The Douzaines of Henry II

Victory: Henry II of Labrit King of Navarre, Henry I Lord of Béarn

Type: The Douzain of Navarre (The Dozen, Douzain a la Croisette)

Year: Without year, between 1541 and 1555

Mint: Mint of Pau or Morlaas, Amount unknown

Border: Irregular

Edge Engraving: —–

Metal: Villon (Silver and Copper alloy)

Diameter: 25 mm

Weight: 2.35 g. Approx.

Coinage: By hammer

Mintmaster: Unknown

Recorder: Unknown

Front:

Front Words: :+: HENRICUS.DGREX.NAVAR.DB

Obverse Description: Crowned coat of arms divided in half, with the coats of arms of Navarre in the left half and Bearn in the right half. Two rings below the R of the word HENRI (almost completely erased on this coin). A dot appears between the letters 10.(G) and 11.(R). The words are separated by simple triangles.

Frontispiece: Henry, by the grace of God, King of Navarre, Lord of Bearn (DB – Domine Bearni)

Back:

Backwords: :+:GRATIA.DEI.SVM.ID:QVOD.SVM.

Reverse Description: A short, flat cross within two quadrangular lobes. Rings appear at the intersections of the lobes. Two rings below the letter R. A dot between the letters 11. (V) and 12. (M). The words are separated by simple triangles.

Background Text: By the grace of God, I am what I am. Traditional image text on Navarrese coins begun by Henry II.

When discussing the dowries of Henry II, we will reuse many of the concepts introduced in the introduction to liards (link).

Francis I of France established the model for the douauaine of the short cross after the coinage reform of 1541. This later specimen, minted at the Bayonne mint, is a clear model for the douauaine of Henry II shown at the beginning of this entry.

Douyen of the short flat cross of Francis I, minted at the Bayonne mint – between 1541 and 1547 – 26mm, 2.49 g

But if we examine the history of the douzain, we have to go back several decades. As its name suggests, the nominal value of the douzain was twelve Tournai dirhams. According to the pound-salary-money standard that had been the basis of most European monetary systems since the time of Charlemagne, twelve moneys made up one sall and twenty salls made up one pound. Consequently, a douzain was worth one sall.

King Charles VII of France began minting coins called douzains (reigned 1422-1461). The name douzain is often confused with the name Grand Blanc or large white. As we saw in the case of Liard, the first coins appeared in the Dauphiné. Charles VII's successors, Louis XI and Charles VIII, continued to mint douzas only in the Dauphiné.

Douveine of the Dauphinate of King Louis XI of France (reigned 1461-1483) – 26.0 mm, 3.20 gr

Douvenier of the Dauphinate of King Charles VIII of France (reigned 1483-1498) – 24.0 mm, 2.37 gr

But during the reign of Louis XII (reigned between 1498 and 1515), Douzaines began to be cultivated throughout the territories of the French kingdom.

Louis XII (reigned 1498-1515) Douzaina of the King of France – 26.5 mm, 2.98 gr – cgb house archive

And the same Francis I, before the reform of 1540-1541, minted the blanc (white), dizain (tenth) and Grand Blanc (large white) coins, showing wide-legged crosses, with values of 10 and 12 Tournai dirhams.

Douzaina ruby of King Francis I of France (reigned 1515-1547) – 2.52 gr – Toulouse mint – probably around 1540, as it already bears the mint's letter M

Returning to the dozen short crosses of King Henry II of Navarre, at least the following five types can be distinguished based on the content of the image text:

:+: HENICVS* D* G* REX* NAVAR* D* B / Words separated by simple triangles

:+: HENRICVS* D* G* REX* NAVAR* D* B / Words separated by simple triangles

:+: HENRICVS* D* G* REX* NAVAR* D* B / Words separated by clover

:+: HENRICVS* DEI* G* REX* NAVAR* D* B / Words separated by simple triangles

:+: HEИRICVS* D* G* REX* ИAVAR* D* B / Words separated by simple triangles

Variants of different iconographic texts appearing on the douens of the short cross of Henry II

If you look at the rings that appear under the letter R, most of the short cross coins (in the case of the coin at the beginning of the article) show two rings both under the R of the word HENRICVS on the obverse and under the R of the word GRATIA on the reverse. Some coins, however, do not show a ring under the R of the word GRATIA on the reverse.

On the other hand, many coin series (again, the initial coin in the case) feature a dot on both the obverse and reverse. On the obverse, the dot appears between the letters 10.(G) and 11.(R), coinciding with the end of the coat of arms. On the reverse, the dot appears between the letters 11.(V) and 12.(M).

