Meaja - Alfonso VIII standing

Alfonso VIII was thirteen years old when his reign began in 1158, and the years immediately following were consumed by a vicious regency struggle between the Lara and Castro noble factions, each seizing the young king and the revenues of Castile in turn. Coinage from the early part of his reign reflects a kingdom whose minting authority was effectively contested. The meaja, the smallest fractional denomination in regular Castilian circulation, would have passed through hands far more than its nominal value suggests — essential for daily market transactions in a period when silver was politically, not just economically, scarce.