Feeling induced by @ValiantKnight in this thread to find a coin with a church official, I turned to this very recent addition to my small collection of 11th and 12th century pennies of Western Europe (where I live). AR Pfennig, Cologne, Archbishop Philip von Heinsberg (1167-1191). Obv. The Archbishop frontal, seated, with crozier and Bible. …HILIPVS? Rev. A building with towers, a cupola and something like a parasol. COLONIA PAI… 17.5 mm, 1.45 gr. Hävernick 509 e? I wondered a lot about the building. The reverse type is based on an earlier pfennig type, here's one of the first examples: This pfennig was minted in Goslar about 1100. The type is called a Burgpfennig, literally Castle Penny. One sees a temple with a cross and flanking towers behind a lower wall. The Cologne type is different, though: instead of the classical temple we see a larger and two smaller cupolas, and over it is a structure that reminds me of an archbishop's hat. And it might be exactly that, too. But what do we see on the Cologne penny, is it a baptisterium? What type of building looked like this in the Romanesque architectural era: cupolas behind a lower wall? I don't have the Hävernick book about Cologne coins before 1300, it might contain the answer.
I have no answer for you, but I often view medieval art not so much as representational, but as symbolic. Someone (@Orielensis?) had a thread recently about von Heinsberg’s predecessor suggesting the towers may have represented the three Magi, and perhaps the design simply evolved from there. I don’t know, but the Cologne pennies are certainly beautiful - I use one for my avatar! German States, Cologne Archbishop Philipp von Heinsberg, r. 1167-1191 AR Denier, 3rd type, 18.05 mm x 1.4 grams Obv.: HITARCH EPICOV, Archbishop with mitre, crosier, and bible seated on lion throne Rev.: EIACOLONIA PAICHAI, Three towers over wall and gate, likely representing the Cathedral of St Peter, Cologne
Hi, I know of this type, as it is one of the more popular German coinages and has been used by prelates and secular lords alike in the 12th and 13th century, but am not at all familiar with its intricacies and just now dwell on it based on your very interesting questions. At a first glance you'd be tempted to see an outward view of a romanesque church facade, like think for instance the Saint-Pierre d'Angouleme behind the city walls in 1130: But an interior structure might also be likely now that you mention it (although not sure about a baptisterium) -- an aedicula like the one in the apse of the old San Pietro basilica: or a similar structure to the one in the second basilica of San Clemente al Laterano, from around 1100-1200: The "walls" are in this case the cancelli panels, inspired by the earlier Roman basilicas, where they were used to separate the aisles from the nave and the chancel/presbytery. If it was meant to represent the inside of a specific church or cathedral, there is also at least one analogy from a rather scarce pougeoise of Antioch, minted cca. 1140 during the reign of Raymond de Poitiers: depicting a possible altar of the Crusader period in Saint Peter's Cathedral of Antioch. The representation is much more schematic in nature but the actual structure could very likely be similar to the one presented on your pfennige.
Just for comparison, this pictures shows the old dome of cologne. If you look from the left side there are some similarities with the depiction on the coin ; two cupolas, two towers. Just coincidence ? source: wikipedia
That's a beautiful Cologne pfennig – I very much like it. Hävernick's catalogue and monograph on the Cologne pennies don't dive into the architectural fineries of their reverses. This is a topic very close to my interests, and since you ask, I have a preliminary theory on this matter, which I will outline below. Please take it with a grain of salt, though – this still is very much work in progress. 1.) The majority of high medieval Cologne pennies (see examples here) shows a church building with three towers and a wall or arcade surrounding it. The latter structure might, depending on the exact reverse in question, be understood either as the city wall or as the arcade front courtyard of Cologne's "Old Cathedral" (Alter Dom, more on this below). In any case, what we see on the lower part of the reverse of your coin, highlighted in the image below, is this wall/arcade structure and not the facade of the church. 2.) Of the church itself, we usually only see three towers. Your coin is the most common type with two flanking towers and a central tower which I'd understand as a domed lantern tower with an additional decorative turret on top (higlighted in the image below). Such stylized church buildings are, as you mentioned, somewhat of an iconographic trope on German medieval coins. 3.) However, it's quite striking to compare the church building on the Cologne pennies with what we know about the architecture of the Old Cathedral of Cologne. Construction work on this building began in the first half of the 9th century. In 1248, the pre-Romanesque Old Cathedral was completely demolished to make room for a new building in the Gothic style. Above, @shanxi has already shown a late-19th century mosaic of the Old Cathedral giving a good impression of how this building must have looked like. I'm nonetheless adding some more depictions of this church to make the point even clearer. A detail from an illuminated folio of the 10th century Hillinus-Codex (Dombibl. Köln, Hs. 12, fol. 16v). Note the two bell towers flanking the apse as well as the two lantern towers with additional turrets on the nave: A reconstruction of the Old Cathedral around 850 (source: here). The architectural ensemble didn't change that much until 1248. Pay attention to the arrangement of the western towers as well as the arcade courtyard: 4.) To conclude, comparing these images to the reverses of the pre-1248 Cologne pennies makes me suspect that at least some of them don't just show a generic stylized church building but a view of the Old Cathedral from the west with the arcade courtyard, the two bell towers and the western lantern tower. The resemblances seem a bit too clear to be just coincidence. 5.) As @FitzNigel mentioned, I am flirting with the idea that there might be a bit more reverse variation on these pennies than usually assumed. The type below, for example, differs quite strongly from the usual type. Instead of the wall or arcade structure it shows three raised squares that have been described as doors or archways. I suspect that these three squares aren't "inverted quadratic archways" but might represent the sarcophagi of the three Magi, whose relics the issuer of this coin, Bishop Rainald von Dassel, brought to the Old Cathedral in 1164. Archbishopric of Cologne, under Rainald von Dassel, AR obol, ca. 1159–1167. Obv: Bishop facing, holding crosier and book. Rev: church building with three towers, inside, three sarcophagi (?). 14 mm, 0.53g. Ref: Hävernick 498.
