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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;+VGO.DVCKS, post: 8320993, member: 110504&quot;]I just won this fun little curiosity from Aureo &amp; Calico.&nbsp; It’s described as a fractional dinar, with barbarous quasi-Arabic legends, apparently naming Hixem.&nbsp; Regarding any further, effectively speculative attribution, Aureo &amp; Calico demonstrate a level of, hmm, professional caginess.&nbsp; But it was listed with coins of al-Andalus (Muslim Iberia) of the 11th c. CE --and for medieval Iberian coins, the auction firm&#039;s level of erudition is unmatched.&nbsp; The obvious implication is that it’s likely imitating an issue of Hixem /Hisham III, the last Umayyad caliph (based in Cordoba), 1026 CE /c. 417 AH to his effective abdication in 1031 CE /c. 422 AH.</p><p>[ATTACH=full]1473892[/ATTACH]</p><p>Hixem was imprisoned after a revolt by a coalition of Muslim clerics and Cordoban elites.&nbsp; The end of his reign marks the fall of Umayyad rule, which was already a residual, regional survival of the original Caliphate of the 7th-8th c. CE.&nbsp; But as such, it was still a large, unitary state.&nbsp; From this point, the vacuum of Islamic rule was filled by several localized emirates, or taifas.&nbsp; For the first time since the original Umayyad conquests of the early 8th century, the collective Andalusian polity was as fragmented as its Christian equivalent to the north --who exploited the opportunity to the full extent of which they were capable.&nbsp; The opening moves of the Reconquista can be dated to this interval.&nbsp; But even before the more dramatic initial territorial conquests, the descendants of the Visigoths were raiding and collecting tribute from the neighboring taifas.&nbsp; These lucrative activities helped to fuel the meteoric inroads of the later 11th century, including Alfonso VI’s capture of Toledo in 1085, the temporary conquest of Valencia by Rodrigo Diaz /El Cid in 1094, and the ongoing subjugation of parts of Zaragoza by the kings of Aragon.</p><p>Here’s a map of Iberia as of the fall of the Cordoban Umayyad Caliphate in 1031, showing the original extent of the taifas.</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1473893[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>(from Wikimedia Commons: <a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=61961349" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=61961349" rel="nofollow">https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=61961349</a>.)</p><p><br /></p><p>I’m helplessly illiterate in Arabic, but naturally had to look online for renderings of “Hixem.”&nbsp; Since Arabic calligraphy is as diverse, across geography and chronology, as it is beautiful, this wasn’t a whole lot of help to my unpracticed eye.&nbsp; I found two versions of the name, specifically for Hixem III, in Vives –for which renewed thanks are due to [USER=75482]@dltsrq[/USER], from this post:</p><p><br /></p><p><a href="https://www.cointalk.com/threads/medieval-monday.366691/page-35#post-7572549" class="internalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.cointalk.com/threads/medieval-monday.366691/page-35#post-7572549">https://www.cointalk.com/threads/medieval-monday.366691/page-35#post-7572549</a></p><p><br /></p><p>Frankly, they weren’t much help, either.&nbsp; But then, on Zeno (thanks again, [USER=75482]@dltsrq[/USER]), I found these examples of fractional dinars which may have served as the prototype.&nbsp; This was under the alternate transliteration, Hisham, which is phonetically nearer the Arabic.&nbsp; They’re both of the same type, posted by rac56, citing Album F362 –of which I have the first edition, minus the plates.</p><p>(<a href="https://www.zeno.ru/showgallery.php?cat=1686" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.zeno.ru/showgallery.php?cat=1686" rel="nofollow">https://www.zeno.ru/showgallery.php?cat=1686</a>) [ATTACH=full]1473897[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1473899[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>Granted my total illiteracy in the language, these examples have letter forms which, impressionistically, could have wound up as elements of the ‘legends’ on the barbarous imitation.&nbsp; (Any help with the Arabic would be greatly appreciated!)&nbsp; Beyond this, the Tonegawa Collection has two different issues of fractional dinars, citing Prieto.&nbsp;&nbsp; <a href="http://www.andalustonegawa.50g.com/HishamIII.htm" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://www.andalustonegawa.50g.com/HishamIII.htm" rel="nofollow">http://www.andalustonegawa.50g.com/HishamIII.htm</a></p><p><br /></p><p>I don’t have access to Prieto, and the operant volume (6) of MEC, generally at its weakest regarding Andalusian coins, has no examples of the reign.</p><p><br /></p><p>From here, the obvious inference (as Aureo &amp; Calico undoubtedly well knew) is that the imitation is most likely northern and Christian, probably from the 11th century.&nbsp; Thanks to the tribute the latter were already collecting, prior to the major conquests of the 1080s and ‘90s, it may even predate them by a handful of decades.</p><p><br /></p><p>It would be terrific fun to see some medieval Islamic coins, Andalusian or not, along with Christian Iberian ones.&nbsp; And anything else of relevance.&nbsp; (And, Yep, I’d hugely appreciate any help with the legends of Hixem /Hisham III’s fractional dinars.)[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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