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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;willieboyd2, post: 2550172, member: 4910&quot;]<img src="http://www.brianrxm.com/posts/post_crusader_dinar_fatimid.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /></p><p>Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem gold Bezant</p><p>Specs: 20mm, 3.90gm, struck AD 1148-1187</p><p><br /></p><p>In 1099 when the Pope launched the Crusades, gold coins had not been struck or used Europe for centuries.</p><p><br /></p><p>When the Crusaders arrived in the Holy Land they discovered that gold coins were used there, either Byzantine issues or coins made by the Moslem Fatimid empire in Cairo, Egypt.</p><p><br /></p><p>Crusaders established kingdoms in Palestine, including the Kingdom of Jerusalem, and began minting gold coins.</p><p><br /></p><p>These coins were copies of Moslem Fatimid coins, down to the Kufic legends promoting Islam as the true religion. Kufic was a form of Arabic writing used at the time. Most of the copies used the design of the Fatimid king al-Amir who ruled AD 1101-1130. The first coins were direct copies, as time went on the legends became less clear.</p><p><br /></p><p>The Crusader imitations became called Saracenic Bezants, as Bezant was a term applied to a gold coin of the Byzantine empire.</p><p><br /></p><p>The Fatimid coins were better than 95% gold and weighed around 4.25 grams. The Crusader coins were struck at Jerusalem or at nearby Acre, started at 80% gold and weighed less than 4.0 grams, and later went to 68% gold and weighing 3.25 to 3.5 grams.</p><p><br /></p><p>The coin above is considered by numismatists to be a &quot;second phase&quot; coin (the 80% variety). It was made from around AD 1148 to AD 1187, when the Islamic forces of Saladin destroyed a large Crusader army at Hattin and headed for Jerusalem. This coin has poor legends and it is impossible to read the original date.</p><p><br /></p><p>A major Crusader coin catalog is <i>Coins of the Crusader States 1098-1291</i>, known as CCS, by Malloy, A.G., Preston, I.F. and Seltman, A.J., published in 2004. The closest catalog coin to this one is page 116 number 3.</p><p><br /></p><p>The coin legends would be, if they were clearer, from inside to outside:</p><p><br /></p><p>Obverse:</p><p>“There is no god but God, Muhammad is the messenger of God”</p><p>“Ali is the most excellent of the caretakers and the vizier...”</p><p>“Muhammad is the messenger of God who sent him with guidance and the religion of truth...&quot;</p><p><br /></p><p>Reverse:</p><p>“al-Amir billah, Commander of the Faithful”</p><p>“The Imam Ma‘add summons all to confess the unity of God the eternal”.</p><p>“In the name of God, this dinar was struck in Misr...” (Misr is Egypt or Cairo)</p><p><br /></p><p>In AD 1250 Pope Innocent IV (AD 1243-1254) ordered the Crusaders to stop making coins with Islamic legends and they began putting Christian legends on their coins.</p><p><br /></p><p>An odd reason for wanting a coin, but after reading Harold Lamb&#039;s books on the Crusades, I had to get one.</p><p><br /></p><p><img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie1" alt=":)" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" />[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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