Juan I ordered this issue following the catastrophic defeat at Aljubarrota in 1385, where his claim to the Portuguese throne effectively died along with a generation of Castilian nobility. The agnus dei type was a deliberate invocation of divine favor at a moment when the crown badly needed it. Billon coinage of this reign is notoriously inconsistent in silver content — the treasury was under severe strain from the Portuguese campaign and the ongoing costs of the French alliance.
Juan I ordered this issue following the catastrophic defeat at Aljubarrota in 1385, where his claim to the Portuguese throne effectively died along with a generation of Castilian nobility. The agnus dei type was a deliberate invocation of divine favor at a moment when the crown badly needed it. Billon coinage of this reign is notoriously inconsistent in silver content — the treasury was under severe strain from the Portuguese campaign and the ongoing costs of the French alliance.