A couple of deniers of Déols, with a cameo appearance by Richard the Lionheart

Déols is fun for having been a barony, or seigneurie, which issued its own coins, routinely in the seigneur’s name, from the 11th into the earlier 14th centuries. This is part of what makes the whole French feudal series so great: it’s not limited to duchies or more prominent counties. Starting from the lower aristocracy, anyone with the economic means to do this, could.
...Small is Big. When you get a triangulation of a seigneurie or small county, issued in an individual ruler’s name, for whom any documentation is extant, it’s an ideal convergence.
I have a couple of earlier ones, including the iconic issue of Raoul VI /VII (1160-1176), but pictures of those are either nonexistent, or eluding capture. For Raoul, @Edessa posted a better example than mine on @Ryro’s thread, ‘If you're into evil you're a friend of mine:’ https://www.cointalk.com/threads/if...e-a-friend-of-mine.366524/page-3#post-4865335.*
But from these later examples, c. 1206-1234, the progression is an object lesson in the dynamics of the Capetian kings’ rise to national power between the later 12th and early 14th centuries. This process saw dramatic acceleration in the reign of Philippe II (1180-1223). Along with his conquests at the expense of the so-called Angevin Empire, Philippe was remarkably adept at exploiting existing feudal law to royal advantage.
...With all its limitations, traditionally favoring baronial autonomy. Here we see a brief interval of Philippe as bailiff of Déols during the heir (Guillaume I)’s minority. From the same heir’s majority, the coins revert to being in the seigneurs’ own names. ...Canny as he was in navigating his own milieu, Philippe knew when to ‘put on the brakes,’ allowing the baronial succession to follow its usual course.
When Raoul died in 1176, he left (--medieval dynastic history alert: ) ‘only’ a daughter, Denise, as heiress of the barony (/seigneurie). ...Very underage, but, um, that usually didn’t stop these people. (Caveat: Cawley, the author of this site, numbers the operant parties by birth order, independently of whether they reigned. He numbers this Raoul as “[VII].” https://fmg.ac/Projects/MedLands/poiteast.htm#_Toc494350016

Map of France at Philippe II’s accession in 1180. The ‘Angevin Empire,’ centered in the duchy of Aquitaine, is shown in red and pink; the Capetian royal demesne is shown in blue. Capetian vassal states are in yellow and light green. (From Wikimedia Commons.)

As of Raoul VI’s death in 1176, Déols was located just within the Angevin orbit, due east of the county of Poitou (with Poitiers its caput, or feudal capital). Not far to the east of this was the southern extremity of the Capetian royal demesne, centered in Bourges. Along with the intergenerational penchant for revolt on the part of several prominent, neghboring counties in greater Aquitaine, it was a volatile part of the map.

Here’s where the dynastic weeds get higher than usual, even for the period. Denise’s second marriage, arranged by Richard I in 1189, was to André de Chauvigny, a seigneur based in an eponymous lordship located just between Déols and Poitiers, east to west (sadly absent on the map). Poitiers was the caput (/feudal capital) of the Angevin county of Poitou, the northernmost part of Aquitaine. Richard had inherited the entire duchy in 1172, and clearly saw the young but newly widowed Denise as a pawn in the regional political landscape.


County of Poitou. Richard I (as king), 1189-1199. AR denier.
Obv. +RICARDVS REX.
Rev. (in three lines, annulet above: ) PIC [/] TAVIE [/] NSIS (‘S’s couchant).
Duplessy 922, variant. (...If anyone wanted to help out with Elias, it would be cordially appreciated! There was a rumor, I think from @TheRed, that someone has since done one better than Elias, for Anglo-Gallic.)
...Fast forward to 1204. Especially in the aftermath of Philippe’s conquest of most of the so-called Angevin Empire, he was on a roll. Prior to this, André de Chauvigny, lord of Déols by marriage, had switched his primary allegiance to Philippe. During the minority of his son, Guillaume I, Philippe acted as guardian and bailiff of the seigneurie.
https://fmg.ac/Projects/MedLands/poiteast.htm#_Toc494350014


Déols. Philippe II as bailiff //bailistre, 1206-1207. Denier.
Obv. +REX FILIPVS.
Rev. Hexagram, annulet in center (as on issues of Raoul VI). +DE DOLIS.
Duplessy 682. ...More couchant ‘S’s, on either side.
Here is where it gets interesting. Even though, by 1207, Philippe’s position in the entire region was effectively uncontested, he seems to have allowed Guillaume’s accession without demur --but now, effectively for the first time, under direct royal suzerainty. The profusion of fleurs de lis in Guillaume’s first issue might be seen as an acknowledgment of the latter development.

Déols. Guillaume I de Chauvigny, 1207-1234.
Rev. Hexagram, fleur de lis in center. +DE DOLIS. Duplessy 683.
Obv. Cross, fleurs de lis in two angles. +GVILERMVS. Duplessy 683.

Guillaume’s second issue, possibly following Philippe’s death in 1223, ‘dials back’ the visual rhetoric; fleurs de lis are conspicuous by their absence. Here, one might see a reassertion of traditional feudal semi-autonomy.


