THE COIN COLLECTOR - World eBook Library

CONTINENT OF EUROPE
The early Spanish coinage is mainly concerned with
the large and important provinces of Granada, Arragon,
Leon, Castile, Catalnna, Valencia, and Navarre, all of
which originally possessed and retained independent
monetary rights. Down to a comparatively recent
period, the two last-named divisions of Spain struck
their own currency ;
and after the accession of Henry I.
of Navarre to the French throne in 1589 as Henry IV.,
coins were issued by France for Lower, and by Spain
for Upper Navarre. The plentiful numismatic remains
of Leon and Castile subsequently to their union, and of
those states posterior to the marriage of Ferdinand of
Arragon with Isabella or Elizabeth of Castile, are suffi-
ciently well known, and comprise a great number of
examples of unmistakable individuality. The produc-
tions of Navarre and Valencia are far less common, and
among them we find interesting pieces, especially those
with the portraits of the house of D'Albret. For Cata-
luna we have a special coinage down to the reign of
Isabella II.
Although that ancient Moorish dominion enters much
less conspicuously into the later political history of the
country, the monetary fortunes of Granada participated
in the striking changes and developments which this
part of the Peninsula experienced from the first settle-
ment of the Carthaginians there, and the foundation
of Carthego Nova (Cartagena) in the third century
before our era. All that is manly and noble in Spanish
life and archaeology owed their existence to African
inspiration and energy; the Moorish blood and intellect
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