With the écu à la couronne, introduced in 1385, the French gold coins faded into insignificance. Those écus had about the same weight as their forerunners, the golden francs, and were all the same worth more: While a franc had held 20 sols tournois, the écu à la couronne equaled 22 sols and 6 deniers. Our écu dates from the year 1388, when the 2nd emission of these coins was issued. Compared to the 1st emission, their weight was reduced from about 4 grams to 3.9 grams. Needless to say, that their value remained the same. Many more emissions were to follow, the coins of each being somewhat lighter than the ones before. Toward the end of Charles reign, in 1420, the 8th emission was issued; at that time, the weight of the écu à la couronne had dropped to about 3.7 grams.