Dinero - Sancho V elegant bust to left

Sancho V Ramírez spent much of his reign locked in wars with the Moorish taifa kingdoms to the south while simultaneously maneuvering to bring Aragon under the papal protectorate in 1068 — making his kingdom a direct vassal of Rome, a move without precedent among Iberian rulers at the time. Billon coinage from this reign is sparse, and what survives shows significant variation in alloy quality, reflecting the chronic silver shortages that plagued the northern Christian kingdoms throughout the latter eleventh century.