Dinero - Alfonso VII

Alfonso VII inherited a fractured Iberian political situation and spent the early years of his reign consolidating control over nobles who had effectively ignored royal authority during his minority. His assumption of the title "Imperator totius Hispaniae" in 1135 — the year this coinage was likely peaking in production — was a direct assertion of supremacy over the other Christian kingdoms, backed by formal homage ceremonies at León. The billon alloy reflects the persistent silver shortage that plagued Leonese minting throughout the first half of the twelfth century, forcing repeated debasement of the coinage even as Alfonso projected imperial ambitions.