Note 21 — Chapter I · THE CASTILIAN MONARCHY.
Reading edition
Pulgar, Claros Varones de España (Elzevir, 1670, p. 6).—Castillo, op. cit. cap. cxliii.—Saez, Monedas de Enrique IV, pp. 3, 7, 23 (Madrid, 1805). At the Córtes of Segovia, in 1471, Henry ordered the destruction of all the private mints, but it is not likely that he was obeyed (Córtes de Leon y de Castilla, III, 830, Madrid, 1866). Garcia López de Salazar, a contemporary, tells us that the gold Enriques were originally 23½ carats fine, but those struck in the royal mints gradually fell to seven carats, while the private mints made them what they pleased.—Saez, p. 418.
Spanish coinage is an intricate subject, and as some knowledge of it is necessary for the proper understanding of sums of money referred to hereafter, I have given a brief account of it in the Appendix.