KINGDOMS OF CASTILE AND LEON

One of the most iconic coins in Spanish numismatics. After the “Wolf King” of Murcia ceased striking Almoravid dinars, the kings of the West began issuing their own gold coins: the morabetinos. In Castile, King Alfonso VIII chose to imitate these coins. Though written in Arabic, their political and religious messages reflected Castilian and Christian values—using terms and institutions familiar to Muslims. Like Islamic coinage, these coins include the date of minting, but expressed in the Hispanic Era. They were struck regularly throughout Alfonso VIII’s reign and at least into that of his successor, Henry I. The morabetinos became a key economic reference throughout the Iberian Peninsula.