Déols. Guillaume I, 1207-1234. 2nd issue, variant.
Obv. +GVILLERMVS.
Rev. Hexagram, extending to outer borders; crescent in center.
(From 12 o’clock: ) D [/] E [/] D [/] O [/] L [/] I.
Duplessy 685A.
...People are cordially invited to post any feudal coins, from France or elsewhere, along with anything else involving client states in other capacities. Yes, thank you, ancients emphatically included, whether from Europe or (sorry for this rhetorical flourish --just not enough), ‘wherever toys are sold.’

* @Edessa, if you could use the Duplessy reference --since it’s sitting here, open, in plain sight-- it’s
Duplessy, Jean. Les monnaies françaises féodales. Tome I. Paris: Maison Platt, 2004. P. 164, No. 679.
He refers to this Raoul as VI (accurately, in terms of the regnal succession), and notes the variant you have, with the couchant ‘S,’ without a separate listing as a subtype. Coins of the period from this part of France (especially in Poitou, with Berry to the east, and the rest of Aquitaine to the south), often have this feature in the lettering. Not exclusively enough to really qualify as a regional phenomenon, but distinctly enough to notice.
...Cool Robert Johnson video, BTW!

 

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Beautiful coins! I'm more of an early modern collector than Medievals,
but here are a few French coins:
France, Charles VII, Blanc, 1422-61 St. Lô, Billon


These are a bit late, but here are some coins from Lorraine and Sedan:
Duchy of Lorraine, 30 Deniers, 1728-9, Leopold I, Billon


Sedan, Double Tournois, 1634-38, Copper (25 cent bin find!)

 

@The Eidolon, Thanks on all counts.
I'll see you and raise: even for medievals, I mostly stop around the mid-13th to early 14th centuries. But, thanks to having collected English hammered as late as the Restoration (c. 1660), your blanc of Charles VII is especially resonant. The strike (familiar, Promise you) evokes the unsettled times; Joan of Arc, and all that. It was a real nadir for France, but also a sort of crucible of French nationalism, in the earlier and more benign sense of the term.

 

Those are some very nice coins @+VGO.DVCKS I especially like the denier of Guillaume I. On several occasions I have bid on denier of Deols, but never managed to walk away the winner. One day I'll pick a denier up.

Your denier of Richard has been cataloged by Elias as coin 8d with a rarity of S. As you mentioned though, Elias has been replaced as the go to reference for Anglo Gallic coins. The best reference is now "Anglo Gallic Coins" by the Withers and Steve Ford.

It really is a fantastic book, with so much more detail Ed and better with photographs as compared to Elias. It even has a table of concordance for the two books. My only minor complaint is that it is laid out by region then ruler. Our fellow medieval collector @FitzNigel wrote a review of the book here: https://www.cointalk.com/threads/fitzs-medieval-book-review.286343/#post-2596568

 

Many thanks, @TheRed, for helping out with that! And to @FitzNigel for the review: Thanks, Lots.
I'm looking forward to getting scared by how much copies of this run to now. Betting you knew this, but the geographic arrangement follows very old, venerated (--venable? maybe not so much) tradition in French numismatic books. Back to when no one anticipated that anyone outside of France would collect this stuff.
...But I'm really liking everything else you had to say about the Withers /Ford book. Not least the concordance. Just to start with, I love it that once you have this book, you will always know (i.e., in Sufficient detail) what people who cite Elias are talking about.
...Granted, if it was me, I'd still be giving Elias some real estate on the bookshelves!

 

Excellent writeup and coins @+VGO.DVCKS

Almost at the end of the period you like, here are a gros à la couronne minted in 1358 for Jean II le bon (the good) and the corresponding, yet worn down, piefort



Avers : Légende intérieure : + IOHANNES - DEI : GRA (deux rosettes superposées entre DEI et GRA)
Légende extérieure : [+ BNEDICTV: SIT: NO]ME: DNI: NRI: DEI [: IHV: XPI].
Croix latine fleurdelisée et recroisetée, coupant la légende en bas.
Revers : FRANCO/RV: REX. sous une couronne ; bordure extérieure de douze lis.
30,4 mm - 4,36 gr
Ref : Ciani # 397, Dy # 305



Avers : Légende intérieure : + IOHAN[NES] - DEI: GRA°
Légende extérieure : [+ BNEDICTV: SIT: NOME: DNI: NRI: DEI: IHV: XPI].
Croix latine fleurdelisée et recroisetée, coupant la légende en bas.
Revers : [FRANCO/RV: R]EX. sous une couronne ; bordure extérieure de douze lis.
27,5 mm - 14,71 gr
Ref : voir Ciani # 399, Dy # 305B

Q

 

Wow, @Cucumbor, that is a Really, Really Nice gros à la couronne!!! (--Pasted your rendition, in place of fiddling with the French font I resort to.) As you surely know, the minting of the royal silver issues declines pretty rapidly with the turn in French fortunes during the 100 Years' War. I have a representative gros of his, which doesn't deserve to be on the same page as yours. And a piefort --just Forget it!!!
...To this phase of the war generally, it's a good reason to have Froissart (for those just tuning in, he's a contemporary chronicler). His maybe somewhat gossipy slant toward the courtly and chivalric dimensions of the conflict makes for a welcome escape from what was happening on other levels.

 

Awesome examples!
Here are a couple of my Richard I pieces!

Richard I English issue:


Richard I Aquitaine:

 

Solid, @Antonius Britannia. Yeah, for Richard, you kind of need one of each! And Thanks!