Gigliato

The Gigliato, also Gillat or Carlino, was a coin of pure silver established in 1303 by Charles II of Anjou in Naples, and then also in Provence from 1330. Its name derives from the Lilies ("giglio") depicted on the reverse entwined around a cross. The coin weighed 4 grams. This type of coin was widely copied in the Eastern Mediterranean, especially by the Turks, such as the Emir of Saruhan.

Charles I of Anjou, the younger brother of Louis IX of France, left his son the Kingdom of Naples and a coinage system with both gold coins and groschen size silver coins. Charles II of Anjou initially continued this coinage, but he took office in a period of financial difficulty throughout Europe and circumstances forced him to replace it. Changes in the relative market prices of gold and silver, widespread counterfeiting and clipping (i.e. shaving metal from the edge of precious metal coins), and prevalent rumors that the mint was debasing the coinage prevented his silver coins from circulating. Attempts to fix the problem with legislation in 1293, 1298 and 1301 only made matters worse. Seeing his coins exported, Charles II of Anjou made a complete change in 1303. He stopped minting gold coins entirely, and replaced his father’s silver saluto d’argento with a heavier silver coin officially called a carlino but widely known as a gigliato.

Charles II of Anjou’s silver gigliato was the same diameter as the dominant silver coin of its time, the French gros tournois, or as the grosso rinforzato being struck by the Roman Senate, i.e. 24 m.m.. It contained 4.01 grams of .929 fine silver, or 3.73 grams of pure silver. Its types were more typical of French gold coins, especially Philip the Fair’s petit royal d’or, than Italian silver coins.

The obverse shows the king in majestatum, i.e. seated on his throne. In this case the throne had lions on either side and the king holds a scepter and an orb topped with a cross. The legend, KAROL SCD DEI GRA IERL ET SICIL REX, i.e. Charles the second king of Jerusalem and Sicily, requires a bit of explaining. Charles I expanded his empire in to the Balkans and purchased a claim to the Kingdom of Jerusalem in 1277, even though Christians had not ruled that city since the Sultan Saladin drove them out in 1187. By 1303, the last remnant of the Kingdom of Jerusalem, Acre, was lost too, but the title was still prestigious. Moreover, the island of Sicily, which Charles I of Anjou had conquered in 1266, had been lost in a 1282 revolt called the Sicilian Vespers. Charles II of Anjou himself was captured in the ensuing war and had renounced his claims to Sicily as a condition of his release in 1288. His ally the pope immediately released him from this promise, and the 1302 Peace of Caltabellotta justified his use of the title King of Sicily for what is now more accurately called Naples, so the coin legend was appropriate.

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