A new medieval addition. Frederick IV “the Simple”, (1355-1377 A.D.) Pierreale d’argento ITALY, Kingdom of Sicily O: FRIDЄRICUS · DЄI · G · RЄX · SICIL · Crowned eagle standing left, his head turned to right, with his wings displayed; all within octolobe; annulet in each external void; double annulet stops. R: + · AC · ATЄnAR · 2 · nЄOPATRIЄ · DU Crowned coat-of-arms; G - L either side. Messina 3.28g 24mm Frederick III (or IV) (1 September 1341 – Messina 27 July 1377[1]), called the Simple, was King of Sicily from 1355 to 1377. He was the second son of Peter II of Sicily and Elisabeth of Carinthia. He succeeded his brother Louis. The documents of his era call him the "infante Frederick, ruler of the kingdom of Sicily", without any regnal number. "Frederick the Simple" is often confused with an earlier Sicilian monarch, his grandfather Frederick II, who chose to call himself "Frederick III" even though he was actually only the second King Frederick to occupy the Sicilian throne; his self-appellation was retained by later generations of genealogists and historians. The first King Frederick on the Sicilian throne was the latter's great-grandfather, King Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor. Frederick III was born in Catania, and succeeded to his brother Louis in 1355 under the regency of his sister, Euphemia of Sicily. In his youth the reign was under the control of powerful Sicilian barons, in particular of Artale I Alagona. The beginning of Frederick III's reign was also plagued by intermittent wars with the Kingdom of Naples (see War of the Sicilian Vespers) and also by the Black Death, to which his elder brother and predecessor had succumbed. On 25 December 1369 Frederick ordered all Jews to wear a badge indicating their heritage. The badge consisted of a piece of red material, not smaller than the largest royal seal; men were required to wear it under the chin, and women on the chest. In 1372 he was able to come to peace terms with Naples and Pope Gregory XI, obtaining the title of tributary King of "Trinacria" On 11 April 1361, Frederick married firstly Constance of Aragon, daughter of King Peter IV of Aragon.[2] They had only one daughter, Maria.[2] On 17 January 1372, Frederick married secondly Antonia of Baux. This marriage was designed to seal the Treaty of Villeneuve of 1372, by which Frederick's right to rule Sicily was recognised by Naples and the Papacy. There were no children from this marriage. Frederick was betrothed again to Antonia Visconti, but he died before the wedding and was succeeded by his only child, Queen Maria.
Great coin @Mat I am finding myself more and more interested in medieval coinage. It is a fascinating area of collecting. Part of what attracts me concerns the interesting stories of some of these long dead rulers and thinking about how they interacted with political realities of the times.
Seeing the thread title, what I most wanted to know is why he is called "The Simple". I wonder why the wikipedia article didn't talk mention it?
Doggonit, @Mat , stoppit! You are starting to get me interested in these areas. I blame you for the Roman Empresses / Female Ruler interest that you got me in to. That stated, NICE coin, and thanks for the write-up!
Nice coin, and a great photo. Here are the two other Freds mentioned in the writeup: Frederick I/II (1198-1250): Frederick II/III (1296-1337)
Another nice Medieval coin @Mat. Your pictures are very well done. They really make the coin look natural and have plenty of depth to show all the details.
Sweet looking coin Mat!! I was reading about Frederick and his predecessors trying to learn why the name "simple" - seems it was passed along from FIII, but still never quite figured it out as it's not much mentioned.
