The King on horseback, galloping to the left / leaved cross in an angled quadrilobe.

In 1356, in the thick of the 100 Years' War, the King of France, John II (the Good, 1350-1364), was taken by the English at Poitiers. After several years in captivity, his freedom was bought with a considerable ransom, paid in new high-quality gold coins: the Francs.

The first Francs go back to 1360; their metal value was so high that the Kingdom stopped minting them soon after the accession of Charles V to the throne in 1364.