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36-586: Michael , popularly known as Great Michael , was a carrack or great ship of the Royal Scottish Navy . She was the largest ship built by King James IV of Scotland as part of his policy of building a strong Scottish navy. She was ordered around 1505 and laid down in 1507 under the direction of Captain Sir Andrew Wood of Largo and the master shipwright Jacques Terrell, launched on 12 October 1511 and completed on 18 February 1512. She

72-418: A unit of account (i.e., a monetary unit used in accounting) used in early modern France . The 1262 monetary reform established the livre tournois as 20 sous tournois , or 80.88 grams of fine silver . The franc à cheval was a gold coin of one livre tournois minted in large numbers from 1360. In 1549, the livre tournois was decreed a unit of account, and in 1667 it officially replaced

108-425: A crew of 300 sailors, 120 gunners, and up to 1,000 soldiers. Henry VIII of England was unwilling to be outdone, and ordered the building of the 1000-ton Henry Grace à Dieu , launched in roughly 1512, later known as Great Harry , which was even larger. These ships were the first great ships , the precursors of the later ship of the line . Michael was named after the archangel Michael and built to support

144-516: A cumbersome individual, to an old vessel, or to a vehicle in a very bad condition. The Portuguese form of "carrack", nau , is used as its unique unit in the Civilization V and Civilization VI strategy game. Livre tournois The livre tournois ( French pronunciation: [livʁ tuʁnwa] ; lit.   ' Tours pound ' ; abbreviation: ₶ or £ ) was one of numerous currencies used in medieval France , and

180-524: A fusion and modification of aspects of the ship types they knew operating in both the Atlantic and Mediterranean, generalizing their use in the end of the century for inter-oceanic travel with a more advanced form of sail rigging that allowed much improved sailing characteristics in the heavy winds and waves of the Atlantic Ocean and a hull shape and size that permitted larger cargoes. In addition to

216-442: A newly minted French coin could be reduced while nevertheless maintaining the old value in livre tournois or (2) the official value of a domestic or foreign coin in circulation could be increased. By reversing these techniques, currencies could be reinforced. For example: Royal finance officers faced many difficulties. In addition to currency speculation, forgery and the intentional shaving of precious metal from coins (which

252-643: A type of river barge. The Akkadian term is assumed to be derived from a Sumerian antecedent. A modern reflex of the word is found in Arabic and Turkish kelek "raft; riverboat". By the Late Middle Ages , the cog and cog-like square-rigged vessels equipped with a rudder at the stern , were widely used along the coasts of Europe, from the Mediterranean, to the Baltic. Given the conditions of

288-709: Is distributed in two closely related lobes. The first distribution lobe, or area, associates it with certain light and fast merchantmen found near Cyprus and Corfu . The second is an extensive attestation in the Oxyrhynchus corpus, where it seems most frequently to describe the Nile barges of the Ptolemaic pharaohs . Both of these usages may lead back through the Phoenician to the Akkadian kalakku , which denotes

324-519: Is from the medieval Latin navis , meaning 'ship'). In March 1514 Michael was reported to be docked at Honfleur because she was too big for the harbour at Dieppe . Most historians have accepted the account of the Scottish historian George Buchanan that after this, the French allowed her to rot at Brest . Norman MacDougall in 1991 suggested that under her new French name she may have taken part in

360-421: The livre parisis . In 1720, the livre tournois was redefined as 0.31 grams of pure gold, and in 1726, in a devaluation under Louis XV , as 4.50516 grams of fine silver. It was the basis of the revolutionary French franc of 1795, defined as 4.5 grams of fine silver exactly. ( La Rochelle mint) In France, the livre was worth 240 deniers (the "Tours penny"). These deniers were first minted by

396-527: The São Gabriel had six sails: bowsprit, foresail, mainsail, mizzensail and two topsails. In the Republic of Ragusa , a kind of a three or four masted carrack called Dubrovačka karaka (Dubrovnik Carrack) was used between the 14th and the 17th century for cargo transport. In the middle of the 16th century, the first galleons were developed from the carrack. The galleon design came to replace that of

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432-491: The Baltic Sea . Lindsay gives her dimensions as 240 feet (73 m) long and 35 ft (11 m) in beam. Russell (1922) notes that Michael was supposed to have been built with oak walls 10 ft (3.0 m) thick. She displaced about 1,000 tons , had four masts, carried 24 guns (purchased from Flanders ) on the broadside, 1 basilisk forward and 2 aft, and 30 smaller guns (later increased to 36 main guns), and had

