In theMiddle Ages, the termbezant (Old French:besant, fromLatinbizantius aureus) was used inWestern Europe to describe severalgold coins of the east, all derived ultimately from theRomansolidus. The word itself comes from the GreekByzantion, the ancient name ofConstantinople, the capital of theByzantine Empire.
The original "bezants" were the gold coins produced by the government of theByzantine Empire, first thenomisma and from the 11th century thehyperpyron. Later, the term was used to cover thegold dinars produced by Islamic governments. In turn, the gold coins minted in theKingdom of Jerusalem andCounty of Tripoli were termed "Saracen bezants" (besantius saracenatus), or "fake dinars" (dīnār ṣūrī), since they were modelled on theFatimid dinar. A completely differentelectrum coin based on Byzantinetrachea was minted in theKingdom of Cyprus and called the "white bezant".[1][2]
The termbezant in reference to coins is common in sources from the 10th through 13th centuries. Thereafter, it was mainly employed as amoney of account and in literary and heraldic contexts.[3]
Gold coins were rarely minted in early medieval Western Europe, up until the later 13th century;silver andbronze were the metals of choice for money. Gold coins were almost continually produced by the Byzantines and medieval Arabs. These circulated in Western European trade in smallish numbers, originating from the coinage mints of the Eastern Mediterranean. In Western Europe, the gold coins ofByzantine currency were highly prized. These gold coins were commonly called bezants. The first "bezants" were the Byzantinesolidi coins; later, the name was applied to thehyperpyra, which replaced thesolidi in Constantinople in the late 11th century. The namehyperpyron was used by the late medieval Greeks, while the name bezant was used by the late medieval Latin merchants for the same coin. The Italians also used the nameperpero orpipero for the same coin (an abridgement of the namehyperpyron).
Medievally from the 12th century onward (if not earlier), the Western European term bezant also meant thegold dinar coins minted by Islamic governments. The Islamic coins were originally modelled on the Byzantinesolidus during the early years after the onset of Islam. The term bezant was used in the late medievalRepublic of Venice to refer to the Egyptian gold dinar.Marco Polo used the term bezant in the account of his travels to East Asia when describing the currencies of theYuan Empire around the year 1300.[4] An Italian merchant's handbook dated about 1340,Pratica della mercatura byPegolotti, used the termbisant for coins of North Africa (including Tunis and Tripoli), Cyprus, Armenia and Tabriz (in today's northwestern Iran), whereas it used the termperpero /pipero for the Byzantine bizant.[5]
Although the medieval "bezant" usually referred to a gold coin, some medieval Latin texts have been noted to expand its usage to cover silver coins. These silver bezants were often called "white bezants".[6] Occasionally in Latin they were also called "miliaresion bezants" / "miliarense bezants". Like the gold bezants, the silver bezants by definition were issuances by the Byzantine government or by an Arabic government, and not by a Latin government, and the usage of the term was confined to the Latin West.
Inheraldry, aroundel of a gold colour is referred to as abezant, in reference to the coin. Like manyheraldic charges, thebezant originated during the crusading era, when Western European knights first came into contact with Byzantine gold coins, and were perhaps struck with their fine quality and purity. During theFourth Crusade the city ofConstantinoplewas sacked by Western forces. During this sacking of the richest city of Europe, the goldbezant would have been very much in evidence, many of the knights no doubt having helped themselves very liberally to the booty. This event took place at the very dawn of the widespread adoption of arms by the knightly class, and thus it may have been an obvious symbol for many returned crusaders to use in their new arms. When arms are strewn with bezants, the termbezantée orbezanty is used.
![Arms of Sir John Russell, a 13th-century English courtier.[7]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=http%3a%2f%2fwww.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aRussellofDyrhamArms.jpg)
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