a mark or 3

örtug Örtug or ortig (Finnish: ''äyrityinen'', ''aurto'' or ''aurtua'') was a medieval currency unit in Sweden. It was originally minted as a silver coin in 1370 during the reign of king Albert of Sweden. The coin weighed about 1.3 grams and consi ...

ar. However in

Svealand Svealand (), or Swealand, is the historical core region of Sweden. It is located in south central Sweden and is one of three historical lands of Sweden, bounded to the north by Norrland and to the south by Götaland. Deep forests, Tiveden, ...

, one öre was worth 24 penningar, but in

Götaland Götaland (; also '' Geatland'', '' Gothia'', ''Gothland'', ''Gothenland'' or ''Gautland'') is one of three lands of Sweden and comprises ten provinces. Geographically it is located in the south of Sweden, bounded to the north by Svealand, wi ...

it was worth 48 penningar and 36 in roughly the

Diocese of Linköping The Diocese of Linköping ( sv, Linköpings stift) is a diocese within the Church of Sweden administering the Östergötland County, the north eastern part of Jönköping County and the northern part of Kalmar County. It comprises nine de ...

and on

Gotland Gotland (, ; ''Gutland'' in Gutnish), also historically spelled Gottland or Gothland (), is Sweden's largest island. It is also a province, county, municipality, and diocese. The province includes the islands of Fårö and Gotska Sandön to th ...

. Around 1300, by royal command, the Svealand standard became the national standard, except on Gotland. The örtug was first minted around 1370 and the öre was issued as a coin from 1522. In 1524, however, the real örtug was replaced in minted form with a new one, also known as ''halvöre'' (half öre), which had a little higher value (whereas one mark was divided into 24 örtugar, it was divided into 16 halvöre), but the old örtug remained as a counting unit until 1777. The conversion between the different units of currency in use at that time can be summarized as: In 1604, the daler was renamed the riksdaler. There followed a period of very complicated currency, during which both copper and silver versions of the different denominations circulated and the riksdaler rose in value relative to the other units. In 1777, the riksdaler became the basis of a new currency system and the penning ceased to exist. The name lives on in the

Norwegian language Norwegian ( no, norsk, links=no ) is a North Germanic language spoken mainly in Norway, where it is an official language. Along with Swedish and Danish, Norwegian forms a dialect continuum of more or less mutually intelligible local and regi ...

and

Swedish language Swedish ( ) is a North Germanic language spoken predominantly in Sweden and in parts of Finland. It has at least 10 million native speakers, the fourth most spoken Germanic language and the first among any other of its type in the Nordic coun ...

in the contracted form of the plural, ''pengar/penger'', which means money.

References

The History of the Swedish Monetary System
Currencies of Europe Modern obsolete currencies Currencies of Sweden {{Money-unit-stub

See also

References