468-664: The Battle of the Solent in 1545, the French attack on England that led to the sinking of the Mary Rose . Great Michael gives her name to three streets in Newhaven: Great Michael Rise (built in 1967), Great Michael Square (the western part of Newhaven's Parliament Square, renamed in 1968) and Great Michael Close (the eastern part of the square, renamed in 1975). Carrack In its most developed form,

504-544: The Louisiana Purchase treaty of 1803 specified the relative ratios of the franc , dollar and livre tournois . The official use of the livre tournois accounting unit in all contracts in France was legislated in 1549, but it had been one of the standard units of accounting in France since the 13th century. In 1577 the livre tournois accounting unit was officially abolished and accountants switched to

540-471: The abbey of Saint Martin , in the province of Touraine . Soon after Philip II of France seized the counties of Anjou and Touraine in 1203 and standardized the use of the livre tournois there, the livre tournois began to supersede the livre parisis (Paris pound) which had been up to that point the official currency of the Capetian dynasty . The livre tournois was, in common with

576-835: The galleon , the carrack was one of the most influential ship designs in history; while ships became more specialized in the following centuries, the basic design remained unchanged throughout this period. English carrack was loaned in the late 14th century, via Old French caraque , from carraca , a term for a large, square-rigged sailing vessel used in Spanish, Italian and Middle Latin. These ships were called carraca in Portuguese and Genoese , carraca in Spanish , caraque or nef in French , and kraak in Dutch . The origin of

612-592: The écu , which was at that time the major French gold coin in actual circulation, but in 1602 the livre tournois accounting unit was brought back. (A monetary unit of accounting based on the livre parisis continued to be used for minor uses in and around Paris and was not officially abolished until 1667 by Louis XIV ). Since coins in Europe in the Middle Ages and the early modern period (the French écu , Louis , teston d'argent , denier , double, franc ;

648-534: The Chinese. That trade continued with few interruptions until 1638, when it was prohibited by the rulers of Japan on the grounds that the ships were smuggling Catholic priests into the country. The Japanese called Portuguese carracks " Black Ships " ( kurofune ), referring to the colour of the ship's hulls. This term would eventually come to refer to any Western vessel, not just Portuguese. The Islamic world also built and used carracks, or at least carrack-like ships, in

684-662: The English, Arran raided Carrickfergus in Ireland and returned with loot before proceeding to France. A warship of this size was costly to maintain, particularly for a small country such as Scotland. After James IV and many of the nobility of Scotland were killed at the Battle of Flodden in September 1513, Michael was sold to Louis XII of France on 2 April 1514 for the bargain price of 40,000 livres , and became known as "La Grande Nef d'Ecosse" ( The Big Nave of Scotland ) (Nave

720-484: The Mediterranean and the Indian Ocean. A picture of an Ottoman barca on Piri Reis' map shows a deep-hulled ship with a tall forecastle and a lateen sail on the mizzenmast. The harraqa (Saracen: karaque ) was a type of ship used to hurl explosives or inflammable materials (firebomb in earthenware pots, naphtha , fire arrows). From the context of Islamic texts, there are two types of harraqa : The cargo ship and

756-614: The Mediterranean, galley type vessels were extensively used there, as were various two masted vessels, including the caravels with their lateen sails. These and similar ship types were familiar to Portuguese navigators and shipwrights. As the Portuguese and Spaniards gradually extended their trade ever further south along Africa's Atlantic coast and islands during the 15th century, they needed larger, more durable and more advanced sailing ships for their long oceanic ventures. Gradually, they developed their own models of oceanic carracks from

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792-471: The Portuguese began trading with Japan, exchanging Chinese silk for Japanese silver; in 1550 the Portuguese Crown started to regulate trade to Japan , by leasing the annual "captaincy" to Japan to the highest bidder at Goa, in effect conferring exclusive trading rights for a single carrack bound for Japan every year. In 1557 the Portuguese acquired Macau to develop this trade in partnership with

828-522: The Red Sea, and were often larger than Portuguese carracks. The Bengalis also used carracks, sometimes called naos mauriscas (Moorish carracks) by the Portuguese. Arabs merchants of Mecca apparently used carracks too, since Duarte Barbosa noted that the Bengali people have "great naos after the fashion of Mecca". The Italian word caracca and derivative words are popularly used in reference to

864-516: The Spanish doubloon , pistole , real ; the Italian florin , ducat or sequin ; the German and Austrian thaler ; the Dutch gulden , etc.) did not have any indication of their value, their official value was determined by royal edicts. In cases of financial need, French kings could use the official value for currency devaluation . This could be done in two ways: (1) the amount of precious metal in

