Editing Bezant (section)

{{short description|Generic medieval Western European name for eastern gold coins}}
[[File:Crusader coins of the Kingdom of Jerusalem.jpg|thumb|350px|Crusader coins of the [[Kingdom of Jerusalem]]: [[French denier|Denier]] in European style with [[Holy Sepulchre]] (1162–75); [[Kufic]] gold bezant, imitation of the [[Fatimid dinar]] (1140–1180); gold bezant with Christian symbol (1250s) ([[British Museum]]). Gold coins were first copied dinars and bore Kufic script, but after 1250 [[Christian symbols]] were added following Papal complaints.]]
[[File:Tripoli gold bezant in Arabic 1270 1300 Tripoli silver gros 1275 1287.jpg|thumb|350px|[[County of Tripoli]] gold bezant in [[Arabic language|Arabic]] (1270–1300), and  Tripoli silver [[gros (coinage)|gros]] (1275–1287). [[British Museum]].]]

In the [[Middle Ages]], the term '''bezant''' ({{langx|fro|besant}}, from [[Middle Latin|Latin]] {{lang|la|bizantius aureus}}) was used in [[Western Europe]] to describe several [[gold coin]]s of the east, all derived ultimately from the [[Solidus (coin)|Roman {{lang|la|solidus|nocat=y}}]]. The word itself comes from the Greek [[Byzantion]], the ancient name of [[Constantinople]], the capital of the [[Byzantine Empire]].

The original "bezants" were the gold coins produced by the government of the [[Byzantine Empire]], first the {{lang|grc-Latn|[[nomisma]]}} and from the 11th century the {{lang|grc-Latn|[[hyperpyron]]}}. Later, the term was used to cover the [[gold dinar]]s produced by Islamic governments. In turn, the gold coins minted in the [[Kingdom of Jerusalem]] and [[County of Tripoli]] were termed "Saracen bezants" ({{lang|la|besantius saracenatus}}), or "fake dinars" ({{Transliteration|ar|dīnār ṣūrī}}), since they were modelled on the [[Fatimid dinar]]. A completely different [[electrum]] coin based on Byzantine {{lang|grc-Latn|[[trachy (currency)|trachea]]}} was minted in the [[Kingdom of Cyprus]] and called the "white bezant".<ref>Peter Edbury, "Ernoul, Eracles and the Beginnings of Frankish Rule in Cyprus, 1191–1232", ''Medieval Cyprus: A Place of Cultural Encounter'' (Waxmann, 2015), p. 44.</ref><ref name=EI2>{{EI2 | last = Miles | first = G. C. | author-link = | title = Dīnār | volume = 2 | pages = 297–299 | url= https://doi.org/10.1163/1573-3912_islam_SIM_1865}}</ref>

The term ''bezant'' in reference to coins is common in sources from the 10th through 13th centuries. Thereafter, it was mainly employed as a [[money of account]] and in literary and heraldic contexts.<ref>Philip Grierson, "Bezant", ''The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium'' (1991).</ref>