Sterling - John I Moneyer JOHN

John I of Brabant struck these sterlings in deliberate imitation of English penny coinage, a commercial calculation rather than any act of deference — the sterling format dominated North Sea trade circuits so thoroughly in the second half of the thirteenth century that Flemish, Brabantine, and Hainaut lords alike adopted it simply to keep their coin acceptable in the markets of Bruges, London, and the Rhine fairs. The moneyer name JOHN localized the issue for accountability purposes under the feudal mint system without disrupting the coin's cross-border legibility.