Mine is from the previous Archbishop, Rainald von Dassel. I firmly believe that the building pictured on the reverse is the Old Cathedral, which was a Carolingian church built in the 9th century and demolished a millennium later.
Well, we posted at the same time, though you gave much more detail. I think it is also worth mentioning the drastic change in the wall design pre and post-von Dassel: The walls that lined the courtyard are clearly defined and resemble that of the Old Cathedral. That is a departure from the circular wall depicted on pre-von Dassel issues.
Well, some minds think alike! I'm glad that the two of us as well as @shanxi came to the same conclusions indepently from each other. That reinforces me in my belief that interpreting these reverses as depicting the Old Cathedral isn't complete balderdash. By the way, there is also this coin (not mine, source here) with the inscription PETR on the church building. The Old Cathedral was called "Saint Peter" in the Middle Ages. That's additional evidence, I reckon.
This has become a fascination no thread. While I did a write-up of my coin when I first bought it (here), I was more focused on the obverse than the reverse. My small contribution to the church and reverse:
Meanwhile – I wonder about the weight. At 1.45g this is very close to a sterling penny (1.46g) - way better than the average for sterlings themselves which hardly ever seem to actually average above 1.42g. Of course this observation is not new - one of the traditional accounts of the sterling weight standard is that it came to England from Germany. However I think it is now clear that sterling came originally from Islam (a half dirhem), and was adopted by Offa after the Brexit of 790-2 AD when he diverged from Charlemagne (who went for a kind of half denarius of 1.7g the year after) So the Cologne weight becomes a puzzle. Sterling seems to be Offa’s standard but it then sort of goes underground in England to re-emerge (most probably) under William I. He only manages 1.39g – but that sort of continues to improve to 1.42g in a smooth enough manner) Meanwhile Cologne – who ought really to be following Carolingian standard - apparently take up sterling already in the 10th century. How come? Rob T
Thanks Rob, but I don't quite understand what you are saying. Is this penny too heavy? There's not much difference between 1.45 and 1.39 or 1.42, and my electronic scales could be bit off, too (although the seller also weighed it at 1.45 gr.). It's from the 12th (second half), not 10th century. But I might be missing a point.
Am happy to clarify. @Pellinore: Is this penny too heavy? No – theoretical standard for both Tower and Cologne 16 oz pounds is very close to 466.5g. Thus striking 240 from 12oz gives you pennies at c. 1.458g. Early Arabs actually struck right up to the theoretical standard, but for a European coin – 1.45g is a pretty good shot at the theoretical standard. @Pellinore: There's not much difference between 1.45 and 1.39 or 1.42 1.45g yields an excess profit to the mint of more than a penny in the pound 1.42g yields an excess profit to the mint of more than 6d in the pound 1.39g yields an excess profit to the mint of more than 10d in the pound Not to be sniffed at! @Pellinore: my electronic scales could be bit off, too Maybe – but modern scales are pretty good. You do need 3 figures if you are taking the matter seriously @Pellinore: It's from the 12th (second half), not 10th century. Sure. On the evidence of the coins Engel and Serrure push use of Cologne weight at Cologne back into the 10th century. I have not seen any more modern work on the topic – and would be pleased to hear of same. What we do know from internal documents is that the London Tower mint in the 13th century was deliberately rather covertly striking 242 pennies to the pound – so deliberately admitting to taking an excess profit of 2d in the pound. In fact at c.1.42g they were in reality taking 6d in the pound excess profit. What I find thought provoking is that 6d in the pound is 2.5% - so in the same ballpark as the 2% target rate for inflation today. Those who see things my way will perhaps think that ‘nothing much changes’…… Perhaps its fortunate for modern gvts that nobody here much likes my mails? Rob T
It might be too nitpicky to base weight standards off an individual coin. I seem to recall in Stahl’s book on the mint in Venice, he suggested they weighed grossos as a batch, removing any that were noticeably above or below the average. I don’t recall if he found specific evidence for this, or if it was speculation, but it seems much more practical. I have no idea if minting practices in Cologne were similar
More than nitpicky – it would be crazy. While I take the English coin weights I quote from memory – the underlying info is often from analysis of hundreds of specimens, by people like Naismith, Metcalf, Allan etc etc As far as Cologne goes – my info on the pounds/marks comes from official state standard weights. Cologne weight was widely used and there are many old official weights in existence. I corresponded with Stahl on the Venice standard itself – but did not notice he said this about coin production. If you can dig out his comment we could discuss it further. First off - I am dubious. Stannard has said similar things about RRoman coins but his explanation just does not work for me. Michael Bates holds similar views concerning Islamic issues, I debated such matters with him for several years and am still not convinced……... So - as you say – specific evidence needed. Rob T
