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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;willieboyd2, post: 4484204, member: 4910&quot;]I should have expanded on my post about the Crusader States imitations.</p><p><br /></p><p><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 copied from Fatimid dinar</p><p>Gold, 20 mm, 3.90 gm, 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 coin legends would be, if they were clearer, from outside to inside:</p><p><br /></p><p>Obverse:</p><p>In the name of God, this dinar was struck in Misr... (Misr is Egypt or Cairo)</p><p>Ali is the most excellent of the caretakers and the vizier...</p><p>Iman al-Mansour</p><p><br /></p><p>Reverse:</p><p>Muhammad is the messenger of God who sent him with guidance and the religion of truth...</p><p>There is no god but God, Muhammad is the messenger of God</p><p>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 some began putting Christian legends on their coins.</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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