Here are my coins to keep it relevant, Optimus Princeps. 'Hand Heller', aka 'plague coin' from Germany's Schwäbisch Hall minted around 1350. It was one of the 'free imperial cities' of the Holy Roman Empire. Post your coins from Rome/HRE!
"The Holy Roman Empire was neither Holy nor Roman..." -Talk amongst yourselves (to quote an old SNL feature)
I have at least one 'hand heller', although not sure where it is at moment. But I do have others from Rome as well as many German and Austrian States coins that are relative, through the dissolution of the HRE in 1806. Have been working on cataloging many that I purchased some time ago. Will try to post some pictures, hopefully soon.
That "neither" quote is from Voltaire. (I know that because it's my personal (mmmaybe a Little idiosyncratic) favorite line of his.) Here's a coissue of the emperor Konrad I and the future emperor Heinrich III as 'King of the Romans' (the German equivalent of the later Roman title, 'Caesar'). Triangulating from Konrad's death, that's 1028-1039. The neo-Byzantine motif on the reverse predates the 'Great Schism' between Catholic and Eastern Orthodox communions (1055), while evoking the German "emperors'" readiness to appropriate Byzantine visual rhetoric. Konrad and Heinrich facing, both crowned. +CHONRADI P[atri]. HEINRICI St. Mary, haloed, face of the infant Christ in front of her. +SCA MARIA (Dannenberg 829)
Is this too early for the HRE? Carolingian: Silver denier of Louis the Child, gilded and probably ex jewelry, despite which it is in very nice shape. He died aged 17 or 18. Ultimately succeeded by Henry the Fowler. The Magyars ravaged his kingdom for much of his reign. The mint of Strasbourg was first Argentoratum, roughly the Silver or Treasure Fort, in Gaulish.
Though the empire may appear outwardly flawed, surely you will agree that all is truly for the best in this best of all possible worlds...
GERMANY, Schwäbisch Hall: AR Handheller, issued 1300-1356. 0.49g, 17mm.Obv: "hand of God"Rev: A cross with a pellet at each end.Cracked, with slivers of flan loss. The "hand heller" was in common use within southwest Germany in the 12th century, and soon became a de facto imperial coin. Many cities in the area coined their own Handhellar, but with no identifying mark (until an imperial edict of 1356 required a mintmark), there is no way to know for certain where these coins were minted. The disastrous mortal disease known as the Black Death spread across Europe in the years 1346-53. Approximately 50 million died in Europe Trajan, AD 98-117 Roman AR denarius; 2.92 gm, 20.1 mm, 7 h Rome, AD 114-117 Obv: IMP CAES NER TRAIANO OPTIMO AVG GER DAC, laureate and draped bust, right Rev: P M TR P COS VI P P S P Q R, Mars walking right with spear and trophy
Thanks, @Hrefn, for a Terrific coin, from one of the many earlier Carolingians who are as crazily scarce as most of the later ones. ...And, Yeah, starting from Charlemagne /Karl der Grosse's coronation as 'Roman Emperor in 800, and the rhetorical capital the German emperors drew from that, you get my vote for being in the right place with this one! ...I have one Salian (/11th c.) denar, recently posted somewhere here, where Strasbourg was still rendered with the Latin /Gaulish name. ...Ironically, my example has peck marks!
Some coins struck in the name of CHARLES V, Holy Roman Emperor (1519-56) Charles was the most powerful political leader in Europe in the first half of the 16th century. In addition to being Holy Roman Emperor, with considerable authority over the rulers of lands from central Europe to northern Italy, he was also in his own right direct ruler of the Habsburg Austrian lands (which he delegated to his brother Ferdinand) and the Burgundian Netherlands, as well as a unified Spain and its possessions in southern Italy and the Americas. Despite this, there are not as many coins with his portrait as one might expect. Here are a selection of coins struck in his name, both with and without his portrait. SPANISH NETHERLANDS - BRABANT Karolus Gulden (or Florin) nd (1542-8) GERMANY HALL am KOCHER (SCHWÄBISCHE HALL) 1/2 Taler 1545 (with a later version of the hand arms which appeared on the 14th century Handheller posted by Claudius) GERMANY City of ULM Taler 1547 NETHERLANDS (but part of the Empire) DEVENTER, CAMPEN & ZWOLLE - Joint Issue Daalder n.d. (1554)
Coins struck in the name of CHARLES V - continued ITALY NAPLES Carlino with young bust n.d.(1516-27) ITALY NAPLES Carlino with bearded bust n.d.(1528-46) ITALY NAPLES Tari (2 carlini) n.d.(1528-46) ITALY SICILY 2 Tari 1540 SPAIN 3 Reales n.d. (1535) Ottoman admiral Hayreddin Barbarossa captured Tunis on 16 August 1534, ousting the ruler, Muley Hassan, subservient to the Spanish. In 1535 Charles V launched an expedition which destroyed Barbarossa's fleet and captured Tunis, restoring Muley Hassan. This was one of the many coins struck to pay the troops and military expenses. The expedition cost 1 million ducats. However, Spain was unable to maintain its control of Tunis for very long. The multi-field arms on the obverse reflect the extent of Charles V's dominions:1st qtr. Castile (3 tower gate) & Leon(lion) qtrd.; 2nd qtr. Aragon(vertical bars) & Sicily(vertical bars with 2 eagles); 3rd qtr. Austria (horizontal.bar), modern Burgundy (5 lis), ancient Burgundy (diagonal bars) &;Brabant (lion) with centre escutcheon of Flanders (lion) and Tyrol (eagle); 4th qtr. Jerusalem (cross) & Hungary (horizontal bars), with at bottom ente en point Granada (pomegranate).
