Forms: 3 (Ormin) beȝȝsannt, 3–7 besand(e, 4 (pl.) besaunce, 4–5 besaund(e, -unt(e, -wnt, bessant, -aun, 4–9 besant(e, bezaunde, -nt, 6 beasaunte, beisand, 6–7 (pl.) basence, beazance, 7–9 bi-, byzant, 7– bezant. [a. OF. besan (pl. besanz):—L. byzantius (sc. nummus) Byzantine (coin), from Byzantium, where it was first struck; cf. Byzantine. Poems c. 1400 show the accentuation be·zant.]
1. A gold coin first struck at Byzantium or Constantinople, and seemingly identical with the Roman solidus or aureus, but afterwards varying in value between the English sovereign and half-sovereign, or less. It was current in Europe from the 9th century, and in England, till superseded by the noble, a coin of Edw. III. There were also silver Bezants worth from a florin to a shilling. Used by Wyclif to translate both the Latin words talentum and drachma.
c. 1200. Ormin, 8102. He ȝaff hise cnihhtess þa Fifftiȝ beȝȝsannz to mede.
1297. R. Glouc., 409. Vyfty þousend besans, he sende hem.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 4194. Þar was ioseph in seruage sald, For tuenti besands [v.r. besaundes, besauntis].
c. 1314. Guy Warw. (A.), 2474. An hundred bessauns gif Y the.
1382. Wyclif, Matt. xxv. 15. To oone he ȝaue fyue talentis or besauntis. Ibid. (1388), Luke xv. 8. What womman hauynge ten besauntis.
a. 1400[?]. Morte Arth., 3253. Bruches and besauntez and oþer bryghte stonys.
c. 1400. Roland, 411. Tok of the hethyn broche or bessant.
1494. Fabyan, VII. 374. One is called a bezaunde imperiall, & ye other a bezaunt ducall.
c. 1500. Kennedy, Agst. Mouth-thankl., iii. Brotches, beisands, robbis, & rings.
1577. Test. 12 Patriarchs (1604), 144. They ask two basences of gold.
1611. Speed, Hist. Gt. Brit., IX. vii. 32. They should pay twentie thousand Bizants.
1653. Urquhart, Rabelais, I. xxxi. A thousand besans of gold.
1820. Scott, Ivanhoe, vii. Here, Isaac, lend me a handful of byzants.
1875. Jevons, Money, ix. 97. In Anglo-Saxon times gold byzants from Byzantium were used in England.
2. The offering made by the kings of England at the sacrament, or at festivals.
1667. E. Chamberlayne, St. Gt. Brit., I. II. xii. (1743), 98. The gold offered by the King at the Altar, when he receives the Sacrament … is still called the Byzant.
1762. Gentl. Mag., 599. The King’s [offering] is a byzant, or wedge of gold, value 30l.
3. Her. A gold roundel representing the above coin plain and unstamped: according to Littré, originally signifying that the bearer had been in the Holy Land. Also attrib.
1486. Bk. St. Albans, Her., C iij b. This is calde a besant cros for it is made all of besanttis … He berith gowles a cros besauntid.
1572. Bossewell, Armorie, II. 79. Plates are of dignitie nexte vnto the besauntes … whiche are alwayes of a golden colour.
1610. Guillim, Heraldry, IV. xix. (1660), 352. If they [Roundles] be Or, then we call them Besants.
1864. Boutell, Heraldry Hist. & Pop., v. 25. In the instances of the Bezant and the Plate.
