Obol - Andrew II

Andrew II's reign was defined less by monetary policy than by the chronic financial desperation that followed his disastrous Fifth Crusade participation and the ruinous land grants — the so-called "new institutions" — that gutted royal revenue through the 1210s and 1220s. To fund ongoing shortfalls, the crown leased mint operations to Jewish and Muslim financiers, a practice that drew sharp condemnation and was explicitly restricted by the Golden Bull of 1222. Small silver fractions like this obol circulated in an economy increasingly strained by that systematic alienation of crown assets.