W. C a r e w H a z l i t t Coinage of the European Continent

Catalogue of European Mints 79
Pignatelli (1733), with Antonivs Pignatelli and a bust on obv., and on
rev. Sr R. I. Princ. Belmontis. 1733, and a shield.
Beneventum, the place of coinage of the solidi and trientes of gold
and of the silver pieces struck by the Lombard dukes from the 6th to the
9th Some c. of the earlier of these bear, as elsewhere, the portraits
Roman of
emperors. and Victoria Aug., etc., while others (of the Lombard
series) couple the imperial monogram with the ducal titles. In 848 the
duchy was divided into two portions, Beneventum and Salerno. Benebentv.
Bentheim, Hanover, the mint of the ancient Counts of Bentheim-
Bentheim, whose territory adjoined the Dutch province of Overijssel.
Schulman, xiv. 432, notices a thaler of Ernst Wilhelm, Count of Bentheim,
Tecklenbourg, Steinfurt, and Limbourg.
Berg or s' Heerenberg, Lat. Mans, Westphalia, a barony, then a
county, and eventually a duchy. It was united to Juliers and Cleves, and
successively merged, with those and the other lordships appertaining, in
and that of Prussia under the electoral house of
the dukedom of Saxony
Brandenburgh. This signiory and a great deal of surrounding territory
were erected in 1806 by Napoleon I. into a grand-duchy in favour of
Murat, and again constituted part of the kingdom of Westphalia under
Jerdme Napoleon. There are coins of both, and quite a plentiful series
of the latter. The early seigneurs of B. struck money here as elsewhere :
comp. Dieren, Hedel, and Miihlheim. A thaler of William IV. (1546-86)
exhibits the shields of s' Heerenberg, Hedel, and Polanen. On one
from the Dieren mint, 1
578, the mark is a pomegranate. The Dukes of
Saxony long retained on their coinage the titles of Dukes of Juliers, Cleves,
and Berg. See further in Blanchet, ii. 103, note, and Cat. of Denom.
Mining Pieces.
Bergamo, N. Italy, a seat of republican coinage in the Middle Ages
under imperial control or sanction. On its union with the Venetian
Republic in the i$th c. it adopted the types and currency of its masters.
Bergen-op-Zoom struck, after the Spaniards had raised the siege in
1588, a gold piece with Bergen.
Bergerac, Dordogne, a mint of Henry, Earl of Derby and Lincoln,
pursuant to a grant of Edward III., June I, 1347, and of Edward himself.
Henry struck gros and \ gros, blancs, and esterlins, with Hen. Comes.
Lane, on obv., and on rev. Dns. Bracaivaci or Bragairac. He was
created Duke of Lancaster in 1351, and some of his coins have H. Dux
Lancast. Civitas Bragie.
Bergheim, Alsace, the source of a bracteate of the I4th c. with B-E.,
and a mint of the duchy of Juliers under Raynald IV.
Bergues-Saint- Winoc, Dept. of Nord, France, formerly in Flanders,
an abbatial mint, nth c., and also the source of communal mailles with
Bergens.
Berlin, a mint in the I2th c., and in or about 1280 one of the Margraves
of Brandenburgh, Dukes of Prussia. The urban coinage, which
commenced in 1369, represents the standing figure of the Margraf, and
on rev. the arms of Berlin a bear passant to r. There seems to have
been a late coinage of bracteates here, and from 1621 to 1666 Berlin struck
pfennigen and hellers in billon it does not ; appear to have become an
important mint till the i8th c. There is a grosch of Joachim and
Albrecht, Margraves of Brandenburgh, 1575, belonging here.
Bernburg or Anhalt-Bernburg, probably the principal mint of the
principality, and, since 1806, duchy. The coins are in all metals, and