KINGDOMS OF CASTILE AND LEON

The traditional gold coin of Enrique IV was called the enrique (low throne or high throne), a coin with a very novel typology featuring the king seated on his throne. But in the Monetary Ordinance of April 10, 1471, enacted in the hope of ending monetary chaos and the harm and disruption his subjects had suffered due to bad and counterfeit coins "that have been minted in my kingdoms over the past eight to ten years," the monarch sought to demonstrate his power by trying to restore sound coinage. He ordered the minting of the best possible gold, 50 pieces per marco with a fineness of 23.75 carats, still referred to as enriques in the document. However, he specified a new typology: a castle on one side and a lion on the other, with the entire field surrounded by interlaced half-compasses, which led to the coin being popularly known as the castellano—the term we use today. The obverse legend should read: "Enricus cartus Dei gracia Rex Castele e Legiones o lo que dello copiere", and the reverse bore a new legend for Castilian coinage: "Christus vincit, Christus regnat, Christus imperat". He also decreed that beneath the castle, the first letter of the mint city be placed—except in Segovia, which should use a bridge, and in Coruña, which should bear a venera. The mints were authorised to produce enriques with a face value of 420 maravedis, and also to mint half enriques, in a proportion of 2/3 for the full coins and 1/3 for the halves, and even multiples of enriques, ranging from double enriques to coins worth fifty enriques. These coins from the Coruña mint are especially rare and scarce.