Cornish currency has been issued in various forms since medieval times and possibly earlier. One early story tells that the Cornish people raised the money by popular subscription to pay a ransom for the release of the Duke of Cornwall, Richard the Lionheart. The 15 Bezants on the arms of the Duke of Cornwall are said to represent the money raised. In heraldry, bezants are gold discs (roundels). Their name as a charge probably comes from the name of the coins. Another early reference to the Cornish currency, the "dynar", is found in a thirteenth century Cornish play in the line "dhodh a dela pymp cans dyner", which translates as "he was owed five hundred dyner". The only English coin at the time was the silver penny: presumably the dynar was equivalent to this.