Dinheiro

Dinheiro is the Portuguese word for money (Spanish dinero ), the word is derived from the Latin denarius and was the name for the first Portuguese coins.

In addition, outside of Portugal, it has been a historical name for Portuguese silver coins since the 12th century.

In Portugal, Byzantine drachmas and Arabic dinars were in circulation before their own coins were minted . Own coins were first minted around 1179 under Alfonso I the Conqueror ( Afonso I. Henriques ) (1139–1185), the first king of Portugal. These newly minted coins were made of billon , a copper and silver alloy with a weight of about 1 gram , they had a fineness of 1/12 silver. The weight of the Dinheiro remained constant until under King Alfonso IV ( Afonso IV ) (1325-1357) the weight was reduced to 0.75 grams, called dinheiros afonsinos .
The half-piece is called Maelha .

Transition to Tornez

The last Dinheiros were minted under King Ferdinand I ( Fernando I ).

Under King Dionysius ( Dinis ) (1261–1325), 50 units were introduced based on the model of the French gros tournoisal , Latin: grossus denarius turnosus , translated: thick denarius from Tours , called Tornez in Portuguese .

These coins were replaced in the middle of the 14th century under King Peter I ( Pedro I ) (1357-1367) by the real (mostly Réis), which was introduced at the same time as the Spanish real .

swell

• Friedrich Frhr. v. Schrötter (Hrsg.): Dictionary of coinage . Berlin [u. a.]: de Gruyter 1930.
• Chester L. Krause; Clifford Mishler: Standard catalog of world coins . Iola, Wisconsin: Krause 1982. ISBN 0-87341-061-0
• Friedrich WA Schlickeysen: Explanation of the abbreviations on coins of modern times, the Middle Ages and antiquity as well as on commemorative coins and coin-like symbols . Berlin 1896.