Related Regional Coinage

Emperor Ivan Aleksandar of Bulgaria (1331-1371)

Grosh, Obv.: Aleksandar standing with son Micheal; Rev.: Christ

HISTORICAL NOTES: Brother-in-law and ally of Stefan Dusan, Aleksandar in the end saw his state divided between his two sons

Prince Mircea the Elder of Wallachia (1386-1418)

Ducat, Obv.: Eagle on helmet; Rev.: Coat of arms

HISTORICAL NOTES: Mircea headed the Christian army in the battle of Rovine (1395), where it was defeated by Turks under Bayezid I. The historical Marko Kraljevic - a key Serbian epic poetry hero - is believed to have died there as a Turkish vassal.

NUMISMATIC NOTES: Mircea's coinage can be divided into two main periods: before the battle of Rovine, and after it, when he became dependant on Hungarian king Sigismund; the first featured Slavic Cyrillic inscriptions, the second (shown here) Latin ones.

King Matthias Corvinus (1458-1490) of Hungary

Denar, Obv.: Madonna holding infant Christ, legend: PATRONA UNGARIE; Rev.: Coat of arms, legend: MATTHIAS REX UNGARI

HISTORICAL NOTES: Fighter against Ottoman expansion, son of Janosz Hunyadi (Sibinjanin Janko in Serbian epic poetry). He highly valued Serbian military support, and to that end revived the Serbian Despotate in the Srem-Banat area after the fall of Smederevo (the last vestige of nominal Serbian statehood). Many Serbs moved from Turkish-occupied lands and supported this idea, led by Djuradj Brankovic's grandson, whom epic tradition remembered as the heroic Zmaj Ognjeni Vuk. However, Matthias' ambitions and gratuitous battles against other Europeans squandered the limited resources he needed for the Turkish onslaught from the south. Soon after his death most of Hungary, and with it its Serbs, fell to the Turks, following the battle of Mohacs (1526)

King Johannes (Jovan) Zapolya (1526-1540)

Denar, 1527, Obv.: Madonna holding infant Christ, legend: PATRONA UNGARIE; Rev.: Coat of arms, legend: IOANNES REX UNGARI

HISTORICAL NOTES: Following the Mohacs loss, turmoil and civil war in the remains of Hungary ensued, pitting Austrian Ferdinand Habsburg against local nobleman Zapolya. The latter eventually lost and by 1528 was essentially reduced to a Turkish vassal, but much of the Serbian resources were lost in this war, as well as on the military frontier between Turkey and Hungary. This is also the context which saw the brief appearance of the heroic but mysterious Serbian "Czar" Jovan Nenad, whose brave deeds against the Turks got lost in this civil conflict, and were never recorded by epic tradition.

NUMISMATIC NOTES: This money was probably used to finance the civil war and pay Zapolya's Serb regiments. While the coin bears usual Latin inscriptions, the Serbian language was an important vehicle of political communication at the time - one example being Zapolya's preserved 1537 correspondence with the Turkish commander in Serbia, Mehmed-beg Jahijapasic.

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