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 521
of substituting pure copper for the low alloy hitherto used
in the manufacture of the small currency.
1
We now approach the era when the Portuguese coinage
reached, as far as variety and importance are concerned, its
zenith. The interval between the accession of Alfonso V.
in 1438 and the death of Jpao or John III. in 1557 nearly
brought the political and commercial prosperity of the
country to a declining or retrograde point, although at
least a century was to elapse before any loss of material
power became outwardly perceptible. To Alfonso V.
(1438-81) we are indebted for sundry numismatic novelties,
besides the continuance of coins already in use, especially
the escudo of the same debased standard as that of his predecessor.
But he also struck the cruzado, originally =253
reaes or reales, the grosso affonsim of more than one type,
with the meo grosso, the espadiui
= 4 reaes, the cotrim = 5
ceitis, the two latter in base metal, and in copper
the real
Preto, of which ten went to the real of silver.
There has been an allusion to the employment under
Duarte I.
(1433-38) of unalloyed copper, and pieces in that
metal exist with his name. Alfonso V., his immediate successor,
sanctioned a piece of 5 ceitis, from which it is possibly
deducible that the unit already existed in the shape of the
coin of the antecedent reign ;
and the same prince had a
copper dinheiro, of which the type corresponds to the ceitil
of somewhat later date, the reverse presenting a threeturreted
fortress surrounded by water so that the ceitil
;
may
be no more than an alternative appellation for the dinJieiro.
:
Joao II., 1481-95 cruzado di ouro.
Joao II. (1481-95) issued, at all events, the ceitil, and not
the other
;
nor does the dinheiro seem to recur.
1
O Sr. D. Duarte foi o primeiro Rei que lavrou em Portugal as moedas de
"
cobre puro sem liga de prata (Fernandas, Meinoria, p. 89, Note).