[Illustration:  Fig. 262.—­The Tower of the Temple, in Paris.—­From an Engraving of the Topography of Paris, in the Cabinet des Estampes, of the National Library.]

[Illustration:  Gold Coins of the Sixth and Seventh Centuries.

Fig. 263.—­Merovee, Son of Chilperic I.

Fig. 264.—­Dagobert I.

Fig. 265.—­Clotaire III.]

[Illustration:  Silver Coins from the Eighth to the Eleventh Centures.

Fig 266.—­Pepin the Short.

Fig. 267.—­Charlemagne.

Fig. 268.—­Henri I.]

[Illustration:  Gold and Silver Coins of the Thirteenth Century.

Fig. 269.—­Gold Florin of Louis IX.

Fig. 270.—­Silver Gros of Tours.—­Philip III.]

When Louis IX., in 1242, at Taillebourg and at Saintes, had defeated the great vassals who had rebelled against him, he hastened to regulate the taxes by means of a special code which bore the name of the Etablissements.  The taxes thus imposed fell upon the whole population, and even lands belonging to the Church, houses which the nobles did not themselves occupy, rural properties and leased holdings, were all subjected to them.  There were, however, two different kinds of rates, one called the occupation rate, and the other the rate of exploitation; and they were both collected according to a register, kept in the most regular and systematic manner possible.  Ancient custom had maintained a tax exceptionally in the following cases:  when a noble dubbed his son a knight, or gave his daughter in marriage, when he had to pay a ransom, and when he set out on a campaign against the enemies of the Church, or for the defence of the country.  These taxes were called l’aide aux quatre cas.  At this period despotism too often overruled custom, and the good King Louis IX., by granting legal power to custom, tried to bring it back to the true principles of justice and humanity.  He was, however, none the less jealous of his own personal privileges, especially as regarded coining (Figs. 263 to 270).  He insisted that coining should be exclusively carried on in his palace, as in the times of the Carlovingian kings, and he required every coin to be made of a definite standard of weight, which he himself fixed.  In this way he secured the exclusive control over the mint.  For the various localities, towns, or counties directly under the crown, Louis IX. settled the mode of levying taxes.  Men of integrity were elected by the vote of the General Assembly, consisting of the three orders—­namely, of the nobility, the clergy, and the tiers etat—­to assess the taxation of each individual; and these assessors themselves were taxed by four of their own number.  The custom of levying proprietary subsidies in each small feudal jurisdiction could not be abolished, notwithstanding the King’s desire to do so, owing to the power still held by the nobles.  Nobles were forbidden to levy a rate under any consideration,