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A few coinages of Milan more than 1000 years apart
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<p>[QUOTE="seth77, post: 4175209, member: 56653"]The city of Milan is one of the most important urban centers of Italy and has been so for the past 2000 years, while also recognized as vital for the control of Italy at least since the third century. Milan was also (before Ravenna) at the center of a historical shift in the manifestation of power and politics. How?</p><p><br /></p><p>In the summer of 268, while Gaul had been effectively separated and ruled by Postumus as an independent kingdom -- the "Secessionist Empire" -- Aureolus, a general and knight under Gallienus openly rebelled against the rightful emperor and, after a botched attempt at taking Italy, he retreated to Mediolanum, where he offered his support to Postumus. Besieged by Gallienus and his generals -- including the scoffing Claudius (the future Claudius II Gothicus 268-270) and Aurelian (the future emperor Aurelian 270-275) -- his political gambit manifested itself in the coinage he minted in Milan for Postumus. This coinage was a series of EQVIT coins (a nod to the cavalry he had commanded under Gallienus) struck in billon at the contemporary low title. Today this coinage is kind of scarce, but still available.</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1074787[/ATTACH]</p><p><font size="3">20mm 2.66g </font></p><p><font size="3">IMP POSTVMVS AVG; radiate, draped, and cuirassed bust of Postumus right </font></p><p><font size="3">FIDES EQVIT; Fides seated right, holding patera and signum.</font></p><p><font size="3">Pin exergue, first officina of the mint in Mediolanum.</font></p><p><br /></p><p>During this hectic period, Gallienus was assassinated by a military plot and Aureolus received no acknowledgement from Postumus in Gaul. So he surrendered to Claudius only to be lynched by Gallienus loyalists soon after. Milan returned under the control of the rightful Roman emperor, but the power brokering that Aureolus tried to wield, not just through back-dealing but by showing open signs of an independent local policy, would prove to be very relevant in the 4th century also, most notably in the revolt of Trier against Magnentius and Decentius in August 353. Driven by Poemenius, this civil revolt against a ruler by recognizing his antagonist, might have saved Trier from the wrath of Constantius II.</p><p><br /></p><p>Fast forward 1000 years, the city of Milan is part of the Holy Roman Empire as a free city and commune. It had been punished for rebellion by Frederick Barbarossa (1162) and also had its glory restored by 1200. As Frederick II ruled as King of the Romans and eventually emperor of the Holy Empire, the city kept its administrative system while minting coinage that might be considered immobilized, keeping with the traditional type which had started under Barbarossa in 1185.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1074794[/ATTACH]</p><p><font size="3">AR19mm, 0.85g, denaro imperiale scodellato, minted in the City of Milano, immobilized in the name of Frederick I Barbarossa, cca. 1185-1240.</font></p><p><font size="3">● ♧ ● / + MED / IO ● LA / NVM / ● ♧ ●</font></p><p><font size="3">+ FREDERICVS; I / P / R / T in center flanked by 4 dots, dot in center;</font></p><p><font size="3">cf. CNI V p. 52 #14; Murari 1981 p. 42 #26; BdN Online Materiali 23 (2014) p. 140 #212. </font></p><p><br /></p><p>By 1250, the<i> denaro imperiale</i> of Milan moved from the <i>scodellato</i> style (similar to a Byzantine trachy, with a convex and a concave side) to the <i>piano</i> (a flat flan coin), a change that happened before the death of Frederick II and was continued throughout the later part of the 13th century and the first years of the 14th.</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1074795[/ATTACH]</p><p>AR17mm, 0.78g, denaro imperiale piano, minted in the City of Milano, cca. 1250(?) and later.