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 stripped the crown of its revenue base and forced the nobility to extract the Golden Bull of 1222. To fund his campaigns, Andrew systematically debased and leased out the royal mints to foreign, largely Jewish and Muslim, operators, a practice so controversial it became an explicit grievance in the Golden Bull itself. These tiny obols circulated through an economy under genuine fiscal stress.