Obol - Andrew II

Andrew II's reign was defined less by monetary policy than by catastrophic fiscal improvidence — he farmed out royal revenues, including mint rights, to Jewish and Muslim administrators, a practice that triggered a papal ultimatum from Honorius III in 1222 and contributed directly to the issuing of the Golden Bull that same year. That charter, often compared to Magna Carta, stripped the crown of powers Andrew had effectively already surrendered. Small silver fractions like this obol circulated within an economy the king was systematically dismantling to fund his disastrous 1217 Crusade to the Holy Land, which accomplished nothing and nearly bankrupted the kingdom.