Ten doblas of Peter of Castile

The so-called Gran Dobla of Peter I, known as Peter the Cruel, forms part of the prestigious coins that some Castilian monarchs gave to illustrious people or diplomatic emissaries. In this case, given the date it was minted and the quartered coat of arms of Castile and León, we know that it was issued during the civil war that the young king started with his half-brother the Count of Trastámara, the future Henry II. The specific mention of 1360 links it with the most important event of that year: the first battle of Nájera. It is possible that these doblas were minted to be given to the lords who contributed to Peter’s victory. In this context of the struggle for royal power, the obverse legend, taken from Psalms (‘The Lord is my helper and I will disregard my enemies’), slightly modifies the original verse to reinforce the idea of the sacred origin of the monarch’s authority. From the time they were minted, these large multiples of ‘head doblas’ (so called because of the depiction of the bust of the king on the obverse) were quite extraordinary.