Catalog
Denier - Béla II
| Issuer | Hungary |
|---|---|
| Year | 1131-1141 |
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| Value | Denier (Denár) (1) |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Large central cross with four pellets positioned close to the crossing point, four wedge-shaped devices filling the angles between the cross arms, each angle further adorned with two flanking crescents; the entire design is enclosed within a beaded outer border. |
|---|---|
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| Edge | Plain |
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| Additional information |
Béla II's reign was defined almost entirely by the political violence that preceded it — he was blinded as a child on the orders of King Stephen II, a common fate for dynastic rivals in twelfth-century Hungary. That he survived to rule at all was the result of clerical protection, and his court remained dominated by the powerful queen Ilona of Rascia and the nobility that installed her.
These small hammered pieces circulated in a kingdom still building its minting infrastructure, with output organized around royal estates rather than fixed urban mints.