Coins at Vadum Jacob: New Evidence on the Circulation of Money in the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem during the Second Half of the Twelfth Century

Excavations conducted between 1993 and 1998 by Ronnie Ellenblum and Adrian Boas have uncovered the remains of the Frankish castle of Vadum Jacob, Jacob's Ford, also known under its thirteenth-century French name Chastelet (Figure l). ¹ King Baldwin IV and the Knights Templar jointly erected the castle in October 1178 on a strategic site that overlooks virtually the only crossing of the Jordan between the kingdom's territory and the hinterland of Damascus, then ruled by Saladin.