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

4oo
The Coins of Europe
Antwerp. Edward entered into similar arrangements with
other parts of the Netherlands. Here or at Brussels were
struck the admirable pieces in all metals, including copper,
of Charles V., Philip II., Albert and Isabella, and later
rulers. Some of the pieces bearing the names of Albert
and Isabella have the accollated busts, and others the facing
ones, in the Spanish taste. The coinage of Philip V. for
1703 includes a peculiar type of daalder with the portrait of
the king in unusually high relief, and almost of medallic
fabric. The copper series is
very desirable ;
it runs from the
reign of Charles V. to 1794; and the mite, which was imitated
at Ghent and elsewhere, formed the unit and basis of the
monetary law introduced by Charles, and proceeded to the
gold real = 1440 mites. The system was continued by
Philip II., who also had the oort or oirt and Hard in the
same metal for the various provinces under his government.
Bruges, Brussels, Ghent, and Tournai were four other
points where we shall see that the numismatic life was formerly
very active and diversified. Bruges and Ghent were two of
the principal mints of the later Counts of Flanders. Bruges
was largely employed by the Dukes of Burgundy while
;
Brussels, at first the place of origin of small communal
currency, became in turn the seat of coinage of the Dukes
of Brabant and the Austrian and Spanish sovereigns of the
Low Countries down to the reign of Maria Theresa.
Crossing the actual French frontier we meet with Lille,
Douay, and Saint-Omer. The last is remarkable for a very
ephemeral communal coinage (i 127-28). The majority of
the money is feudal or abbatial, and is confined to mailles
and deniers of small module. The ecclesiastical series exhibits
two juxtaposed croziers, in remembrance of the
union
of the abbeys of Saint-Bertin and Saint-Omer.
The at present obscure fief of Encre or Ancre derived a
certain notoriety from having passed in the time of Louis
XIII. of France into the hands of the minister Conchini,
Mareghal d'Encre, who was executed in 1617.
The coinage of Heusden-on-the-Maese, North Brabant,
limited to deniers having on their reverse a wheel of six