Enrique II's claim to the throne was built entirely on violence — he murdered his half-brother Pedro I at Montiel in 1369, ending a civil war that had drawn in English archers under the Black Prince on Pedro's side and French routiers under Du Guesclin on Enrique's. These reales were among the first issues of his reign, struck while he was still consolidating a kingdom hollowed out by nearly a decade of dynastic war and desperately short of silver. The billon composition reflects that fiscal reality directly.
Enrique II's claim to the throne was built entirely on violence — he murdered his half-brother Pedro I at Montiel in 1369, ending a civil war that had drawn in English archers under the Black Prince on Pedro's side and French routiers under Du Guesclin on Enrique's. These reales were among the first issues of his reign, struck while he was still consolidating a kingdom hollowed out by nearly a decade of dynastic war and desperately short of silver. The billon composition reflects that fiscal reality directly.