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

492 The Coins of Europe
The
in some instances to the retention of the original legend.
most ancient piece associated with the city and abbey
is a
denier with the name of Unister, apparently long anterior
to the grant of Charles the Simple in 926. The monnaie mclgoricnne,
which seems to have been at first of the Carlovingian
and subsequently of the Narbonne type, goes back to the
tenth century, and diffused itself over the south of France.
The reason for its popularity is not obvious. Originally in
the hands of the Counts of Melgueil,
it
passed in 1215 to
the Bishops of Maguelonne, who in 1262 struck a special
currency with Mohammedan inscriptions for the use of traders
with Egypt and Barbary, and thereby incurred the displeasure
of His Holiness Clement IV. It was a proceeding of which
the record sheds a sidelight on the commercial relations of
that part of France in the Middle Ages, and bears an analogy
to similar traces in the Viennois and Bourbonnais.
The money of Dombes, a territory which had formerly
made part of the kingdom of Aries, is entitled to consideration
under two aspects
: the singular celebrity of the 5 -sols pieces
with the portrait of Marie de Montpensier, 1608-27, their
wide service as models for the moneyers of France, Spain, Italy,
and Germany, and their welcome reception in the East at
a premium and the testons d'or of ;
Jean II. and Pierre II.,
Dues de Bourbon, 1459-1503, which preceded those belonging
to the regal series. This line of princes was unsurpassed
in the grandeur and variety of their currency, which embraced
all metals, and comprehended denominations from
the sextuple louis to the copper denier tournois. The later
holders of the title of Prince de Dombes appear to have
resorted to the mint at Paris.
The numismatic chronicle of the Bretons forms not only
a broken and obscure record, but is
imperfect at the commencement
to an extent which leaves far too
Brittany
Burgundy, much to the imagination, although the long sur-
Lorraine. i r 1 i i ,
vival of primitive habits in this province and its
actual condition form a basis for inferring that its
monetary
requirements were formerly of the humblest and most limited
character. Doubtless the Prankish currency found its way