A medieval "agnostic" coin, in full
Christian Reconquest.
Translation
of an article published in Spanish: “El
Eco Filatélico y Numismático”
(November 2000). Vol.56 (n. 1080): p.50.
(November 2000). Vol.56 (n. 1080): p.50.
In the Middle Ages, one of the main
concerns of the Christian kings in the Iberian Peninsula, was the struggle
against Islam, that as a powerful blaze spreaded throughout the known world.
Hence, one of the principal objectives of European kings in the twelfth and
thirteenth centuries was the reconquest of the Holy Places, under pressure from
a society imbued with religious feeling and Christian life, pugnacious
determination stretching from the king to the humblest of his subjects.
| Currencies of Sancho VII of |
This motivation led to the political
leaders of the time to use the figure of the cross on their more specific
emblems, such as signs and seals and royal money. In this environment, at a
time of exacerbation of religious feeling, it's strange for a Christian monarch
not to include the figure of the cross
on their coins, as the main reason on the obverse or reverse, or as an element
of separation of legend , nor in its "signature" or royal sign. Add
to this the presence in the currencies of a crescent surmounted by a star
(symbols commonly used in the Muslim world), and we face an unprecedented event
in the numismatics of medieval Christian kingdoms. We emphasize the importance
of this numismatic evidence, since at this time we could deduce the identity of
the author of coinage by the symbols or legends of the same. These coins were
minted in abundance, both deniers and mites in the reign of King Sancho VII of Navarre ,
surnamed "the Strong", during a long reign of over forty years
between 1194 and 1234, and went down in history for his role in the battle of
Las Navas de Tolosa against Muslims.
At this time, we can find the figure
of the crescent moon and star in the emissions of Raymond VI and Raymond VII
(1194-1249), the counts of Toulouse (France), although in this case on the
other side of the coin features a large cross, and also a small cross marks the
separation of words in the legends (text that appears on the currency). On the
coins of Sancho VII, this separation is made with points.
During this time, there are some
curious anecdotes of the coins, such as frequent falsification of Almohad
square dirhams by some Christians, so that the same Christian bishop of
Melguell (southern France) coined Arab currency with Koranic texts and
professing Muslim faith, a fact which was rejected by the Pope himself. However
in this case they were imitations of the prestigious Muslim coin. When in the
late twelfth century Alfonso VIII of Castile
The figure of the king of Navarre
Sancho VII "the Strong" has entered popular mythology from his
decisive intervention in the battle of Las Navas de Tolosa (1212), where he
defeated his former friend, Amir Muhammad ibn Ya'qub to Nasir (known by
Christians as Miramamolín, abbreviation of its Arabic title of "Emir
al-Mu'mineen") and from this historic event comes the shield of the chains
of Navarre, introduced in mid-thirteenth century as a sign of identity of the
Old Kingdom.
However, from the economic
standpoint, this king has passed into history as the "banker to the
kings”, banker as stated, minted their coins without using the cross symbol on
them (an exceptional occurrence in the
medieval Christian coinage), and where it appears on the obverse the
bust of the monarch, with the legend: SANCIVS REX, and on the reverse a
crescent moon and star, with NAVARRORVM or NAVARRE legends. Sancho VII
supported the bourgeois of Bayonne (France ) and gave large sums to the king of Aragon , obtaining in return, collateral,
numerous castles and villas (as Petilla of Aragon, Aragonese village that still
belongs to Navarre
| Mausoleum and tomb of Sancho VII “the Strong” in |
It remains to establish the reasons
why the Navarrese monarch dispensed with the use of the cross on his coins.
Perhaps it could affect his friendship with the African emir (the nickname
Miramamolín), with whom he spent long periods in North Africa, or perhaps the
influence of Jewish bankers, who at that time controlled the economy of the
kingdom and were the only capable of performing loans with interest or usury,
activity prohibited to Christians because of scholastic economic ethics in
those days, and only practiced by the Jews, which was precisely one of the
causes of resentment against this group, source of persecution and killing of
this group in the early fourteenth century.