Hoard of silver coins may have been part of historic ransom to save Paris

Discussion in 'Ancient Coins' started by love old coins, Jun 10, 2021.

  1. love old coins

    love old coins Well-Known Member

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  3. SensibleSal66

    SensibleSal66 U.S Casual Collector / Error Collector

    Very cool story ! ;)
     
    sel w and love old coins like this.
  4. love old coins

    love old coins Well-Known Member

    I thought so too!
     
  5. cpm9ball

    cpm9ball CANNOT RE-MEMBER

    Wow! The condition of those coins is UNBELIEVABLE!
     
    love old coins likes this.
  6. Silverpop

    Silverpop Well-Known Member

    interesting story
     
    love old coins likes this.
  7. medoraman

    medoraman Supporter! Supporter

    I would ask which one? The Vikings repeatedly sacked or threatened to sack Paris until one Viking group was offered Normandy in exchange for stopping other Viking attacks.
     
  8. Tejas

    Tejas Well-Known Member

    Interesting, the modern Polish town of Biskupiec is the formerly German town of Bischofsburg near Allenstein in what was German East Prussia (Ostpreussen). My family is from that region and, according to DNA research lived there since around AD 150 until AD 1945 :).
    Biskupiec/Bischofsburg is a bit of a distance to the coast and the ancient trading town of Truso. Also in the 9th/10th century this region was not inhabited by Slavic tribes, as the article claims, but by the Baltic Prusians, or more precisely the Galindian subtribe.

    So for the time being I would not put too much confidence on a Viking connection.
     
    Last edited: Jun 10, 2021
  9. +VGO.DVCKS

    +VGO.DVCKS Well-Known Member

    A really remarkable find, on any number of counts. @midas1 posted a link to this yesterday, from a different source (which cited this one): https://www.cointalk.com/threads/viking-coins.381894/
    [Edit:] What makes this hoard so unusual --besides the geography-- is that the coins are distinctly earlier than the commoner types of Charles the Bald, from when the 'danegelds' seriously accelerated. The 'temple' type is the commonest one of Charles's dad, Louis I. This actually helps confirm the professor's hypothesis, since the first danegeld in 845 happened at the very start of Charles's reign.
     
    Last edited: Jun 10, 2021
    finny and love old coins like this.
  10. AuldFartte

    AuldFartte Well-Known Member

    Fascinating article! Thank you for posting that link.
     
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  11. Severus Alexander

    Severus Alexander find me at NumisForums

    Cool! To add a coin to the thread, here's one of Odo, the Count of Paris who put a stop to the practice of paying off the Vikings, defending it by force of arms instead. He was elected king for his efforts.
    odo.jpg
    My notes:

    For his skill and bravery in resisting the attacks of the Vikings at the Siege of Paris, Odo was chosen by the western Franks to be their king following the removal of emperor Charles the Fat.

    The Siege of Paris of 885–86 was part of a Viking raid on the Seine, in the Kingdom of the West Franks. The siege was the most important event of the reign of Charles the Fat, and a turning point in the fortunes of the Carolingian dynasty and the history of France. It also proved to the Franks the strategic importance of Paris, at the time only a small island town.

    With hundreds of ships, and possibly tens of thousands of men, the Vikings arrived outside Paris in late November 885, at first demanding tribute. This was denied by Odo, then Count of Paris, despite that he only could assemble a couple hundred soldiers to defend the city. The Vikings attacked with a variety of siege engines, but failed to break through the city walls after some days of intense attacks. The siege was upheld after the initial attacks, but without any significant offence for months thereafter. As the siege went on, most of the Vikings left Paris to pillage further upriver - among those remaining were Rollo, future Count of Rouens and founding Norman (see coin #255, of Rollo's grandson). The Vikings made a final unsuccessful attempt to take the city during the summer, and in October, Charles the Fat arrived with his army.

    To the frustration of the Parisians who had fought for a long time to defend the city, Charles stopped short of attacking the Viking besiegers, and instead allowed them to sail further up the Seine to raid Burgundy (which was in revolt), as well as promising a payment of 700 livres (pounds; 257 kg). Odo, highly critical of this, tried his best to defy the promises of Charles, and when Charles died in 888, Odo was elected king of West Francia, the first non-Carolingian king of the Franks, and the first from the Robertian dynasty.

    West Francia evolved into the state of France, and the first Capetian king, Hugh Capet, was a descendant of Odo's brother, Robert I. Odo established Paris as the kingdom's capital.
     
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  12. +VGO.DVCKS

    +VGO.DVCKS Well-Known Member

    Terrific historical context, @Severus Alexander. And a fantastic Odo. Nearest I have are examples of the subsequent feudal immobilizations of the +<> D <> + monogram. ...Which start to look pretty funny after a minute (...please read, century or two).
    The Robertians weren't the only ones in Francia to expand their fortunes through active resistance to Viking attacks. The same thing happened, from the later 9th century, with the counts of Anjou. ...Who went on to become a regional feudal superpower, and eventual kings of England.
     
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  13. jfreakofkorn

    jfreakofkorn Well-Known Member

    Got love the hidden aspect(s) of history
     
    +VGO.DVCKS likes this.
  14. +VGO.DVCKS

    +VGO.DVCKS Well-Known Member

    Tell it!!! This is what makes, for instance, the people here who are so deep into South and East Asian coins so great. ...All the way from the Baktrians to what corresponds to the Middle Ages. Everything I know about that stuff, I learned it right here.
     
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