CRUSADERS. Christian Arabic Dirhams. Dirham (Silver, 21 mm, 2.82 g, 6 h), Akka (Acre), 1251. Cross pattée in center; within dotted square, 'one God, one faith, one baptism'; in outer margin, 'struck in Acre in the year one thousand two hundred, one and fifty, of the Incarnation of the Messiah' (all in Arabic). Rev. Within dotted square, 'The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, One Divinity'; in outer margin, 'His is the glory, forever and ever, amen, amen' (all in Arabic); small cross pattée in upper part of dotted square and another one in the lower left part. Malloy 15. Metcalf -. Very rare. Light areas of weakness, otherwise, good very fine.


This short-lived issue of dirhams bearing a cross and Christian legends in Arabic was introduced in 1251 as a reaction to an intervention by Odo of Chateauroux, Cardinal-Bishop of Tusculum (1244-1273) and Papal legate on the Seventh Crusade, who disapproved of the longstanding practice by the Kingdom of Jerusalem of imitating Ayyubid dirhams with their Muslim inscriptions and datings. Due to the lack of acceptance of the new Christian coins by the Muslim population in the Levant, the issue was replaced soon thereafter by dirhams bearing no cross and a more vague legend reading 'in the name of God the merciful, the compassionate'. This common monotheistic formula was in accordance with a decision by Pope Innocent IV (1243-1254), who in 1253 permanently forbade the naming of and dating after Mohammad on Christian coins. It was also vague enough, however, to neither offend the Muslim nor the Christian population of the Kingdom of Jerusalem.