Bezzant (Noun)
Meaning
A gold coin of the Byzantine Empire; widely circulated in Europe in the Middle Ages.
Classification
Nouns denoting possession and transfer of possession.
Examples
- During the Middle Ages, merchants often accepted the bezzant as a standard currency for international trade transactions.
- A single bezzant was worth roughly 3 times the value of a denarius in 12th-century Italy.
- In many European towns, the value of local goods was sometimes quoted in terms of bezzants.
- The traveler carefully hid his pouch containing 50 bezzants to protect himself from thieves.
- Historians have found bezzants in archaeological sites and shipwrecks as evidence of the extensive trade networks across medieval Europe.