W. C a r e w H a z l i t t Coinage of the European Continent

446 The Coins of Europe
nations of that and the earlier period occur many coins of a
curious character. The gold money of Guglielmo and
Margherita, 1550-87, A is particularly rare. scudo of 1564
i
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*4 I
V
v
'
Mantua : scudo di argento, 1622.
has the obverse similar to the piece engraved at p. 269, and
on reverse in the angles of the cross, G. and M. with the
legend In Hoc Signo Ei\t]cias Deinonia As may be
perceived from the accompanying illustration, the George
and Dragon type was one of those employed at Mantua,
and the mode of rendering the tradition was somewhat
superior to that of Pistrucci !
The same process of political evolution is observable at
Milan from a coinage purely imperial to one issued under the
more or less nominal authority of the reigning sovereign
or power, with the name of the city or a
Milan.
tutelary
saint, as meets our eyes almost throughout mediaeval Europe.
At Milan the Lombard kings and emperors of the West controlled
the coinage, wholly or in part, from the eighth to the
thirteenth century. Between the Carlovingian epoch and
the introduction of fine artistic work under the dukes there
was an interval of decadence and barbarism ;
we find denari
of varying type and module which improved in
fabric before
they exhibited much advance in style. Toward the period
when the city and territory fell into the hands of personal
rulers, the money bears a republican and autonomous impress,
with Mediolanvm on one side and the name and seated