Tostão - Filipe III

Felipe III of Portugal — Felipe IV of Castile — inherited the Iberian Union at a moment when Portuguese silver coinage was under serious strain. The tostão denomination had been debased repeatedly across the preceding reigns, and confidence in silver circulation was sufficiently low that much of this issue ended up exported or melted rather than spent domestically. The Portuguese resented Castilian monetary policy throughout the Union period, and that resentment helped fuel the Restoration revolt of December 1640, which ended both the Union and the production run of this type simultaneously.