"Comunale"" city park. Successively conquered by the Normans, in 1140 it was the place where Roger II of Sicily promulgated the Assizes of Ariano, the then-new constitution of the Kingdom of Sicily. This legal corpus would be adopted almost complete and with a few variations into the Constitutions of Melfi of the Emperor Frederick II. In the same year was coined the ducat, a coin that would last for seven centuries, until 1860. In 1255, Manfred, son of Frederick II, besieged the city, which resisted strongly thanks to its walls and the combative nature of the inhabitants. During the siege,"
"of the European Union, the long-term aim of the Hungarian government may be to replace the forint with the euro, but that does not appear to be likely until some time during the 2020s. The forint's name comes from the city of Florence, where gold coins called ""fiorino d'oro"" were minted from 1252. In Hungary, ""florentinus"" (later ""forint""), also a gold-based currency, was used from 1325 under Charles Robert and several other countries followed its example. Between 1868 and 1892 the forint was the name used in Hungarian for the currency of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, known in German as the"
"for St. John. On the Hungarian forints, St. John was re-labelled St. Ladislaus, an early Christian king and patron saint of Hungary, and a battle axe substituted for the original's sceptre. Gradually the image became more regal looking. The weight of the original fiorino d'oro of Florence was chosen to equal the value of one lira (i.e. a nominal silver pound of 20 soldi or 240 denari) in the local money of account in 1252. However, the gold content of the florin did not change while the money of account continued to inflate; by 1500, a florin was worth seven"
"Soldo Soldo was the name of an Italian medieval silver coin, issued for the first time in the late 12th century at Milan by Emperor Henry VI. The name derives from the late Roman coin ""solidus"". It quickly became widespread in Italy where it was coined in Genoa, Bologna, and numerous other cities. In Venice, the soldo was minted from the reign of Francesco Dandolo onward, remaining in use also after the republic's dissolution in 1797 and during the Austrian occupation, until 1862. In the 14th century Florence, a ""soldo"" equaled of a ""lira"" and 12 ""denari"". As time passed,"
"the introduction of a new coin, the florin, in 1252. It was widely used beyond Florence's borders due to its reliable, fixed gold content and soon became one of the common currencies of Europe and the Near East. The same year saw the creation of the Palazzo del Popolo. The Guelphs lost the reins of power after Florence suffered a catastrophic defeat at the Battle of Montaperti against Siena in 1260. The Ghibellines resumed power and undid many of the advances of the Guelphs, for example the demolition of hundreds of towers, homes, and palaces. The fragility of their rule"
"introduced in 1252, the first European gold coin struck in sufficient quantities to play a significant commercial role since the 7th century. Many Florentine banks had branches across Europe, with able bankers and merchants such as the famous chronicler Giovanni Villani of the Peruzzi Company engaging in commercial transactions as far away as Bruges. The florin quickly became the dominant trade coin of Western Europe, replacing silver bars in multiples of the mark. This period also saw the eclipse of Florence's formerly powerful rival Pisa, which was defeated by Genoa in 1284 and subjugated by Florence in 1406 . Power"
"The Renaissance of the 12th century brought wealth and economic sophistication, but Venetians continued to use the badly debased remnants of the coinage system introduced by Charlemagne. Venice struck silver pennies (called denari in Italian) based on the coinage of Verona, which contained less than half a gram of 25% fine silver. Domestic transactions predominantly used these coins or their Veronese counterparts. About 1180, however, Verona modified its coinage, upsetting this practice. For foreign trade, Venetian merchants favored Byzantine coinage or coins of the crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem. Saladin’s conquest of Jerusalem in 1187 and the progressing debasement of the"
"Byzantine aspron trachy, however, made this less viable. Elsewhere in Western Europe the situation was similar. A few efforts were made to reverse the decline of the Carolingian penny which had been their currency for four hundred years. In Lombardy, Frederick Barbarossa struck ""denari imperiali"" at double the weight of the pennies of Milan. The consistent fineness of the English sterling, or short cross penny, which Henry II introduced in 1180 made it a popular trading currency in Northern Europe. But it remained for Doge Enrico Dandolo of Venice to make the decisive breakthrough with a higher denomination coin of"
