The Crusades, They Were All About The Bezants

An American Congresswoman once stated that politics "was all about the Benjamins" referring to United States $100 dollar bills which have a picture of Benjamin Franklin on them.

Although the Crusades (AD 1095-1291) were propagandized as "holy wars", they were mainly a matter of loot.

One could say that the Crusades were "all about the Bezants", the "bezant" being a slang term for a Byzantine gold coin.

During the Crusades hundreds of thousands of European noblemen, soldiers, peasants, and women poured into the Middle East which they regarded as the "Holy Land".

Their original goal was to drive the Moslem occupiers out but soon Crusaders began forming states like ones in Europe.

At the time, the only hard money (coins) in Europe were small silver coins called by various names, pennies, deniers, pfennigs, weighing about 1 to 1-1/2 grams and made of silver or billon (an alloy of some silver but mostly copper). Some bore the name of a king or emperor but local dukes, barons, count, bishops, or abbots struck most of them.

Crusader Bishops of Valence Denier
Billon Silver, 17 mm, 1.19 gm
Obverse: S APOLLINARS, cross, circle lower right
Reverse: VRBS VALENTIAI, Angel
These small silver coins were minted for the Crusaders passing through the area

England Edward I (1272-1307) Penny
Silver, 16 mm, 1.13 gm, London
Obverse: Crowned bust facing, EDWAR A(NG)L DNS HYB, (Edward King of England, Lord of Ireland)
Reverse: Cross with pellets in each corner, (CIV)ITAS LONDON (London City)

When the Crusaders moved East and into the territory of the Christian Byzantine Empire and the Moslem Empires they encountered gold coins in routine use.

The term "Bezant" became a slang term for a Byzantine gold coin and sometimes for any gold coin encountered.

At the time of the First Crusade (AD 1096) the Byzantine Empire minted two types of gold coins, the histamenon and the hyperperon.

The Byzantine histamenon was made of electrum, an alloy of gold and silver which was mostly silver.

Alexius Electrum Histamenon Christ
Electrum, 30 mm, 4.35 gm, struck: AD 1082-1087 Constantinople
Obverse:
Christ facing on throne, IC to left and XC to right
Reverse:
Crowned bust of Alexius facing, holding scepter surmounted by star and globe with cross
AΛEΞI#42934; ΔECΠOT T#42934; KM (Alexios Despot, "T#42934; KM" is "Of Comnenus")

The Byzantine hyperperon was made of almost pure gold:

John II Gold Hyperpyron Christ
Gold, 27 mm, 4.18 gm, struck AD 1122-1137, Constantinople
Obverse:
Christ on throne holding book of gospels, ΚΕRΟ ΙC ΧC ΗΘΕΙ (Christ help us)
Reverse:
Emperor left being crowned by Mary right, ΙΩ ΔΕCΠΟΤΗC Top: VΘ Right: ΜΡ (John, Despot, Mother of God)

The Shiite Moslem Fatimid Empire controlled Egypt and minted gold dinars. These dinars were about the same weight as the Byzantine gold coins, both weighing around 4.2 grams.

Fatimid Dinar of Caliph Al-Mustansir AH 443 (AD 1052)
Gold, 21 mm, 4.16 gm, Struck at Misr (Cairo, Egypt)

Obverse:
Inner circle: No god but God, Muhammad is the messenger of God
Middle circle: And Ali is the most excellent of the caretakers and the vizier of the best of the messengers
Outer circle: Muhammad is the messenger of God who sent him with guidance and the religion of truth that he might make it supreme over all other religions even though the polytheists detest it

Reverse:
Inner circle: Al-Mustansir Billah, Commander of the Faithful
Middle circle: The Imam Ma'ad summons all to confess the unity of God the eternal
Outer circle: In the name of God, this dinar was struck in Misr the year three and forty and four hundred

The first military goal of the Crusaders was the Holy City of Jerusalem.

The city had been under the control of the Fatimids but in AD 1071 the Turks took it over. The Fatimids got it back in AD 1098, just in time for the Crusaders to take it in AD 1099.

The Crusaders also took several cities from the Seljuq Turks in Syria including Nicaea and Antioch which were incorporated into the four Christian Crusader states, the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem, the Counties of Edessa and Tripoli, and the Principality of Antioch.

The Crusaders needed gold money and rather than designing coins on their own began minting imitations of Fatimid dinars, complete with the Islamic slogans on them.

These copies came to be called "Saracenic Bezants" after "Saracen", a Crusader slang term for a Moslem.

Crusader Fatimid Imitation Dinar
Gold, 20 mm, 3.90 gm, Struck in Kingdom of Jerusalem AD 1148-1187
Obverse: Imitation Arabic legends of Fatimid Caliph Al-Amir (AD 1101-1130)
Reverse: Imitation Arabic legends

In AD 1250 Pope Innocent IV (AD 1243-1254) ordered the Crusaders to stop minting coins with Islamic legends. Some did, some didn't.

Ordinary residents of the Crusader States did not handle gold coins but wealthy citizens did.

In medieval times looting was a common feature in battles and these coins were prize booty as they were small, easily carried, and easy to dispose of.

During battles, a frequent goal of soldiers was to capture a nobleman who could be sold for a ransom payment. These ransoms were usually in bezants or dinars, depending on what was available.

During a later Crusade France's King Louis IX was captured by the Egyptians and ransomed for 800,000 bezants or 400,000 French livres tournois.

The bezant has turned up later, too.

One small example is the coat of arms of England's Duke of Cornwall (currently Prince Charles), which has 15 bezants in a triangle.

The story of the 15 bezants occurs during the Crusades when the Duke of Cornwall was captured by the Saracens. A ransom of 15 bezants was demanded. The people of Cornwall to raised the money for the ransom and the duke was released. This story sounds odd as the ransom for a duke would have been thousands of bezants.

The Crusades were a long time ago but...

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