Need Help Identifying These Crusader Coins

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  Sapyx Posts: 2,561 ✭✭✭✭✭

  June 30, 2026 5:47PM

  I believe they are all from Cilician Armenia. The second one (with the horseman on one side) and the last one are definitely Cilician Armenia.

  Cilician Armenia is classified as a "Crusader state", despite it being composed of native Armenians rather than Western European Crusaders, due to the influence of the Crusader States on Armenian society; their rulers intermarried with the Crusader states, they were Christian allies against the Islamic enemy (though the Armenians were of the Oriental Orthodox rite, they were prepared to recognize the Pope of Rome as their nominal head if it meant the Crusaders would ally with them) and their coinage style and fabric were more in line with that of the Crusader states in style than the Byzantine and Islamic coins they had used previously.

  The core difference between Armenian coins and the coins of other Crusader states is the language; the vast majority of Armenian coins have Armenian legends, in the Armenian alphabet; this is most easily visible on your fourth coin, with the letters shaped like a U-with-a-stick, a 3, and an upside-down-U, all being utterly unlike the Latin letters seen on Crusader coins but being the Armenian equivalents of A, J and N respectively. The Armenians also tended to make bronze/copper coins more than the Crusaders did, and all these coins appear to be bronze.

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  DesertCoin Posts: 401 ✭✭✭

  July 1, 2026 12:47PM

  @Sapyx said:
  I believe they are all from Cilician Armenia. The second one (with the horseman on one side) and the last one are definitely Cilician Armenia.

  Cilician Armenia is classified as a "Crusader state", despite it being composed of native Armenians rather than Western European Crusaders, due to the influence of the Crusader States on Armenian society; their rulers intermarried with the Crusader states, they were Christian allies against the Islamic enemy (though the Armenians were of the Oriental Orthodox rite, they were prepared to recognize the Pope of Rome as their nominal head if it meant the Crusaders would ally with them) and their coinage style and fabric were more in line with that of the Crusader states in style than the Byzantine and Islamic coins they had used previously.

  The core difference between Armenian coins and the coins of other Crusader states is the language; the vast majority of Armenian coins have Armenian legends, in the Armenian alphabet; this is most easily visible on your fourth coin, with the letters shaped like a U-with-a-stick, a 3, and an upside-down-U, all being utterly unlike the Latin letters seen on Crusader coins but being the Armenian equivalents of A, J and N respectively. The Armenians also tended to make bronze/copper coins more than the Crusaders did, and all these coins appear to be bronze.

  Awesome, extremely informational. Thank you for sharing your knowledge.

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  291fifth Posts: 25,191 ✭✭✭✭✭

  July 2, 2026 11:29AM

  The knowledge level on this forum amazes me! I just learned something new.

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