</p><p>+ FREDERICVS; I / P / R / T in center flanked by 4 dots, dot in center;</p><p>● ♧ ● / + ME / DIOLA / NVM / ● ♧ ●</p><p>cf. CNI V p. 54 #2; Murari 1984 p. 276 #27; BdN Online Materiali 16 (2014) p. 95 #299.</p><p><br /></p><p>Before moving to a local lordship and practically advertising the city-state's independence, the mint in Milan struck one of its rarest coinages: the <i>denaro imperiale</i> for Henry VII as King of the Romans (1308-1313) and King of Italy (1311-1313):</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1074800[/ATTACH]</p><p><font size="3">AR15x14mm, 0.60g, denaro imperiale, minted at the City of Milano, cca. 1311-1312.</font></p><p><font size="3">● ♣ ● / + ME / DIOLA / NVM / ● ♣ ● </font></p><p><font size="3">● hENRICVS REX; cross pattee</font></p><p><font size="3">Crippa (1986) #4, MIR 74, CNI 26/29, Negrini-Varesi 55</font></p><p><br /></p><p>Henry VII tried during his short reign as King of the Romans, King of Italy and Holy Roman Emperor to strengthen the imperial authority in Italy. In 1311 he called the Visconti from exile and appointed Matteo Visconti as Imperial vicar of Milano. With him starts the growing power of the Visconti in northern Italy and the city moves towards almost full independence as the power base of the Visconti.</p><p><br /></p><p>The coinage reflected this change fully, naming fully the new regime as early as the 1330s -- with Azzone, Luchino and Giovanni Visconti minting denarii imperiali in their own names:</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1074803[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p><font size="3">AR15x14mm, 0.60g, denaro imperiale, minted at the City of Milano, cca. 1340-1349.</font></p><p><font size="3"> + LVChIN ♣ VICECOES; croce gigliata</font></p><p><font size="3"> ♣ Visconti dragon coat of arms ♣ / + ME / DIOLA / NVM / ♣ Visconti dragon coat of arms ♣ </font></p><p><font size="3">CNI V, p. 70 #1; Gnecchi 1, 2, 3; Crippa (1986) p. 34 #1; BnD (2014) #459-468.</font></p><p><br /></p><p>By the 1340s when the Black Death visited Milan, the change of power structure and perspective was done. From a free commune minting for the Holy Roman Emperor not 50 years before, Milan was now under the full control of the Visconti and the <i>denarii imperiali</i> no longer named the emperors but the lords of Milan.</p><p><br /></p><p>The shift that had started with Aureolus in 268, towards decentralization and local, actual and nominal power came to a feudal conclusion in the 1330s.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>
[QUOTE="seth77, post: 4175209, member: 56653"]The city of Milan is one of the most important urban centers of Italy and has been so for the past 2000 years, while also recognized as vital for the control of Italy at least since the third century. Milan was also (before Ravenna) at the center of a historical shift in the manifestation of power and politics. How? In the summer of 268, while Gaul had been effectively separated and ruled by Postumus as an independent kingdom -- the "Secessionist Empire" -- Aureolus, a general and knight under Gallienus openly rebelled against the rightful emperor and, after a botched attempt at taking Italy, he retreated to Mediolanum, where he offered his support to Postumus. Besieged by Gallienus and his generals -- including the scoffing Claudius (the future Claudius II Gothicus 268-270) and Aurelian (the future emperor Aurelian 270-275) -- his political gambit manifested itself in the coinage he minted in Milan for Postumus. This coinage was a series of EQVIT coins (a nod to the cavalry he had commanded under Gallienus) struck in billon at the contemporary low title. Today this coinage is kind of scarce, but still available. [ATTACH=full]1074787[/ATTACH] [SIZE=3]20mm 2.66g IMP POSTVMVS AVG; radiate, draped, and cuirassed bust of Postumus right FIDES EQVIT; Fides seated right, holding patera and signum. Pin exergue, first officina of the mint in Mediolanum.