A pound was really worth twenty shillings and every shilling was well worth a dozen pennies.
Currently the shilling is used as a forex in five east African countries: Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Somalia, as nicely as the de facto united states of america of Somaliland. The East African Community moreover plans to introduce an East African shilling.
Its name derives from the Latin word "poundus" meaning "weight". The £ symbol comes from an ornate L in Libra. The pound was once a unit of foreign money as early as 775AD in Anglo-Saxon England, equivalent to 1 pound weight of silver. This used to be a massive fortune in the 8th century.
Learn more about pound and shillings here: