He was a gifted card player, a legendary womaniser and a talented mathematician to boot, but the Scotsman John Law only really became famous when he invented paper money at the end of the seventeenth century. After a duel that ended in death, Law was sentenced to the noose, and it was during his flight across Europe that he came up with the groundbreaking idea of no longer making money out of precious metals alone. It was not until 1716 that he was able to realise his dream, in the almost bankrupt France of Louis IV: he founded the Banque Royale and issued the first paper money. However, his success did not last long, because when more and more banknotes were secretly printed and the money devalued at breakneck speed, he had to go into hiding again to survive.
He was a gifted card player, a legendary womaniser and a talented mathematician to boot, but the Scotsman John Law only really became famous when he invented paper money at the end of the seventeenth century. After a duel that ended in death, Law was sentenced to the noose, and it was during his flight across Europe that he came up with the groundbreaking idea of no longer making money out of precious metals alone. It was not until 1716 that he was able to realise his dream, in the almost bankrupt France of Louis IV: he founded the Banque Royale and issued the first paper money. However, his success did not last long, because when more and more banknotes were secretly printed and the money devalued at breakneck speed, he had to go into hiding again to survive.