As we mentioned in the Liard section, due to the lack of contemporary documents and writings, we do not know today the meaning of the rings or the dots. We do not know whether these features were distinctive features of the mints of Pau or Morlaas, or whether they were the hallmarks of the mintmasters or engravers, or whether they had some other hidden meaning.

As seen in the case of Liard, it seems that the short cross douzains were preceded by the wide cross douzains produced by Henry's mints. In this case, we can see two different variants with different backs, one without the four-ringed lobes and the other with a double geometric figure with four-ringed lobes.

Henry II Cross Douzaine – Without quadrilateral lobes on the back – 2.50gr

Douzaina of the broad-legged cross of Henry II – With quadrangular lobes on the back

We can assume that the douzaines with the broad cross are older than the douzaines with the short cross, which followed the reform of 1541. But again, we have neither a date of creation nor the number of years of activity. In general, they can be found in a worse state of conservation than the short cross specimens and usually in smaller numbers.

The wide-legged cross variants do not show any dots on the lower sides of the front or back. As for the rings, they show a single ring on the front under the letter R of the word HENRI. As for the back, the R of the word GRATIA does not show any rings.

In both cases, the division between words is done by a colon (:), which is another clear feature that distinguishes it from the short cross douzens. Regarding the writing, the following four variants can be found in the variant that does not have a quadruple lobe. 

:+: HERICVS:D:G:REX:NAVAR:D:B / Words separated by colons

:+: HENRICVS:D:G:REX:NAVAR:D:B / Words separated by colons

:+: HENRICVS:D:G:REX:NAVA:R:D:B / Words separated by colons

:+: HEИRICVS:D:G:REX:ИAVARE:D:B / Words separated by colons

Variants of different pictorial texts appearing on the douens of the broad-legged cross of Henry II (found on coins without quadruple lobes)

In these dozen of broad-legged crosses, at least I had not found any inverted N variants, until the following specimen appeared in September 2023. This specimen is quite unique, as in addition to the inverted N it shows NAVARRE on the obverse and a B after the usual GRATIA DEI SVM ID QVOD SVM. It does not show a ring:

A large doubloon minted in the name of Henry II (1517-1555) – 2.98 gr, 24.5mm diameter

Found: :+: HEИRICVS:D:G:REX:ИAVARE:D:B

Hell: GRATIA:DEI:SVM:ID:QVOD:SVM:B

MDC MONACO AUCTION 13, LOT 2093 12.10.2023

What was the size and fineness of these doubloons? Once again, we will notice the loss of writings and documents of the time in trying to answer this question. If we look at the doubloons of the short cross of Francis I, we know that these had a fineness of 292 thousandths of a silver. They also had a nominal weight of 2.68 grams, which means that they must have been around 0.78 grams of pure silver.

Henry's Douzaines had equal value and were freely usable in the French kingdom of Francis I. Consequently, they should have been the same or at least similar in law and form to Francis I's Douzaines.

The iron doubloons of Francis I, which preceded the short cross doubloons, had a fineness of 339 thousandths of silver and weighed about 2.66 grams (0.90 grams of pure silver). These iron doubloons seem to have been made in 1540. The Grand Blanc or large white doubloons, which preceded the iron doubloons, had the same or very similar fineness and weight, and were also worth twelve tournais. Therefore, if they were made before 1541, Henry's broad-leg doubloons would have contained a slightly higher amount of silver than the short cross variants.

Since the end of the 15th century, the Lords of Béarn had been trying to ensure that the coins of Béarn were of equal value and freely used in the Kingdom of France. After the coronation of François Febus, Count of Foix and Lord of Béarn, the Lords of Béarn were simultaneously kings of all of Navarre. As we have said, Béarn was a sovereign Lordship and therefore its currency was a foreign currency in the Kingdom of France. Béarn (and even Navarre itself) had numerous commercial relations, with the territories of the neighboring Kingdom of France, such as Bayonne, Landes, Bordeaux or Toulouse. And in the same way, the Kingdom of Albret-Foix had numerous territories within the Kingdom of France, such as the County of Foix, Bigorre, Marsan, Albret, Perigord and Limoges. Consequently, the parity and free circulation of the Béarn coin was very attractive to the Kingdom of Albret-Foix.

Henry II apparently achieved this goal, after many setbacks, during the reign of Francis I of France. Unfortunately, we do not know the date on which parity was agreed, but the French monarchy imposed a condition. An assayer from the Bayonne mint would have to regularly certify the legitimacy of the Béarn coins.

