Show english monetary unit adopted from romans the english monetary unit the pound was originally a pound weight of silver and corresponded to the roman ileman libra laun latin pound weight from which is derived the designating this denomination this pound was soon known as the pound tower because the chief mint of the country was established in the tower and by it the wel weight lit of I 1 english coins was regulated if it contained grains and was divided into 12 oun duncas as of 20 pen ny weights each the round pound troy superseded pers eded the pound tower in 1527 and contained grains the shilling a division of the pound weight of silver corresponded to roman itoman soll dus and the penny which represented the part of a pound corresponded to the roman hence we have the abbreviations s and d tile the roman system of computation was adopted by all european countries after they had accepted roman christianity in england it was adopted by ethelbert of kent at the beginning of the seventh century |