900-521: The average tonnage naus, some naus (carracks) were also built in the reign of John II of Portugal , but were widespread only after the turn of the century. The Portuguese carracks were usually very large ships for their time, often over 1000 tons displacement , and having the future naus of the India run and of the China and Japan trade, also other new types of design. A typical three-masted carrack such as

936-706: The carrack although carracks were still in use as late as the middle of the 17th century due to their larger cargo capacity. Starting in 1498, Portugal initiated for the first time direct and regular exchanges between Europe and India—and the rest of Asia thereafter—through the Cape Route , a voyage that required the use of more substantial vessels, such as carracks, due to its unprecedented duration, about six months. On average, four carracks connected Lisbon to Goa carrying gold to purchase spices and other exotic items, but mainly pepper. From Goa, one carrack went on to Ming China in order to purchase silks. Starting in 1541,

972-413: The carrack was a carvel-built ocean-going ship: large enough to be stable in heavy seas, and capacious enough to carry a large cargo and the provisions needed for very long voyages. The later carracks were square-rigged on the foremast and mainmast and lateen - rigged on the mizzenmast . They had a high rounded stern with aftcastle , forecastle and bowsprit at the stem. As the predecessor of

1008-705: The king's unrealised project for a Scottish crusade against the Ottoman Empire to reclaim Palestine for Christendom . James IV and Margaret Tudor had supper on the Michael on 3 August 1512. In November 1512 the Great Michael and the Margaret were at Blackness Castle . James IV came aboard the Michael on St Andrew's day to hold an audience with the French ambassador, Charles de Tocque, sieur de la Mothe. The Auld Alliance of Scotland and France

1044-536: The land And schipwrichtis hewand upone the strand. Translation from Middle Scots : Carpenters, Builders of barques and balingers , Masons lying upon the land, And shipwrights hewing upon the strand. The chronicler Lindsay of Pitscottie wrote of the building of Michael that "all the woods of Fife , except Falkland wood , besides all the timber that was got out of Norway" went into her construction. Account books add that timbers were purchased from other parts of Scotland , as well as from France and

1080-452: The late Middle Ages and the early modern period, the use of an accounting currency became a financial necessity. In the world of international banking of the 13th century, it was the florin and ducat that were often used. In France, the livre tournois and the currency system based on it became a standard monetary unit of accounting and continued to be used even when the livre tournois ceased to exist as an actual coin. For example,

1116-548: The name "franc" became a synonym for livre tournois in accounting. The first French paper money, issued between 1701 and 1720, was denominated in livre tournois (see "Standard Catalog of World Paper Money", Albert Pick). This was the last time the name was used officially, as later notes and coins were denominated simply in livres , the livre parisis having finally been abolished in 1667. With many forms of domestic and international money (with different weights, purities and quality) circulating throughout Europe in

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1152-448: The original livre of Charlemagne , divided into 20 sols ( sous after 1715), each of which was divided into 12 deniers . Between 1360 and 1641, coins worth one livre tournois were minted, known as francs (the name coming from the inscription Johannes Dei Gratia Francorum Rex , [ Jean, by the grace of God, King of the French ]). Other francs were minted under Charles V , Henry III and Henry IV . The use of

1188-574: The smaller longship (galley-like) that was used for fighting. It is unclear whether the nomenclature harraqa has a connection with European carraca (carrack), or whether one influences the other. One Muslim harraqa named Mogarbina was captured by the Knights of St. John in 1507 from the Ottoman Turks and renamed Santa Maria . Gujarati ships are usually called naos (carracks) by the Portuguese. Gujarati naos operated between Malacca and

1224-595: The term carraca is unclear, perhaps from Arabic qaraqir "merchant ship", itself of unknown origin (maybe from Latin carricare "to load a car" or Greek καρκαρίς "load of timber") or the Arabic القُرْقُورُ ( al-qurqoor ) and from thence to the Greek κέρκουρος ( kerkouros ) meaning approximately "lighter" (barge) literally, "shorn tail", a possible reference to the ship's flat stern). Its attestation in Greek literature

1260-542: Was confirmed. The commitments of the Auld Alliance with France required Scotland to go to war with England , to divert England from her war with Louis XII of France (see the Italian Wars ). In August 1513 a Scottish invasion force was assembled to attack English possessions in France. Commanded by James Hamilton, 1st Earl of Arran , the chief ships were Michael , Margaret and James . Instead of attacking

1296-427: Was too large to be built at any existing Scottish dockyard, so was built at the new dock at Newhaven . When Michael was launched she was the largest ship afloat, with twice the original displacement of her English contemporary Mary Rose , which was launched in 1509 and completed in 1510. The poet William Dunbar wrote of her construction: Carpentaris, Beildaris of barkis and ballingaris, Masounis lyand upon

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