[/SIZE] During this hectic period, Gallienus was assassinated by a military plot and Aureolus received no acknowledgement from Postumus in Gaul. So he surrendered to Claudius only to be lynched by Gallienus loyalists soon after. Milan returned under the control of the rightful Roman emperor, but the power brokering that Aureolus tried to wield, not just through back-dealing but by showing open signs of an independent local policy, would prove to be very relevant in the 4th century also, most notably in the revolt of Trier against Magnentius and Decentius in August 353. Driven by Poemenius, this civil revolt against a ruler by recognizing his antagonist, might have saved Trier from the wrath of Constantius II. Fast forward 1000 years, the city of Milan is part of the Holy Roman Empire as a free city and commune. It had been punished for rebellion by Frederick Barbarossa (1162) and also had its glory restored by 1200. As Frederick II ruled as King of the Romans and eventually emperor of the Holy Empire, the city kept its administrative system while minting coinage that might be considered immobilized, keeping with the traditional type which had started under Barbarossa in 1185. [ATTACH=full]1074794[/ATTACH] [SIZE=3]AR19mm, 0.85g, denaro imperiale scodellato, minted in the City of Milano, immobilized in the name of Frederick I Barbarossa, cca. 1185-1240. ● ♧ ● / + MED / IO ● LA / NVM / ● ♧ ● + FREDERICVS; I / P / R / T in center flanked by 4 dots, dot in center; cf. CNI V p. 52 #14; Murari 1981 p. 42 #26; BdN Online Materiali 23 (2014) p. 140 #212. [/SIZE] By 1250, the[I] denaro imperiale[/I] of Milan moved from the [I]scodellato[/I] style (similar to a Byzantine trachy, with a convex and a concave side) to the [I]piano[/I] (a flat flan coin), a change that happened before the death of Frederick II and was continued throughout the later part of the 13th century and the first years of the 14th. [ATTACH=full]1074795[/ATTACH] AR17mm, 0.78g, denaro imperiale piano, minted in the City of Milano, cca. 1250(?) and later. + FREDERICVS; I / P / R / T in center flanked by 4 dots, dot in center; ● ♧ ● / + ME / DIOLA / NVM / ● ♧ ● cf. CNI V p. 54 #2; Murari 1984 p. 276 #27; BdN Online Materiali 16 (2014) p. 95 #299. Before moving to a local lordship and practically advertising the city-state's independence, the mint in Milan struck one of its rarest coinages: the [I]denaro imperiale[/I] for Henry VII as King of the Romans (1308-1313) and King of Italy (1311-1313): [ATTACH=full]1074800[/ATTACH] [SIZE=3]AR15x14mm, 0.60g, denaro imperiale, minted at the City of Milano, cca. 1311-1312. ● ♣ ● / + ME / DIOLA / NVM / ● ♣ ● ● hENRICVS REX; cross pattee Crippa (1986) #4, MIR 74, CNI 26/29, Negrini-Varesi 55[/SIZE] Henry VII tried during his short reign as King of the Romans, King of Italy and Holy Roman Emperor to strengthen the imperial authority in Italy. In 1311 he called the Visconti from exile and appointed Matteo Visconti as Imperial vicar of Milano. With him starts the growing power of the Visconti in northern Italy and the city moves towards almost full independence as the power base of the Visconti. The coinage reflected this change fully, naming fully the new regime as early as the 1330s -- with Azzone, Luchino and Giovanni Visconti minting denarii imperiali in their own names: [ATTACH=full]1074803[/ATTACH] [SIZE=3]AR15x14mm, 0.60g, denaro imperiale, minted at the City of Milano, cca. 1340-1349. + LVChIN ♣ VICECOES; croce gigliata ♣ Visconti dragon coat of arms ♣ / + ME / DIOLA / NVM / ♣ Visconti dragon coat of arms ♣ CNI V, p. 70 #1; Gnecchi 1, 2, 3; Crippa (1986) p. 34 #1; BnD (2014) #459-468.[/SIZE] By the 1340s when the Black Death visited Milan, the change of power structure and perspective was done. From a free commune minting for the Holy Roman Emperor not 50 years before, Milan was now under the full control of the Visconti and the [I]denarii imperiali[/I] no longer named the emperors but the lords of Milan. The shift that had started with Aureolus in 268, towards decentralization and local, actual and nominal power came to a feudal conclusion in the 1330s.[/QUOTE]
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A few coinages of Milan more than 1000 years apart
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