Pound (mass) in 1761 by Empress Maria Theresia of Austria. The unusually heavy Habsburg (civil) pound of 16 ounces was later defined in terms of 560.012 grams. Bavarian reforms in 1809 and 1811 adopted essentially the same standard pound. In Prussia, a reform in 1816 defined a uniform civil pound in terms of the Prussian foot and distilled water, resulting in a Prussian pound of 467.711 grams. Between 1803 and 1815, all German regions west of the River Rhine were French, organised in the departements: Roer, Sarre, Rhin-et-Moselle, and Mont-Tonnerre. As a result of the Congress of Vienna, these became part of
Anglo-Saxon pound Thomas Snelling writes that the division of the pound into 12 ounces was in use with the Romans, and the division of ounces into 20 pennyweights was introduced into France by Charlemagne, and then brought to England by William the Conqueror. The Latin word for "pound" is libra. The £ or ₤ is a stylised writing of the letter L, a short way of writing libra. This is similar to how a pound of mass is abbreviated "lb". Up until 1972, especially on typewriters or keyboards without a "£" symbol, it was common to write "L" or "l" instead of