Swedish penning

The penning (plural "penningar") was a Swedish coin minted between the 11th century and 1548. It remained a unit of account until 1777.

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" (derived from the Latin "aureus") which was worth 24 penningar in Svealand but worth 48 penningar in Götaland and 36 penningar on Gotland. In the 13th century, the Svealand standard became the national standard. The öre was issued as a coin from 1522

Other units of account existed which were issued as coins as the currency declined in value. The "örtug" (first issued in 1370) was worth 8 penningar and the mark (issued from 1536) was worth 8 öre. In 1534, the daler was introduced, worth 4 mark. 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 Swedish language in the contracted form of the plural, "pengar", which means money.

References

* [http://www.algonet.se/~hogman/slmynt_eng.htm The History of the Swedish Monetary System]