1 Tarì - Robert Guiscard

Robert Guiscard struck these tarì in the immediate aftermath of his capture of Palermo in January 1072 — the decisive moment that secured Norman control over Sicily after years of grinding campaign against the Kalbid emirs. The coins were produced in the Arab-Norman tradition inherited wholesale from the defeated Fatimid-influenced administration, retaining Kufic script on a gold fabric that Guiscard's own soldiers could barely read. He had no interest in reinventing a monetary system that already worked.

The two-year window of this issue closes with Guiscard's return to the Italian mainland, leaving his brother Roger to consolidate Sicily independently.