JOHN II OF ARAGON (1458-1478). Real Gold. (Au. 3.94g/26mm). Sicily (Cru.VS 968). Obv: John II seated facing forward with scepter and cruciferous globe and mark II to left, inscription: IOANNES DGR SICILIE ET ARAGO. Rev: Eagle with extended and crowned wings, around legend: AC ATENARVM ET NEOPATRIE DVX. Good Very Fine. Beautiful specimen. Scarce.
The life of this Castilian nobleman, infant and later King of Aragon, Lieutenant of Sicily, King of Navarre and de facto ruler of Castile, was marked by two obsessions: being King of Castile, his birthplace, and stopping his great European rival: France. He was able to understand and combine both since from the beginning he understood that neither Castile nor Aragon separately could face the power of the northern neighbor, but together they were in a position to do so. When he died on June 27, 1458, his brother, Alfonso V, Juan II was recognized as King of Aragon and heir, therefore, to the various states of the Crown: Sicily, Sardinia, Corsica, Athens and Neopatria, Roussillon, Cerdanya, Aragon, Catalonia, Valencia and Mallorca, remaining under the rule of the new monarch. A new empire was in the making.
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