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Castellano - Enrique IV Burgos
| Issuer | Castile and Leon, Kingdom of |
|---|---|
| Year | 1471-1474 |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | 4.6 g |
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| Obverse description | Central design features an elaborate Gothic castle of three towers rendered in fine relief, the towers surmounted by turrets and battlements, set upon a platform above a decorative base incorporating the mintmark 'B' for Burgos within a shield below the central arch. The castle is flanked by ornamental motifs and enclosed within a beaded inner circle. The surrounding field carries the royal legend in Gothic Latin characters reading ENRICVS DEI GRA REX CASTELLE B, separated by decorative stops, running clockwise around the periphery. |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | ENRICVS DEI GRA REX CASTELLE B (Translation: Enrique IV King of Castile by the grace of God Burgos) |
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| Additional information |
The castellano was introduced by Enrique IV as a deliberate political instrument following years of monetary chaos in Castile — his earlier coinage had been so debased and inconsistently struck that a league of nobles used the currency's degradation as partial justification for the theatrical "Farce of Ávila" in 1465, where a effigy of the king was symbolically deposed. Burgos, as the kingdom's premier mint, bore the heaviest striking burden for the new denomination.
AB#669 corresponds to the Burgos issue specifically, distinguished from other mint attributions by its mintmark. The castellano was intentionally set at three-quarters fine to compete with foreign gold circulating in Iberian trade.