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

8o
The Coins of Europe
usually display a bear passant on the wall of a fortress. The gold money
is rare. There are the ruins at Wilhelmhof of an ancient castle which
may have been a mint ; it dates from 906. The ducal residence is at
Ballenstadt. The Coethen branch had a mint at C. in the I3th c. There
is a piece in silver of So-kreutzer struck for A.-B. in 1592 during a siege.
Berncastel, a mint of Richard of Volrathi, Archbishop of Troves
(1511-31). A raderalbus of 1516 reads : Moncta Nova Berncaslele.
Berne, the mint of the city itself from 1218 by virtue of a concession
from Frederic II., of the canton, and probably of some of the minor
members of the Confederation. The gold pieces of 32, 16, 8, and 4 francs,
1800, for general circulation, came from this mint. An dcu of Louis XVI.,
1792, is countermarked with 40 batzen for Berne ;
the same course was
taken for other cantons.
Beromiinster, formerly in the grand-duchy of Baden, now in the
Swiss canton of Aargau, an ancient abbey, which appears to have struck
money within its precincts. See Michaelsgulden in Cat. of Denom.
Besalu, Navarre, a place of coinage, of which no monuments are
known, but of which in 1072 Bernard, Comte de Besalu, gave a tithe of
the profits to the church of Sainte-Marie. Gold, as well as silver, is
mentioned.
Besan^on (Bisuntium Civi., Vesontium, or Crisopolis\ chiefly an
archiepiscopal and municipal mint, but also a place of coinage for the
house of Burgundy in the persons of Philip le Bel and of Jean de Chalon,
Seigneur d'Arlay, Governor of the county of Burgundy, Mayor and Viscount
of B. (1291-1315). The civic currency seems to have commenced in 1534
under Charles V., whose name, titles, and portrait occur on pieces about
1535 and as late as 1665. A denier of Jean de Chalon has Johs. De
Cabulon [Rev.] Dns. De Arlato. The archiepiscopal money dates from
the gth c. to the i6th, and the original mint was situated at the Nigra
Porta. The right was limited to the city, but the See claimed the
monopoly for the diocese ;
and we find the Archduchess Margaret in
1507 paying an indemnity for a breach of this title. The power to strike
money in all metals was conferred in 1357. The types of B. were copied
at Messerano in Italy.
Besnt!, Loire Inferieure, a very ancient site, and perhaps the Besniaco,
which occurs on a Merovingian triens, recently found near Roche-sur-
Yon.
Bethune, France, Pas de Calais, formerly part of Flanders, the seat of
a limited coinage by the seigneurs, originally advocates or lay administrators
of the abbey of Saint Waast, near Arras, of the small billon pieces
called mailles, with the distinctive marks of Betv, Betune, or Betunia.
Mathilde, heiress of Bethune, married Gui, Count of Flanders, in 1249.
Beziers, Dept. of Herault, the Roman Biterrce Septimanorum. A
Visigothic mint, and a very ancient place of coinage of the Vicomtes de
B., subsequently by marriage of the V. de Carcassonne, as well as an
episcopal mint. This was also one of the places of coinage of the
Constable of Montmorency, Henri, Seigneur de Damville, in 1586. He
struck here pieces of 6 blanques, but employed it only during a few
months, shutting it on the agreement of the mint at Montpellier to pay
him 1
5,000 ecus.
Bicht, Holland, the place of origin of certain mites of Jan van der
Douck, 1 5th c., reading Johns Vander Dock, and Moneta Nova Bich.
Bielfeld, Lippe, Rhenish Prussia, with Biickeburg and Oldendorf, was
the place of coinage of the early Counts of Schauenburg- Lippe, i6th-i7th