1 Denaro - Joanna I ND
| Billon | 0.6 g | 15 mm |
| Issuer | Kingdom of Naples (Italian States) |
|---|---|
| Queen | Joanna I (1343-1382) |
| Type | Standard circulation coin |
| Years | 1343-1347 |
| Value | 1 Denier (1⁄1440) |
| Currency | Piastra (1266-1812) |
| Composition | Billon |
| Weight | 0.6 g |
| Diameter | 15 mm |
| Shape | Round (irregular) |
| Technique | Hammered |
| Orientation | Variable alignment ↺ |
| Demonetized | Yes |
| Updated | 2024-10-05 |
| Numista | N#301829 |
|---|---|
| Rarity index | 92% |
Reverse
Cross potent, lis in each quarter
Script: Latin
Lettering: + IERL' ET SICLIE REGINA
Translation: Queen of Jerusalem and Sicily.
Comment
Although her guilt was never proven, to ensure her own sole rule, Joanna had her first husband assassinated. For a time she was exiled to Avignon, where, hungry for money as well as power, she opened a brothel called "The Abbey." The brothel looked like a monastery. The women attended daily mass, did not work on Sundays, and served only elite Christians. But the facade was not a disguise; the Abbey was widely known as a whorehouse. After she supported Clement VII, the Avignon Pope, Pope Urban VI declared her a heretic and her Kingdom to be forfeit. She was captured, smothered between mattresses, and her body thrown into a deep well.
Interesting fact
One interesting fact about the 1 Denaro coin from the Kingdom of Naples (Italian States) made of Billon and weighing 0.6g is that it features an image of Queen Joanna I on one side and an image of the King of Naples, Andrew III, on the other. This coin was minted during Joanna's reign from 1343-1347 and is a rare example of a coin that features both a male and female ruler on opposite sides.
