Summary

Dinar coin issued by King Louis IX of France (?) for the Kingdom of Acre, a Latin State of the Crusaders. Struck at the Acre mint, in the period 1251-1257 AD.

"Although the Crusaders came as counter-Islamic warriors, they also settled in the region and engaged in commerce quite extensively. In order for their coins to have value and be recognisable within the market economy, they minted coins similar to the ones found in the region and inscribed their minting in Arabic. This coin follows a Fatimid prototype. Its inscription is arranged in three concentric circles. It was minted in Acre in AD 1251 (AH 649), during the rule of King Louis IX (d. AD 1270), the King of France who led the 7th and 8th crusades. The minting of these coins was instigated by the arrival of a new papal legislator to the Latin states in the spring of 1250 who considered it blasphemous to use coins containing the names of the Muslim prophets and the ruling caliphs. He immediately forbade their minting, replacing them with coins portraying Christian symbolism written in deliberate but faulty Arabic language."

Obverse Description

At centre, Arabic phrase (translation: God is one); around an inner marginal legend in Arabic beginning and ending at :+: (translation: The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit); outer marginal legend in Arabic beginning and ending at :+: but mostly off flan (translation: Minted in Acre in the year one thousand two hundred and fifty one, our Lord became incarnate) Arabic inscriptions are in naskhi script

Reverse Description

At centre within a line circle, across, around an inner marginal legend in Arabic beginning and ending at :+: (translation: Our resurrection, our salvation is in Him, protect us); outer marginal legend in Arabic, mostly off flan but beginning and ending at :+: (translation: We are proud of the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, in Him is our peace) Arabic inscriptions are in naskhi script, crosses are as depicted on the shield of the Knights Hospitaller's

Edge Description

Milled

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