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.
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.