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

Descriptive Outline of the Coinages of Europe 433
the denier and obole in fine silver ;
and we meet with
nothing of higher value till the introduction of the fort or
fert and douzain under Aimon (1329-43). Yet in the
preceding century the Counts had evidently
risen in importance
and estimation : Tommaso
and Amadeo IV.
(i 188-1253) were successively nominated vicars-general of
the empire the latter ;
placed Sabaudia on the money instead
of Secusia (Susa) ;
Piedmont is first noticed under Amadeo
V. (1285-1 323), and forms an addition subsequent
to the
grant of the province by the Emperor Henry VII. in 1310.
Amadeo VI. (1,343-83) signalised his rule by ignoring the
ordinance of the Emperor Charles IV. in 1363, which required
on the face of the Savoyard coinage an acknowledgment of
suzerainty, and by. striking a gold florin on the model of the
famous Tuscan prototype. It was from this point that a steady
advance was made in the volume and style of the currency,
which had been so far restricted to the denier or denaro, the
obole, the fort or fert, the gros or grosso = 8 forts, and the
silver florin =12 gros. A distinction was drawn between
the money current in Savoy, in Piedmont, and in Sardinia ;
the portraits of the dukes began to appear on some of the
more leading pieces about 1482 and this feature was
;
carried to an extent which has left to us many conspicuous
specimens of medallic skill and taste. We have pieces in
gold, silver, and billon of Carlo I. and II., of Filippo II. and
Yolande, of Emmanuele Filiberto and Marguerite of France,
of Carlo Emmanuele II. and Christine of France, and of V.
Amadeo II. and Jeanne Marie de Savoie-Nemours. These
from the commencement of the sixteenth
productions range
to the end of the seventeenth century.
Besides the Tuscan type of florin and the French one of
the cavalier, adopted by Amadeo VI. and IX. respectively,
Luigi (1439-65) employed two gold patterns, one described
in the Rossi Catalogue, the other figured in the text, as well
as a grosso and ^ grosso of Milanese design. There is a
very rare and valuable silver scudo of Carlo II. (1504-53)
with Charolus. Dvx. Sabavdie. Secvndvs, and his portrait to
right wearing the berretta : above, Fert, and below, 1508.
2 F