After the fall of the Roman Empire, some Roman traditions were continued but others fell into disuse. In AD 790
Charlemagne attempted to reform the units of measure in his domains. His units of length were based on the
toise and in particular the
toise de l'Écritoire, the distance between the fingertips of the outstretched arms of a man.
[12] The
toise has 6
pieds (feet) each of 326.6 mm (12.86 in).
He was unsuccessful in introducing a standard unit of length throughout his realm: an analysis of the measurements of
Charlieu Abbey shows that during the 9th century the Roman foot of 296.1 mm was used; when it was rebuilt in the 10th century, a foot of about 320 mm
[Note 1] was used. At the same time, monastic buildings used the Carolingian foot of
340 mm.
...The
international yard and pound agreement of July 1959 defined the length of the international yard in the United States and countries of the
Commonwealth of Nations as exactly 0.9144
meters. Consequently, the international foot is defined to be equal to exactly
0.3048 meters.
