Gold maravedi - Alfonso VIII

Alfonso VIII struck these gold maravedis in direct imitation of the Almoravid dinar, a deliberate monetary calculation: Christian merchants and Muslim traders throughout Iberia trusted the weight and fineness of North African gold coinage, and Alfonso needed that trust to fund his campaigns. The design mimicked Arabic script closely enough to circulate without friction across religious lines.

Las Navas de Tolosa in 1212 — the decisive battle that broke Almohad power in the peninsula — was financed substantially through revenues tied to this coinage. Alfonso died the following year.