Enrique IV's billon maravedis are among the most politically charged coinage of medieval Castile. The king's monetary policy was a disaster by almost any measure — successive debasements through the 1460s flooded the kingdom with low-quality billon, triggering inflation severe enough that the Cortes repeatedly demanded reform. Avila is a particularly pointed mint for this issue: it was in Avila, in 1465, that a faction of rebellious nobles staged the "Farce of Ávila," deposing a effigy of Enrique in absentia and proclaiming his young half-brother Alfonso king.
Coins from this mint and period circulated under two rival claimants simultaneously.
Enrique IV's billon maravedis are among the most politically charged coinage of medieval Castile. The king's monetary policy was a disaster by almost any measure — successive debasements through the 1460s flooded the kingdom with low-quality billon, triggering inflation severe enough that the Cortes repeatedly demanded reform. Avila is a particularly pointed mint for this issue: it was in Avila, in 1465, that a faction of rebellious nobles staged the "Farce of Ávila," deposing a effigy of Enrique in absentia and proclaiming his young half-brother Alfonso king.
Coins from this mint and period circulated under two rival claimants simultaneously.