Povijesni prilozi, Vol. 41 No. 62, 2022.
Original scientific paper
https://doi.org/10.22586/pp.v41i62.21810
The Croatian Kuna as a Symbol of Monetary Value and a Heraldic Symbol in Past and Present
Mario Jareb
; Croatian Institute of History
Abstract
The paper gives an overview of the use of the term kuna as an equivalent of monetary value and an accounting currency since the Middle Ages, with a discussion of the original transaction in marten (Croat. kuna) skins and its mention in a 12th-century source. The tax called marturina / kunovina is briefly mentioned as much has been written about it in historiography. The paper further focuses on the appearance of the marten on coins, the Slavonian banovac, on the obverse where the effigy represented the value. Almost more than a century from the appearance of the marten on the banovac, the marten became the symbol of the country and was later featured in the coat of arms of Slavonia. Due to this, the marten remained permanently present in public from its oldest recorded appearance in the 15th century to the present day. The notion of the marten as an equivalent of monetary value was revived in a series of historiographical works written in the late 19th century. It was on this basis that the Ustasha organization made a decision in 1934 to introduce the kuna as the Croatian currency, and the same name was considered in the Banate of Croatia. Based on these reasons, it was introduced as the basic monetary unit in the Independent State of Croatia. The Kuna reappeared as currency in the Republic of Croatia in 1993 (it was put into circulation in 1994), whereby its introduction was accompanied by debates precisely because it had been used in the Independent State of Croatia. Similar public debates resulted from the decision to place the marten on the national side of the 1-Euro coin.
Keywords
Croatian Kuna; marten; monetary equivalent; accounting currency; marten skins; marturina; Slavonian banovac; coat of arms of Slavonia; Ustasha organization; Independent State of Croatia; Banate of Croatia; Republic of Croatia
Hrčak ID:
280883
URI
Publication date:
15.7.2022.
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