This word, as applied to coins, appears to be derived from Esterlings, i.e., people from the east of Europe, some of whom were employed in the thirteenth century in regulating the coinage of Eng- land. The coins made by them were vari- ously called Esterlins, or Easterlings, a term Later abbreviated into Sterlings.

On August 16, 1257, a writ dated at Chester was issued, commanding the Mayor of London to proclaim in that city that "the gold money which the King had caused to be made should be immediately current there and elsewhere within the realm of England, in all transactions of buying and selling, at the rate of twenty pennies of sterlings for every gold penny." This refers to silver Pennies.

In many transactions these coins were weighed, and the term Pound Sterling sur- vives to this date as a standard. See Es- terlin.