HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

The ''maravedí'' () or ''maravedi'' (), deriving from the Almoravid dinar (), was the name of various Iberian coins of gold and then silver between the 11th and 14th centuries, and the name of different Iberian accounting units between the 11th and 19th centuries.


Etymology

The word ''maravedí'' comes from ''marabet'' or ''marabotin'', a variety of the
gold dinar The gold dinar () is an Islamic medieval gold coin first issued in AH 77 (696–697 CE) by Caliph Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan. The weight of the dinar is 1 mithqal (). The word ''dinar'' comes from the Latin word denarius, which was ...
struck in
al-Andalus Al-Andalus () was the Muslim-ruled area of the Iberian Peninsula. The name refers to the different Muslim states that controlled these territories at various times between 711 and 1492. At its greatest geographical extent, it occupied most o ...
by, and named after, the
Almoravid dynasty The Almoravid dynasty () was a Berber Muslim dynasty centered in the territory of present-day Morocco. It established an empire that stretched over the western Maghreb and Al-Andalus, starting in the 1050s and lasting until its fall to the Almo ...
( sing. ''Murābit''). The Spanish word ''maravedí'' is unusual in having three documented plural forms: ''maravedís'', ''maravedíes'' and ''maravedises''. The first one is the most straightforward, the second is a variant plural formation found commonly in words ending with a stressed -í, whereas the third is the most unusual and the least recommended (
Royal Spanish Academy The Royal Spanish Academy (, ; ) is Spain's official royal institution with a mission to ensure the stability of the Spanish language. It is based in Madrid, Spain, and is affiliated with national language academies in 22 other Hispanophon ...
's '' Diccionario panhispánico de dudas'' labels it "vulgar in appearance").


Minting

During the
Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ...
, the maravedí was minted in various denominations and materials, with silver being the most common. Initially, the maravedí was a gold coin, primarily minted during the reigns of
Alfonso X of Castile Alfonso X (also known as the Wise, ; 23 November 1221 – 4 April 1284) was King of Castile, Kingdom of León, León and Kingdom of Galicia, Galicia from 1 June 1252 until his death in 1284. During the April 1257 Imperial election, election of 1 ...
and his successors.SPANISH MONEY AND CURRENCY
/ref>