"by the rulers of the Empire of Thessalonica in the 1230s and 1240s, as well as by the Empire of Nicaea (1204–1261). In the restored Byzantine Empire, from 1261 on, they appear to have been replaced by a new type of copper coins named ""assaria"" after the ancient Roman coins. Tetarteron The tetarteron (, ""quarter [coin]"") was a Byzantine term applied to two different coins, one gold circulating from the 960s to 1092 in parallel to the ""histamenon"", and one copper used from 1092 to the second half of the 13th century. Ever since Emperor Constantine I (r. 306–337), the"
"Augustalis An augustalis or augustale was a gold coin minted in the Kingdom of Sicily beginning around 1231. It was the first gold issue of Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor and King of Sicily (1197–1250), and was minted until his death. It bore a Latin inscription and was widely circulated in Italy. It was patterned after the Roman aureus and its halves. It was minted at Brindisi and Messina with accompanying billon deniers. The style of the coinage has been described as splendid and proto-Renaissance; the quality of its execution and its fineness is high. The coin weighed about 5.24"
"mint again shortly under Philip IV of Spain (the Kingdom of Naples at the time was ruled by Spain) in 1626. Multiples (2, 3, 4, 6 and 9 ""cavalli"") were minted until Ferdinand IV. The last coin of three ""cavalli"" was minted in 1804, being replaced by the tornese, equal to 6 ""cavalli"". Cavallo (coin) The cavallo was a copper coin of southern Italy in the Renaissance. It was minted for the first time by King Ferdinand I of Naples in 1472. It gained its name from the figure of a horse on the reverse. The name later was used"
"banknotes and on the German language side of the post-1867 banknotes. In southern Germany, the word Gulden was the standard word for a major currency unit. The name ""Florin"" was used on Austrian coins and ""forint"" was used on the Hungarian language side of the post-1867 banknotes and on Hungarian coins. It comes from the city of Florence, Italy where the first florins were minted, from 1252 to 1533. Until 1806, Austria was the leading state of the Holy Roman Empire. With the introduction of the Conventionsthaler as the principal currency of the Empire in 1754, when it began to"
"in a punitive action against Sicily, provoking Pope Martin IV to excommunicate Venice, which was later repealed in 1285 by Martin's successor, Pope Honorius IV. In 1287 unrest flared up again in Istria and spread to Friuli. The war widened after the intervention of the German Emperor Rudolf I, who was allied with the Patriarchate of Aquileia, and Venice had to sue for peace. In 1284, the first Venetian gold ducat, later called the ""Zecchino"", was introduced into circulation. The ducat would be used until the end of the Venetian Republic and was always made with the same weight, 3.56"
"3, 5 and 10 centesimi, ½, 1, 2, 5, 20 and 40 lire. The centesimi denominations were struck in bronze, the lire coins up to 5 lire were in silver and the higher denominations were in gold. All the coins bore the head of name Joachim Murat and his adopted Italian name, ""Gioacchino Napoleone"". Neapolitan lira The lira was the currency of the mainland part of the Kingdom of the Sicily, known as the Kingdom of Naples, between 1812 and 1813. The currency was issued by Joachim Murat, who claimed the title of ""King of the Two Sicilies"" but only"
"its own currency called the ""Friesacher Pfennig"" or ""Frizatik"", widely used within the Austrian and Hungarian lands in the 12th century. The town gained in regional importance, and by the 13th century the Friesach ""pfennig"" was the standard coin used in the eastern Alps - circulated even as far as Croatia. The importance of the town diminished with the rise of the House of Habsburg, Carinthian dukes since 1335. The fortress, however, continued to be an important power basis of the Salzburg prince-archbishops throughout the Middle Ages, once again enlarged and strengthened by Leonhard von Keutschach from 1495 onwards. It"
"used by Italy, 3 grams. The reverse side bears markings from the Military Order of Christ, which King Manuel had also adopted as his personal insignia. There are only two recovered coins of this type. The first coin has been held in the National Historical Museum of Brazil, which houses the largest numismatic collection of Latin America. The second coin was recovered from the excavation of the Esmeralda. This recovery of this example, forged in 1499, was announced in 2016 following excavation of the 1503 shipwreck off the coast of Oman, on Al-Hallaniyah island in the Khuriya Muriya island chain."