However, between 1536 and 1538, the French court reversed its decision and banned the circulation of Béarn “cows”. Two edicts from these years, one in Lyon in 1536 and the other in Paris in 1538, speak of Béarn cows; that is, they are probably referring to the Blanc or whites of Henry and his ancestors. These whites, which had two cows on the front and were mentioned in the edict itself as being worth ten francs, would be consistent with the characteristics of these whites.

Henrike's White or Blanc Bearn of Morlaas (known as Tarja in Navarre times)

Katerina's White or Blanc Bearn (known as Tarja in Navarre times)

Apparently, the Bearn coin was widespread in the Gascony territories and as a result, the prohibitions of 1536 and 1538 brought famine to many households, as people could not buy food and goods with their savings.

There is no mention of the Douzaine of Navarre in these edicts. Perhaps this prohibition by the French king prompted the coinage reform of the Navarrese monarchy and the emergence of Henry's new Douzaines.

At the end of 1542, Francis I issued a new edict. In this edict, he reversed his previous opinion and decreed that Navarrese coins could be used in the territories of the Kingdom of France with equal value, as if they were his own coins.

But the parity of the douzaine and the liard of Navarre would suffer further fluctuations in the months and years following Henry's death. The new queen of Navarre, Joan, was cousin to Henry II. The French king reduced the value of the douzaine to 10 Tournai francs from September 1555. Encouraged by the proliferation and number of Navarre's billon coins, the monetary court in Paris urged the French king to reduce the value of these coins and withdraw them.

These incidents were daily occurrences throughout the 16th century, until Henry III. King of Navarre, who assumed the French throne in 1589. The French monarchy tried to bring the small foreign sovereigns in its vicinity closer to its economic market and political orbit. These, in turn, tried to take advantage of the opportunity and, by minting coins that were probably illegal, used it as a pretext for a cheap and convenient financing. Contemporary writings and subsequent coin finds confirm the proliferation and unprecedented number of Béarn coins. But at the same time, the French court could use the devaluation or prohibition of foreign coins as a means of economic pressure and aggression, at times when relations between the two kingdoms were strained.

Henry II minted low-silver bullion coins during his reign. He did not mint coins like the testons or reales of the high-silver era. By the end of the first half of the 16th century, and in the wake of the new discoveries of large silver mines in Tyrol and America, we enter the era of valuable silver coins of greater size, weight, and fineness.

Silver coin of Henry II of France, minted at the Bayonne mint, 1555 – 9.41gr – 30 mm Diam.

Henry already had the creation of these new coins in his mind, and he hired Jean Erondelle. He, on Henry's orders, built in the tower house next to the castle of Pau, water-mill metal rolling mills and flywheel coining machines with the most advanced coin technology of the time. This memorable event will have another blog entry dedicated to it, but we can say that before Henry's death, the renovated mint was almost completely ready. In this renovated mint, they began testing the first coins minted with the new technology, which led to the creation of the last Douzaina of Henry's reign. In the history of Navarre's coinage, the first dated coin of great importance is the mill-milled Douzaina of Henry II of 1555.

Douzaina of 1555 by the mill of Henry II – 1.87 gr. – The first dated coin of Navarre

French National Library Issue 

Obverse: HENRICVS DG REX NAVAR DB

Hell: GRATIA DEI SVM ID QVOD SVM 1555

This coin is very rare, as only a few trials were struck. As can be seen, with the help of new technology, a much higher quality was achieved than the previously struck coins. This can be clearly seen by looking at the roundness of the coin, the shape of the images, the purity of the surroundings and the work of the graphic work of the pictorial texts.

Henry the Conqueror sought a unique way to end his reign.

Bibliography:

DOUZAINE MONNAIE – Wikipedia – link

LA MONEDA EN NAVARRA – MUSEO DE NAVARRA – EXPOSICION DEL 31 DE MAYO AL 25 DE NOV 2001. Miguel Ibáñez Artica – link

MINT OF NAVARRE AND BEARN – WIKIPEDIA – link

HISTOIRE MONETAIRE DU BEARN – Jules Adrien Blanchet – 1893 – link

LES MONNAIES FRANCAISES ROYALES – Tome 1 et 2 – 2° Edition -1999 -Jean Duplessy (In Memoriam 1929- 2020)

Le livre des monnaies feudales de Béarn et de Navarre – Henri d'Albret (II de Navarre) 1516-1555 – Club Numismatique Palois – Serge Salles – link

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