History

The gold dinar was first struck in Iberia under
Abd-ar-Rahman III ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn al-Ḥakam al-Rabdī ibn Hishām ibn Abd al-Rahman I, ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Dākhil (; 890–961), or simply ʿAbd al-Raḥmān III, was the Umayyad dyna ...
, Emir of Córdoba (912–961). During the 11th century, the dinar became known as the ''morabit'', ''morabotin'' or ''morabetino'' throughout Europe. In the 12th century, it was copied by the Christian rulers
Sancho I of Portugal Sancho I (born ; Coimbra, 11 November 115426 March 1211) also referred to as Sancho the Populator (), was King of Portugal from 1185 until his death in 1211. He was the second king of Portugal. Sancho was the second but only surviving legitimat ...
(1154-1211),
Ferdinand II of León Ferdinand II ( 1137 – 22 January 1188), was a member of the Castilian House of Burgundy, Castilian cadet branch of the House of Ivrea and List of Leonese monarchs, King of León and kingdom of Galicia, Galicia from 1157 until his death. Life ...
(1157–1188) and
Alfonso VIII of Castile Alfonso VIII (11 November 11555 October 1214), called the Noble (El Noble) or the one of Las Navas (el de las Navas), was King of Castile from 1158 to his death and King of Toledo. After having suffered a great defeat with his own army at Alarc ...
(1158–1214). The new version of the coin became known as the ''morabitino'' in the Kingdom of Portugal and as ''maravedí'' in the remaining Iberian Kingdoms. Alfonso's gold marabotin or maravedí retained inscriptions in Arabic but had the letters ALF at the bottom. It weighed about 3.8 grams. In Castile, the ''maravedí de oro'' soon became the accounting unit for gold, alongside the '' sueldo'' (from ''solidus'') for silver and the '' dinero'' (from '' enarius') for billon (''vellón'' in Spanish). The gold content of the maravedí fell to a gram during the reign of
James I of Aragon James I the Conqueror ( Catalan/Valencian: ''Jaume I or Jaume el Conqueridor''; Aragonese: ''Chaime I'' ''o Conqueridor''; ; 2 February 1208 – 27 July 1276) was King of Aragon, Count of Barcelona, and Lord of Montpellier from 1213 to 1 ...
(1213–1276), and it kept falling, eventually becoming a silver coin under
Alfonso X of Castile Alfonso X (also known as the Wise, ; 23 November 1221 – 4 April 1284) was King of Castile, Kingdom of León, León and Kingdom of Galicia, Galicia from 1 June 1252 until his death in 1284. During the April 1257 Imperial election, election of 1 ...
(1252–1284). By this time the word ''maravedí'' was being used for a specific coin officially, for any coin colloquially, and as a synonym for money itself, resulting in a certain confusion in interpreting 13th-century references to money, values, and coinage. Alfonso X, for example, made three issues of billon, in each of which the new coin was called a maravedí. His basic silver coin of 1258–1271 was also called a maravedí (''maravedí de plata''). It weighed 6.00 g and contained 3.67 g of fine silver. It was worth 30 dineros. At that time, the money of account was the Maravedí of 15 Sueldos or 180 Dineros, so that one maravedí as an accounting unit was worth six silver maravedí coins. The silver maravedí money of account represented (according to one interpretation) about 22 g of silver in 1258. This had fallen to 11 g by 1271, to 3 g by 1286, and to 1.91 g in 1303. The gold maravedí had disappeared as a money of account by 1300. The ''maravedí de plata'' (silver maravedí) gradually came to be used as money of account for larger sums, for the value of gold coins, and for the mint price of silver, and eventually it supplanted the sueldo as the main accounting unit. Alfonso XI (1312–1350) did not call any of his coins a maravedí, and henceforth the term was used only as a unit of account and not as the name of a coin. In 1537 it became the smallest Spanish unit of account, the thirty-fourth part of a real. In the new world, nonetheless, there are documents which testify to the reduction of their value to less than the thirtieth part of a real. This reduction was on account of the cost and risk of their transportation from Spain, before the establishment of the first mint houses of Mexico and Santo Domingo. The maravedí remained a money of account in Spain until 1847. After Spain's discovery of the Americas, copper maravedís, along with silver reales, were the first coins struck in Spain for the purpose of circulation in the New World colonies. These coins, minted with a special design for specific use of the Americas, were first coined in
Seville Seville ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Spain, Spanish autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the Guadalquivir, River Guadalquivir, ...
in 1505 for shipment to the colonial island of
Hispaniola Hispaniola (, also ) is an island between Geography of Cuba, Cuba and Geography of Puerto Rico, Puerto Rico in the Greater Antilles of the Caribbean. Hispaniola is the most populous island in the West Indies, and the second-largest by List of C ...
the following year, thus giving these coins their distinction as the first coins for the New World. By 1531 these coins were still being minted, by now in both Seville and
Burgos Burgos () is a city in Spain located in the autonomous community of Castile and León. It is the capital and most populous municipality of the province of Burgos. Burgos is situated in the north of the Iberian Peninsula, on the confluence of th ...
. These maravedís were used as Spanish Colonial change for smaller transactions and after mints were later established in the New World, in both
Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...
(ordered in 1535, production began in 1536) and
Santo Domingo Santo Domingo, formerly known as Santo Domingo de Guzmán, is the capital and largest city of the Dominican Republic and the List of metropolitan areas in the Caribbean, largest metropolitan area in the Caribbean by population. the Distrito Na ...
(ordered in 1536, production began in 1542), coins of this type were also minted there.


See also

* Cornado


Rare references

* . * . * . * . * .


Notes

{{reflist Medieval currencies Currencies of Portugal Coins of Spain Almoravid Empire Coins of the medieval Islamic world