1 Gigliato - Carlo II ND

Reverse

Cross with fleur-de-lis on the ends of its arms and more fleur-de-lis in its angles.

Script: Latin

Lettering: HONOR REGIS IVDICIV DILIGIT

Translation:
Honor of the king loves judgment
( Psalm 99.4)

Comment

Charles II of Anjou’s silver gigliato was the same diameter as the dominant silver coin of its time, the French gros tournois, or as the grosso rinforzato being struck by the Roman Senate, i.e. 24 m.m.. It contained 4.01 grams of .929 fine silver, or 3.73 grams of pure silver. Its types were more typical of French gold coins, especially Philip the Fair’s petit royal d’or, than Italian silver coins.

The obverse shows the king in majestatum, i.e. seated on his throne. In this case the throne had lions on either side and the king holds a scepter and an orb topped with a cross. The legend, KAROL SCD DEI GRA IERL ET SICIL REX, i.e. Charles the second king of Jerusalem and Sicily, requires a bit of explaining. Charles I expanded his empire in to the Balkans and purchased a claim to the Kingdom of Jerusalem in 1277, even though Christians had not ruled that city since the Sultan Saladin drove them out in 1187. By 1303, the last remnant of the Kingdom of Jerusalem, Acre, was lost too, but the title was still prestigious. Moreover, the island of Sicily, which Charles I of Anjou had conquered in 1266, had been lost in a 1282 revolt called the Sicilian Vespers. Charles II of Anjou himself was captured in the ensuing war and had renounced his claims to Sicily as a condition of his release in 1288. His ally the pope immediately released him from this promise, however, so the coin legend was appropriate.

The reverse shows a cross with fleur-de-lis on the ends of its arms and more fleur-de-lis in its angles. This profusion of lilies gave the coin its nickname, gigliato, after the Provençal name for them, gillat. The legend, HONOR REGIS IVDICIVM DILIGIT, i.e. the honor of the king loves judgment, is from Psalm 99:4 and was appropriate to the pious Charles II.

Interesting fact