Historedia
EuropeEvent

Louis XIV's Currency and Police Reforms

When
1667
Where
France; Paris
Episodes
3

In 1667, Louis XIV abolished the livre parisis, officially replacing it with the livre tournois. In the same year, Jean-Baptiste Colbert inaugurated the office of Lieutenant General of Police in Paris, a position first held by Gabriel Nicolas de la Reynie.

Episodes

  1. 1667 · FranceAbolition of the Livre Parisis

    Louis XIV officially replaced the livre parisis with the livre tournois as the standard monetary unit.

  2. March 1667 · ParisCreation of the Police Office

    Colbert presented an edict to Louis XIV establishing the office of Lieutenant General of Police in Paris.

  3. March 1667 · ParisAppointment of La Reynie

    Gabriel Nicolas de la Reynie became the first holder of the newly created police office in Paris.

Background and detail

Currency Standardization. The livre tournois was decreed a unit of account in 1549. In 1667, Louis XIV officially replaced the livre parisis with the livre tournois. This action ended the official use of the livre parisis, which had persisted for minor uses in and around Paris until this final abolition.

Creation of the Paris Police. Prior to 1667, public safety in Paris was managed by competing forces, including the royal watch and the Provost of the city. Jean-Baptiste Colbert, minister to the King, inaugurated the new office of Lieutenant General of Police of Paris. The edict presented to Louis XIV resulted from several centuries' evolution of French attitudes towards public safety.

Appointment of La Reynie. Gabriel Nicolas de la Reynie, a French magistrate, was appointed to the newly created position. He served as the first Lieutenant General of Police of Paris from March 1667 to January 1697. He is considered to be the founder of the first modern police force.

People involved

Sources

  1. Livre tournois Wikipedia, revision of 2026-04-18
  2. Gabriel Nicolas de la Reynie Wikipedia, revision of 2026-01-14
  3. Louis XIV Wikipedia, revision of 2026-09-23

Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.