Besant [1] , bisantine [1] and Byzantine [2] ( French bezant , lat. Besantius , lat. Byzantii ) - in the X - XIII centuries, the West European name of the Byzantine solid and other gold coins of the eastern states. The word comes from the Greek name Byzantium , the ancient name of Constantinople , the capital of the Byzantine Empire. In a broad sense, means gold coins or money in general in Western European medieval documents. Also - the name of the stamp in heraldry .
The Greek name for this coin is nomism or nomisma ( dr. Greek νόμισμα - coin, from νόμος - law) [3] , and its varieties - nomisma stamen ( histamenone ), nomisma iperpir ( iperpir ) and nomisma tetarteron ( tetarteron ).
Content
Title
The name comes from the Latinized form of the original Greek name for the relatively small town of Byzantium Βυζάντιον ("Byzantion"), which in the 4th century became the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire and was later renamed to Constantinople, by order of the Roman Emperor Constantine the Great . The name "bezant" was first used by Pope John VIII in the 70s of the IX century [2] .
Description
The Byzantine Empire has been one of the main sources of gold coins since the time of Constantine. Gold coins, unlike silver and bronze, were not usually minted in the early Middle Ages in Western Europe . Rarely, gold coins were used to make payments in special cases, or in order to show respect. In France , bezant was used in solemn occasions. On the day of the coronation , during the Mass , the French king was to sacrifice 13 Besant [2] .
Byzantine gold coins were highly valued, as were later coins minted in Islamic caliphates. The first Besantes were Byzantine solidi. Later, this term also extended to gold dinars , which were minted in Islamic caliphates and called the Saracen Besant (byzantii saracenati) [2] , also modeled on solid [5] . In the image of the Byzantine solid in the Kingdom of Jerusalem (XII century) and in the Latin Empire (XIII century) they began to mint their own gold coins [2] . In Cyprus, silver bezants were minted, called the “white bezant” (byzantii albi) [2] . The weight of the bezant during its period of change: from 3.2 grams to 4.55 [6] [7] [8] .
The term "bezant" was used by the Venetians to refer to Egyptian gold dinars. Marco Polo mentioned Besant in the reports of his trip to East Asia when describing the money of the Yuan empire [10] . His descriptions were based on a ratio of 1 bezant = 20 groats = 133 ⅓ Turkish pennies . The minting of gold coins was reintroduced in Europe in 1252, when gold coins, known as florins and ducats, began to be minted in Florence and Venice [7] .
Before the advent of florins and ducats , it was the main gold trading coin, especially in trade with the countries of the Middle East. It rarely came to the East Slavic lands [1] .
In heraldry
In heraldry, bezant is a heraldic figure. He is depicted in the form of a gold (yellow) or silver (white) circle, representing money and wealth. Like most heraldic figures, bezant comes from the time of the Crusades , when Western Europeans got acquainted with high-quality Byzantine gold coins [11] .
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Geralt (coat of arms)
Coat of arms of Meco
Coat of arms of Adjara
Coat of arms of the Kharkov province
Notes
- ↑ 1 2 3 Zvarich, 1980 , " Besant, Byzantine. "
- ↑ 1 2 3 4 5 6 Pavel Pavlovich von Winkler . Byzantines // Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary : in 86 volumes (82 volumes and 4 additional). - SPb. , 1892. - T. VI. - S. 250—251.
- ↑ Zvarich, 1980 , " Nomism ."
- ↑ Obverse and reverse, 2016 , p. 167.
- ↑ Zvarich, 1980 , Dinar .
- ↑ Fengler, 1993 , Besant .
- ↑ 1 2 Zvarych, 1980 , Solid .
- ↑ Fengler, 1993 , “ Byzantine Coins .”
- ↑ Pavel Pavlovich von Winkler . Byzantium // Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary : in 86 volumes (82 volumes and 4 additional). - SPb. , 1892. - T. VI. - S. 251-277.
- ↑ Yule Henry, Cordier Henri. The Travels of Marco Polo: The Complete Yule-Cordier Edition / revised and updated by Henri Cordier. - Third edition. - Plain Label Books, 1903. - P. 1226-1227. - ISBN 1-60303-615-6 .
- ↑ Stamp figures - Charges . www.excurs.ru. Date of treatment November 12, 2018.
Literature
- Obverse and reverse of history / [Ed. col .: A.V. Mityaeva et al.]. - M .: International Numismatic Club , 2016. - 216 p. - ISBN 978-5-9906902-6-4 .
- Zvarich V.V. Numismatic Dictionary . - 4th ed .. - Lviv: High School, 1980.
- Fengler H., Girou G., Unger V. Numismatist Dictionary / Ed. ed. V.M. Potin. - 2nd ed., Pererab. and add. - M .: Radio and communications, 1993. - ISBN 5-256-00317-8 .
Links
- Bézant // Reppa - Das grosse Münzen-Lexikon.