"these reforms, Venice's principal coin was the silver penny, which weighed less than a gram and was about one-quarter fine. Due to the debasement of the silver penny in 1180 and the constant fluctuation in value of Jerusalem and Byzantine coins, Dandolo instated three denominations of this silver penny, the ""bianco"" (half-penny), the ""quartarolo"" (quarter-penny), and the silver ""grosso"". The ""bianco"" had a silver content of about five percent, and was decorated with a cross on one side and St. Mark on the other. The ""quartarolo"" had almost no precious metal content, which made it the first European token coin"
"950); however, it is more likely that this privilege had been granted by Byzantine emperors, as coins with the names of Venice and the name of German emperors Louis I (814-840) and Lothair I (840-855) had been already in circulation before the aforementioned dates. From around 1031, there are records of coins minted under doge Ottone Orseolo, while in 1193-1202 Enrico Dandolo issued in Venice the silver coin called ""Matapan"", named after the Greek promontory. The most common type of Venetian coin is the ""ducati"" issued in silver and gold. The gold ducato was later known as ""zecchino""; this had"
"1950. As a consequence of the Hungarian Revolution of 1956 the coat of arms was changed again, this version was used from 1957 until 1989. In 1992, a new series of coins was introduced with denominations of 1, 2, 5, 10, 20, 50 and 100 Forint . Production of the 2 and 5 fillér ceased in 1992, with all fillér coins withdrawn from circulation by 1999. From 1996, a bimetallic 100 Forint coin was minted to replace the 1992 version, since the latter was considered to be ""too big and ugly"" by many, and could be easily mistaken with the"
"to strike ducats with 3.53133 grams of 98.6% fine gold. Unlike the unchanging designs of the ducats in Venice, the coat of arms on the reverse of the ducats of Hungary was frequently modified to reflect changed circumstances. In 1470, Matthias Corvinus replaced the coat of arms by a Madonna. Hungary struck ducats until 1915, even under Austrian rule. These were used as trade coins and several of the later dates have been restruck. The Dutch Revolt gave its seven northern provinces control of their coinage. The collapse of the government of Francis of Anjou in 1583, however, left them"
"took its common name from the Duchy of Apulia, which the younger Roger had been given by his father. Doge Enrico Dandolo of Venice introduced a silver ducat which was related to the ducats of Roger II. Later gold ducats of Venice, however, became so important that the name ducat was associated exclusively with them and the silver coins came to be called grossi. In the 13th century, the Venetians imported goods from the East and sold them at a profit north of the Alps. They paid for these goods with Byzantine gold coins but when the Byzantine emperor Michael"
"which were modelled on the gold coins of Florence, were first issued in 1326. Internal peace and increasing royal revenues strengthened the international position of Hungary in the 1320s. On 13 February 1327, Charles and John of Bohemia signed an alliance in Nagyszombat (present-day Trnava in Slovakia) against the Habsburgs, who had occupied Pressburg. In the summer of 1328 Hungarian and Bohemian troops invaded Austria and routed the Austrian army on the banks of the Leitha River. On 21 September 1328, Charles signed a peace treaty with the three dukes of Austria (Frederick the Fair, Albert the Lame, and Otto"
"Cavallo (coin) The cavallo was a copper coin of southern Italy in the Renaissance. It was minted for the first time by King Ferdinand I of Naples in 1472. It gained its name from the figure of a horse on the reverse. The name later was used for coins of the same values but with different types such as that minted by Charles VIII of France at Naples in 1494. As its value decreased, the cavallo was abolished in 1498 and replaced with the doppio cavallo (""Double Cavallo""), also known as sestino, by Frederick I of Naples. The cavallo was"
"an equestrian effigy in imitation of those of Roger I. Later examples have a variety of different images: busts, stars, crosses, etc. In about 1184, King William II of Sicily began minting at Messina a ""trifollaro"" with a lion's face (or mask) on the obverse and a fruited date-palm on the reverse. This was a debased coin, much smaller than the ""trifollari"" minted a century earlier. The lion's face appears to be a copy of a Siculo-Punic coin minted at Messina in the fifth century BC—1500 years earlier. These may still have been in circulation in Messina in 1184. The"
"VIII Palaiologos backed a rebellion called the Sicilian Vespers in 1282, he debased the hyperpyron. This was just one more in a series of debasements of the hyperpyron and the Great Council of Venice responded with its own coin of pure gold in 1284. Florence and Genoa had introduced gold coins in 1252 and the florin of Florence had become the standard European gold coin. Venice modeled the size and weight of their ducat on the florin, with a slight increase in weight due to differences in the two cities′ weight systems. The Venetian ducat contained 3.545 grams of 99.47%"
