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{{Short description|Former European currency}}
{{See also|Dutch guilder}}
{{Multiple issues|{{Expand language|topic=|langcode=de|date=October 2024}}
{{More citations needed|date=December 2009}}}}[[File:Behrens 66.jpg|thumb|280px|[[Florence]] gulden (1341)]]

'''Guilder''' is the [[English language|English]] translation of the [[Dutch language|Dutch]] and [[German language|German]] '''''gulden''''', originally shortened from [[Middle High German]] ''guldin pfenninc'' ("[[gold penny]]"). This was the term that became current in the southern and western parts of the [[Holy Roman Empire]] for the [[Florin (Italian coin)|Fiorino d'oro]] (introduced in 1252 in the [[Republic of Florence]]). Hence, the name has often been interchangeable with ''florin'' ([[currency sign]] '''''ƒ''''' or '''''fl.''''').

The '''guilder''' is also the name of several currencies used in Europe and the former colonies of the [[Dutch Empire]].

==Gold guilder==
The guilder or gulden was the name of several gold coins used during the [[Holy Roman Empire]]. It first referred to the Italian gold [[florin]], introduced in the 13th century. It then referred to the [[Rhenish gulden]] (''florenus Rheni'') issued by several states of the Holy Roman Empire from the 14th century. The Rhenish gulden was issued by Trier, Cologne and Mainz in the 14th and 15th centuries. [[Basel]] minted its own ''Apfelgulden'' between 1429 and 1509. [[Bern]] and [[Solothurn]] followed in the 1480s, [[Fribourg]] in 1509 and [[Zürich]] in 1510, and other towns in the 17th century.

The ''[[Reichsmünzordnung]]'' or imperial minting ordinance of the [[Holy Roman Empire]] first defined standards for the [[Rhenish gulden]] (''Rheinischer Gulden'') in 1524. It also defined a silver ''[[Guldengroschen]]'' of equal value to the ''gulden''.{{r|Shaw_1896}}{{rp|page = 363-367}}{{rp|page = 364-365}}

The standards of the [[Rhenish gulden]] has changed over the centuries, as follows:{{r|Munro}}{{rp|page=19|quote=Rhenish florin }}{{r|Shaw_1896}}{{rp|page = 364-365}}
* In 1354, it was minted {{frac|66}}th a [[Cologne Mark]] of gold, 23{{frac|4}} karats fine; hence {{convert|3.43|g|ozt|abbr=off}} fine gold, or identical to the Florentine [[florin]].
* By 1419, it was minted {{frac|67}}th to a Mark, 19 karats fine; hence {{convert|2.76|g|ozt|abbr=off}} fine gold.
* By the 1559 ''[[Reichsmünzordnung]]'', it was minted {{frac|72}}nd to a Mark, 18{{frac|2}} karats; hence {{convert|2.50|g|ozt|abbr=off}} fine gold.

==Currency guilder==
With increasingly standardized currencies in the early modern period, ''gulden'' or ''guilder'' became a term for various early modern and modern currencies, detached from actual gold coins. The [[Dutch guilder]] first emerged as the currency of the [[Burgundian Netherlands]] after the monetary reforms of 1435, under [[Philip the Good]].{{r|Munro}}{{rp|page=20|quote=With monetary unification in 1435, the florin or gulden money-of-account thus worth 40d. Flemish gros... The gulden money-of-account is tied to the pond groot, always worth 40 Flemish gros.}}<ref>The Vierlander, a precursor to the euro. http://www.nbbmuseum.be/en/2008/01/the-vierlander.htm {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210512195833/http://www.nbbmuseum.be/en/2008/01/the-vierlander.htm |date=2021-05-12 }}</ref> It remained the national currency of the [[Netherlands]] until it was replaced by the [[euro]], on 1 January 2002.

The [[Reichsmünzordnung]] of 1524 defined fixed standards for the gold [[Rhenish gulden]] and the [[Guldengroschen]] of equal value. By 1551, however, both coins were valued at 72 [[kreuzer]], and a new guilder currency unit of 60 kreuzer was defined.{{r|Shaw_1896}}{{rp|page = 364-365}} The latter gulden was then defined over the succeeding centuries as a currency unit worth a fraction of the silver [[Reichsthaler]].

In 1753, [[Austria-Hungary]] and [[Bavaria]] agreed to the Conventions monetary standard which resulted into two differently valued gulden: the [[Austro-Hungarian florin]] of the [[Austrian Empire]] from 1754 to 1892, and the [[South German gulden]] of the Southern German states from 1754, until German unification in 1871. Currencies identical to the [[South German gulden]] include the [[Bavarian gulden]], [[Baden gulden]] & the [[Württemberg gulden]].

A [[Danzig gulden]] was in use from 1923 to 1939.

==Currencies derived from the Dutch guilder==
* The [[Netherlands Indies gulden]] was introduced in 1602, at the start of the [[United East Indies Company]].
* The [[British Guianan guilder]] was in use in [[British Guiana]] from 1796 to 1839.
* The [[Netherlands Antillean guilder]] was in use in the [[Netherlands Antilles]] until its [[dissolution of the Netherlands Antilles|dissolution]], in 2010. Afterwards, it remained the currency of the new countries [[Curaçao]] and [[Sint Maarten]] and (until 1 January 2011) the [[Caribbean Netherlands]].
* The [[Surinamese guilder]]
* The [[Netherlands New Guinean gulden]]
* The [[Caribbean guilder]] is the currency of [[Curaçao]] and [[Sint Maarten]].

==See also==
{{Portal|Money|Numismatics}}
Other coin names that are derived from the gold of which they were once made:
* [[Öre]], [[øre]]
* [[Polish zloty|Zloty]]
* [[Hungarian forint]]
* [[Meissen gulden]]
* [[Reichsguldiner]]

==References==
{{Reflist|30em|refs=

<ref name="Shaw_1896">{{cite book | last1 = Shaw  | first1 = W. A. | author-link1 = William Arthur Shaw | date = 1896 | title = The History of Currency, 1252-1894 | chapter-url = {{Google books|GrJCAAAAIAAJ|page=363|plainurl=yes}} | chapter-url-access = | chapter = Appendix V - The Monetary System of Germany | url =  {{Google books|GrJCAAAAIAAJ|plainurl=yes}} | url-status =  | language = en | edition = Third | publication-place = New York | publisher = [[G. P. Putnam's Sons]] | pages = 363–367 | isbn = 978-0342143832 | lccn = 75006519 | oclc = 613143051 | ol = OL14346094M | via = [[Google Books]] | df = dmy-all}}</ref>

<ref name="Munro">{{cite book | last1 = Munro | first1 = John | date = n.d. | title = Money And Coinage In Late Medieval And Early Modern Europe | url = https://www.economics.utoronto.ca/munro5/MONEYLEC.pdf | url-status = live | url-access =  | type = Lecture | language = en-CA | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20220613005454/https://www.economics.utoronto.ca/munro5/MONEYLEC.pdf | archive-date = 2022-06-13 | access-date = 2022-07-22 | via = [[University of Toronto]] | df = dmy-all}}</ref>

}}

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[[Category:Guilder| ]]
[[Category:Denominations (currency)]]