subdued by the German emperors, whose Neapolitan coins are extant. Those of Manfred next appear, in 1225; and those of Charles of Provence, in 1266; then those of the celebrated Queen Jeanne, followed by those of the House of Arragon, and the later series, which begin to improve like other modern series towards the close ΟΙ the fifteenth century; and after that period assume a strong family likeness to those of the rest of modern Europe.

COINS OF MODERN SPAIN.

It has been seen that on the ruins of Roman power in Italy, a number of petty independent states assumed the privilege of issuing independent coinages. Spain, on the contrary, formed, till the irruption of the Moors, in 714, one compact and powerful kingdom, to the princes of which the privilege of coining gold had been very early conceded by the emperors of the East, who no longer recognised the possibility of seeing Spain or Gaul again under the old imperial dominion. The consequence of this recognised independence of Spain was the issue of a gold coinage of great interest, consisting of trientes, or thirds of the Byzantine solidus, which, under the name of Bezants, long circulated in the west and north of Europe. These trientes of the Gotho-Iberian princes occur, of Leirva, 567; Liuvigild, 573; Weteric, 603; Gundemar, 610; Seseburt, 612; Svinthila, 621; Sisemond, 631; Chintila, 636; Tulga, 640; Chindasvint, 642; Recesvint, 653; Womba, 672; Ervigo, 680; Egica or Egiza, 687; Witiza, 700; and Rudric or Roderic, the last of the Goths, the hero of Southey's celebrated poem, in 711.

After Amalric, who was the first acknowled King of Spain by the emperors of the East, the kingdom became elective; the power of election residing chiefly in the bishops. The coins above alluded to, however, bear the portraits of the kings as of hereditary sovereigns, accompanied by their names, the reverse having a cross with the name of the place of mintage, generally in the province of Bætica, where Roman colonies had been most abundant.

On the subjection of the country by the Arabs, an oriental coinage was issued, which, as the Mohammedan

creed forbad the imitation of the human figure, present only Arabic inscriptions, generally sentences from the Korán.

*

The generic term of the Arabs for a coin is markush, from which the term marcus, common in monetary statements of the period, is derived; payment of so many gold marcuses being often stipulated, which no doubt referred to these coins of the Spanish Arabs, which not only circulated amongst, but were imitated in fac-simile by, other nations, who did not understand the Arabic characters, or with the good staunch Christian bigotry of the time, they would scarcely have copied and re-issued sentences of the Korán, however excellent their import. One of these imitations of the Arabian markush is known, which is supposed to have been issued by our Saxon Offa, King of Kent, which bears his name in addition to the Arabic legends, which piece, with one or two more exceptions, forms the only gold coin attributed to England before the time of Henry III.

The Gothic inhabitants of Spain, driven into the fastnesses of the Asturian mountains, step by step recovered their territories from their oriental invaders; and in the tenth century, when the kingdoms of Arragon and Navarre were thus founded, coins were issued by the sovereigns of those states, closely resembling the silver pennies of the rest of Europe at that period. The kingdom of Castille was next. founded, and the Moors were finally expelled from their last stronghold, Granada, and the whole Iberian peninsula (1492) in the reign of Ferdinand and Isabella, who, as heirs of the kingdoms of Castille and Arragon, which had previously absorbed all the lesser states, became sovereigns of the whole of Spain.

Since the re-establishment of the Christian states, the Spanish coinage had taken the course of that of the rest of Europe, gradually increasing in excellence from the middle. to the end of the fifteenth century, at which period the gold coins of Ferdinand and Isabella,† convey a fair idea of the general style of the Spanish coinage.

* For some account of the Arabic coinage of Spain, see Museum Cuficum Borgianum.-Adler. The Cufic is the ancient Arabic language. +From a fine coin in the possession of H. G. Bohn, Esq.

After this period, the discovery of America, and the vast influx of gold and silver from the mines of Mexico and Peru, caused the coinage of Spain to become, for a time, the most abundant of Europe, dollars and half dollars of silver being coined in amazing numbers, which were for a time the only European coin accepted in India, China, and other oriental nations where European commerce was now fast spreading. The more recent Spanish series is too well known to require any description.

The coinage of Portugal, founded as a separate kingdom in 1126, followed a very similar course to that of Spain.

COINAGES OF MODERN GERMANY.

