Guineas

What is the earliest instance of the use of the word *guinea* as a name for a coin? The common story is, that the piece of twenty-one shillings was so called in the reign of Charles II. from being made of gold from Guinea. What coin is meant in the following receipt?— "Sachent tous que Mons. Gualhard de Dureffourt ... ad recue ... quatorze *guianois* dour et dys sondz de la mon[oye] currant a Burdeux." The date is 12. Nov. 1387. The document is quoted in Madox's *Baronia Anglica*, p. 159. note *d*.