"who was prominently depicted on it, it was called the ', after the Zecca (mint) of Venice, since 1543 when Venice began minting a silver coin also called a ducat. The name of the mint ultimately derives from (""), meaning a coin mould or die. In some regions, in later centuries, this type of coins were stitched to women's clothing such as headdresses – this eventually led to the origin of the more modern word ""sequins"" to denote small shiny, circular decorations. Following the Venetian model, similar coins were used for centuries throughout the Mediterranean. After two hundred years of"
"king Victor Emmanuel III who was known to have been a coin collector. These coins depict the mint marks ""R"", ""V"" or ""L"", indicating Rome, Vienna or London. Under the direction of Benito Mussolini, Italy invaded and occupied Albania and issued a new series of coins in 1939 in denominations 0.20, 0.50, 1 lek and 2 lek in stainless steel, and silver 5, and 10 lek were introduced, with the silver coins only issued that year. Aluminium-bronze 0.05 and 0.10 lek were then introduced in 1940. These coins were issued until 1941 and bear the portrait of Italian King Victor"
"dinar. The tarì were so widespread that imitations were made in southern Italy (Amalfi and Salerno) from the mid-tenth century, which only used illegible ""pseudo-Kufic"" imitations of Arabic. When the Normans invaded Sicily in the 11th century, they issued tarì coins bearing legends in Arabic and Latin. Roger II of Sicily issued such coins, becoming the only Western ruler at that time to mint gold coins. Their composition was 16 carat gold with some adjunction of silver and copper. The tarì were also produced by the Hohenstaufens and the early Angevins. The tarì coins were generally minted from African gold"
"grams, which is ¼ of a Sicilian gold ounce. The obverse contains a classical (not medieval) bust of the emperor wearing a laureate wreath with the legend CESAR AVG IMP ROM (Caesar Augustus, Emperor of the Romans); the reverse shows an eagle, the imperial symbol, with the name FRIDE RICVS (Frederick). The name ""augustalis"" means literally ""of the august one"", referring to the coin's provenance from the emperor himself, but also linking it with the Roman Emperor, who was commonly styled Augustus. Augustalis An augustalis or augustale was a gold coin minted in the Kingdom of Sicily beginning around 1231."
"continuous "" production, the Byzantine Empire imitated with the ""basilikon"". In 1478, the Ottoman Empire introduced a similar unit. In 1535, the Knights Hospitaller of Malta did so. The Ottoman and the Maltese coins were also gold. Coin collectors often try to accumulate a complete set of """" of ""all the Doges."" Sequin (coin) The sequin (; Venetian and ) is a gold coin weighing of .986 gold, minted by the Republic of Venice from the 13th century onwards. The design of the Venetian gold ducat, or "", remained unchanged for over 500 years, from its introduction in 1284 to"
"cathedral were the earliest examples of Gothic architecture in Central Europe. Coins depicting a two-barred cross, which was primarily used in the Church of the Byzantine Empire, were minted from around 1190, suggesting that the so-called ""double cross"" became part of the Hungarian royal heraldry under Béla III. Béla III of Hungary Béla III (, , ; 114823 April 1196) was King of Hungary and Croatia between 1172 and 1196. He was the second son of King Géza II and Géza's wife, Euphrosyne of Kiev. Around 1161, Euphrosyne granted Béla a duchy, which included Croatia, central Dalmatia and possibly Sirmium."
"by Donatello of a lion called the ""Marzocco"" which was originally commissioned for Pope Martin V and moved in 1812 to the Piazza della Signoria in Florence where it became a symbol of Florentine liberties. The stamps shared a common design, differing only in color and denomination. The stamps were initially issued in denominations of 1 and 2 soldi, and 2, 4 and 6 crazie. In July 1851, 1 and 9 crazie stamps were issued and in 1852, Tuscany introduced a 1 quattrino for mailing newspapers and a 60 crazie stamp for international use. The Tuscan lira was divided into"
"as much silver as the Vereinsthaler. This involved a debasement of the currency of 4.97%. Austria-Hungary also decimalized at the same time, resulting in a new currency system of 100 Kreuzer (krajczár) = 1 Gulden (forint) and Gulden = 1 Vereinsthaler. In 1892 the Austro-Hungarian Gulden was replaced by the Krone, at a rate of 2 Krone (korona) = 1 Gulden. In 1946 the Hungarian Forint (magyar forint) has been re-introduced and is the official currency in Hungary. Copper coins were initially issued in denominations of 1 ""Heller"" ( Kreuzer) up to 1 Kreuzer, with silver coins in denominations from"