Germany, after the time of Charlemagne, exhibits an immense number of small independent states, each coining money on its own account, a description of all of which would be an endless task, even if the space for so doing was unlimited. About the year 920 the Emperor Henry the Falconer, conferred independent privileges on many German cities, and from about that period the independent issues of coin commenced at Augsburg, Hamburg, Frankfort, Strasburg, &c., which may be regarded as true republics in the heart of the empire. The coins of Nuremberg generally surpass those of the emperors of corresponding dates in both execution and purity, while they are equalled by many of those of the bishops, the electoral princes, and many petty sovereigns. As examples of the coinage of the small states of Germany, as well as those of France, those of the city of Metz, the County of Bar and of the Dukes of Lorraine, will form as good examples as could be selected, and the following notice will be found to explain their character pretty clearly.

MONEY OF THE COUNTS AND COUNT DUKES OF BAR.

Frederic of the Ardennes, the first Count of Bar, was a son of Wiegeric, Count of the Palace, under Charles the Simple. He married Beatrice, a daughter of Hugh Capet, in the year 951; and the Emperor Otho, in consequence of the marriage conceded to him the County of Bar. His dynasty remained

in hereditary possession till the death of Frederic II., in 1034; when his daughter Sophie married the Count of Monteon and Montbelliard, and lived till 1093; and her son, Theodoric II., succeeded her. The authors of "L' Art de vérifier les Dates" state that he was the first who bore upon his state-seal two bars, a kind of native fish, in allusion to the name of the district.

There is no money of Bar known, either of the first dynasty, or of the one of Montbelliard, which succeeded it, nor until after the reign of Thibault II., who died in 1297.

The coins of his son, Henry III., who married Aliénor, a daughter of Edward III. of England, are the earliest known of Bar, though M. de Saulci considers that much earlier coins will yet be found, as it is scarcely probable that the money of France formed the sole money of that independent state, at all events to so late a period.

Henry III. invaded Champagne, where he was defeated,

and forced to acknowledge the sovereignty of France over a portion of Bar, to which M. Saulci thinks the fleurs-de-lis on the reverse of the coin engraved above may allude. The two "bars," with a star, form the device of the obverse, and a cross, with fleurs-de-lis in two of the quarters, the reverse.

The money of Henry IV., who began to reign in 1337, and reigned till 1344, shows a great advance. The shield on the obverse bears the arms of Bar, in good heraldic style; and the reverse has NOMEN DOMINI SIT BENEDICTI &c. It is silver, and weighs thirty-eight grains. It was struck at Mousson, a town built by Thibault II., on the left

bank of the Moselle, in 1260, the mark of which town it bears.

In the reign of Edward I., predecessor of Henry IV., Rolandin, the moneyer of Mousson, was arrested for having coined base money, which he had given to a varlet, to get changed at Metz.

In 1342, John, the blind king of Bohemia, and Duke of Luxemburg, afterwards killed at the battle of Cressy, and Henry IV., Count of Bar, concluded a treaty, by which they agreed to strike money for the common currency of both their dominions, more especially in Luxemburg. Their coinage, struck under this engagement (the original written document concerning which is still in existence), bears the inscription IOHANNES: REX: ET: HENRICVS. COMI⚫ on a shield; on the obverse the arms of Bar and Luxemburg are quartered; and on the reverse, MONETA SOCIORVM., &c.

There are silver pieces described by De Saulci, of 68, 24, 15, and 19 grains; and of billon of 90 grains.

Some of the money of Bar, soon after this period, closely resembles in type that of the kings of France, especially the gros Tournois. Coins bearing the arms of Bar and Luxemburg quartered were also issued, under Robert of Bar, and John Duke of Luxemburg, between 1378 and 1380.

The same Duke Robert appears to have struck gold florins, the first gold in this series, which are copies, except the name of the prince, of those of Charles V. of France; and have for device of the obverse original Florentine type the figure of St. John the Baptist, with S IOHANNES B., and on the reverse, the well-known Florentine lily, with ROBERTVS DVX; while those of the kings of France have KAROLVS REX; both being, in other respects, fac-similes of the original coins of Florence.

Réné of Anjou succeeded to the Duchy of Bar, in 1419, and reigned till 1431; and during his reign some very excellent money was struck. He married the daughter of the Duke of Lorraine; and thus