Charles IV, 1322

Duplessy 239; Friedberg 263, PCGS graded MS-63

Following further in his father’s footsteps, Charles IV also “took the cross” in 1326, although his primary intention was not to reclaim the Holy Land from the Mamluks, but rather to make inroads against the shattered Byzantine Empire. Remarkably, again like Philip IV, the death of Charles IV in 1328 also prevented him from fulfilling his Crusader’s vow. However, like his brothers, Louis X and Philip V, Charles IV also struck the agnel d’or denomination due both to the popularity it had enjoyed under Philip IV and to the piety and Crusading zeal that the type implied.

5 January 1322. + AGn DI QVI TOLL PCCA MVDI MISERERE nOB, paschal lamb standing left with banner, head right; KL’ REX below. Reverse: + XPC VInCIT XPC REGNAT XPC IMPERAT, cross fleurée in quadrilobe; lis in spandrels.

Ex NGSA (2 December 2008), 509