Bezants

On their arrival in the Near East, the Crusaders were faced with an established use of gold coins both by the Byzantine and the Islamic states, while in the west, gold had not been used since the seventh century. During the first half of the thirteenth century, the Crusaders struck gold coins, known as besants (bezants). They were inferior in weight and often bore blundered Arabic inscriptions. The crusaders also struck silver imitations of Ayyubid dirhams of the mints of Damascus and Aleppo. The reasons for issuing coins imitating those of their neighbours both in gold and silver, was in order to be able to trade with them and to participate in the local economy.