Dobla

The dobla (plural: doblas), including dobla castellana (excelente), gran dobla, dobla de la Banda, dobla cruzada, dobla alfonsi and dobla almohade, was the name of various Iberian gold coins between the 11th and 16th centuries, ranging in value from 2-870 maravedis, depending on the year. The name originated as the "double maravedi" (hence "dobla"), a term used by Castilians for the Muslim dinar, when the maravedí was re-valued as equivalent to the Muslim half-dinar, or masmudina, by Ferdinand III. However, years later, the dobla became various new coins, and at times, a dobla was the same as the newer coins enrique or castellano (but the dobla castellana became double their value in 1475). In general, a dobla was a valuable gold coin, while the maravedi was de-valued into silver (c. 1258) or rarely copper forms. In the 16th century, the dobla was replaced by the ducado, then by the escudo (in 1537) as the standard gold coin of Spain.

The word dobla is derived from the Spanish for "double maravedi" (or a Muslim dinar), when the maravedi was devalued as equivalent to the Muslim half-dinar, or masmudina. The maravedi was named after the Moorish Almoravids (Arabic المرابطون al-Murābitũn, sing. مرابط Murābit). The sister of Henry I of Castile, Berenguela, and his nephew Ferdinand III, had made a new coin, also called "maravedi" which was equivalent to the Muslim half-dinar. Because its value was only three-fifths of that of the maravedí of Alphonso VIII of Castile, the Muslim dinar became known among the Castilians as the "double" maravedí, or dobla.

The term "dobla" was first used, as originally meaning the Muslim dinar, hundreds of years after the Spanish dinar was created. The gold dinar was first struck in Spain under Abd-ar-Rahman III, Emir of Córdoba (912-961). During the 11th century, the dinar became known as the morabit or morabotin throughout Europe, which developed into maravedís. In the 12th century, it was copied by the Christian rulers Ferdinand II of León (1157–1188) and Alphonso VIII of Castile (1158–1214). Alfonso's gold marabotin or maravedí retained inscriptions in Arabic but had the letters ALF at the bottom. Ferdinand II's gold maravedí weighed about 3.8 g.

Alfonso's son, Henry I of Castile, continued to mint gold maravedís during his short reign, but his sister Berenguela and nephew Ferdinand III made a coin which was equivalent to the Muslim half-dinar, or masmudina. This was also called a "maravedí", although its value was only three-fifths of the maravedí of Alfonso VIII. After this new, lower-value coin appeared, the Muslim dinar became known among the Castilians as the "double" maravedí, or dobla. The Christians' version of the dobla survived in Castile until it was replaced by a copy of the Venetian ducat, the ducado, in 1497. The Muslim rulers in North Africa and Granada meanwhile continued to mint masmudinas up to the reign of Ferdinand and Isabella.

In Castile, the maravedí de oro soon became the accounting unit for gold, alongside the sueldo (from solidus) for silver and the dinero (from denarius) for billon (vellón in Spanish).

The gold content of the maravedí fell to a gram during the reign of James I of Aragon (1213–1276), and it kept falling, eventually becoming a silver coin c.1258 under Alfonso X of Castile (1252–1284). By this time the word maravedí was being used for a specific coin officially, for any coin colloquially, and as a synonym for money itself, resulting in a certain confusion in interpreting 13th-century references to money, values, and coinage.

Alfonso X, for example, made three issues of vellón, in each of which the new coin was called a maravedí. His basic silver coin of 1258-1271 was also called a maravedí (maravedí de plata). It weighed 6.00 g and contained 3.67 g of fine silver. It was worth 30 dineros. At that time, the money of account was the Maravedí of 15 Sueldos or 180 Dineros, so that one maravedí as an accounting unit was worth six silver maravedí coins.

The silver maravedí money of account represented (according to one interpretation) about 22 g of silver in 1258. This had fallen to 11 g by 1271, to 3 g by 1286, and to 1.91 g in 1303. The gold maravedí had disappeared as a money of account by 1300. The maravedí de plata (silver maravedí) gradually came to be used as money of account for larger sums, for the value of gold coins, and for the mint price of silver, and eventually it supplanted the sueldo as the main accounting unit. Alfonso XI (1312–1350) did not call any of his coins a maravedí, and henceforth the term was used only as a unit of account and not as the name of a coin.