Medieval Monday!

Cnut, Pointed Helmet penny of Torksey, the moneyer Thorcetel. Torksey is a village approximately 10 miles north-west of Lincoln and was an important trading centre in Saxon times being situated on the River Trent. A lot of finds have been made in the immediate area.

 

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It's Monday again (at least where I live)!

Here is a late medieval Saxon groschen – you might notice that part of the design is borrowed from the Bohemian Prague groschen, which was the dominant trade coin of the region during this period:


Electorate of Saxony, under Friedrich II “the Gentle”, AR “Schwertgroschen”, 1462–1464 AD; Leipzig mint. Obv: *GROSSVS ° MARCh * MISnEnSIS; rampant lion with shield of House Wettin l. Rev: *F ° DI ° GRACIA ° TVRINGE ° LAN; cross fleury in quatrefoil; Saxon swords above. 28mm, 2.07g. Ref: Krug 947/6 var. (star on reverse has seven rays, not six).

 

...ooo i wish you hadn't said that hehehe...ok ..on a more cereal note...i beleive we came to the conclusion this was a Follis of Maurice Tiberius 582-602... 26.5mm, 11.80gms

 

Regnum Francorum/ Merovingians
Theudebert II 586-612 King of Austrasia/ Auvergne
AV Triens ND Brivate Mint
1.28g. 12mm. .970 finegold
Obverse: Head Left/ TEDOBERTRIX
Reverse: AR BRIVATE FT

Regnal Issue

There where 36 Merovingian Kings/ only 12 have their names/ heads on the coinage.
This is according to Heritage Auctions/Europe the only known gold coin of this ruler.

 

Regnum Visigothicum/ Hispania
AV Tremissis ND Cordoba Mint
Erwig 639-42 ANACS MS-63
The first coin ever to portrait Jesus Christ

 

I must have ESP/ I knew you would do that

 

ESP? Well, to me it's rather obvious don't you think?

 

Regnum Visigothicum/ Septimania
AV Tremissis ND Cordoba Mint
Tulgan 639-42

Correction: the AV Tremissis Erwig reign should read 680-87AD/ instead of 639-42

 

For someone who "does not read Arabic". you are doing pretty well !

 

Metz, Jacques de Lorraine, Bishop 1239-1260.
Obv. Half profile to left, wearing miter and holding crozier. IACOBI (of Jacobus).
Rev. METENSIS.
Metz was just across the border between eastern Champagne and the duchy of Lorraine, which (as the name suggests) was part of the Francophone west of the German empire. (Henri II, Count of Bar-le-Duc, included fleurs de lis on his coins, and participated not only in French baronial wars (cf. my earlier, excessively pedantic post about Thibaut IV), but in the initial, French contingent of the 'Barons' Crusade,' dying in Gaza in 1239.)
Metz is where the memoirist Jean de Joinville went, in 1248, in preparation for his departure on St. Louis' first crusade. Time to let Joinville talk (from the Marzials abridged translation):
"Because I did not wish to take away with me any penny wrongfully gotten [granted, Louis IX personally subsidized him for a good part of the crusade], therefore I went to Metz, in Lorraine, and placed in pawn the greater part of my land." (164.)
One conspicuous consequence of the Crusades was the sometimes disastrous expense for the middle-lower European aristocracy, only most conspicuously in France. Any number of feudal polities were effectively bankrupted. Jean himself spent the rest of his life in close association with the Capetian royal court; he knew a cash cow when he saw one.

 

Spectacular Merovingian regal coin. However, it is incorrect that it is the only known coin of this ruler. There are others of Theudebert II, though they are very rare.

Here is my only Merovingian regal coin, of Charibert II, king of Aquitaine 629-632



The king's name is on the reverse, as CHARIBERTVS REX. MAXIMINVS, the moneyer, has his name on the obverse. That the king's name is on the nonportrait side perhaps does not reflect so well on the king's prestige, but perhaps that's looking into it too much.

 

Work sucked today - only just getting to a Monday post! For whatever reason, my mind always begins shifting to looking at German and Bohemian coins come Thanksgiving and Christmas...


Bohemia
Bretislaus I, r. 1034-1055 (1050-55)
Prague Mint, AR Denar, 15.33 mm x 1.0 grams
Obv.: BRACIZLAVS DVX. Bust facing, a pellet to either side
Rev.: SCS WENCEZLAVS. Bust right, cross to right
Ref.: Frynas B.8.15, De Wit 2719, cf. Lanz Graz XIII, 116-122

 

That is a beautifull and very rare! I think Heritage/ Europe said it was the only gold coin from Theudebert II. Would be really nice for someone to publish a revision of Merovingian coins/ with enlarged plate photos/ like ERIC-II!

 

Since its Monday....
Early Medieval Period
Visigothic Kingdom/ Hispania
AV Tremissis ND
Barbi Mint
Suintila 621-31
ex" Aureo&Calico Auction

and from their enemies:
Abbasid Caliphate /First Period
AV Dinar AH 162 (779) NM
al-Mahdi 776-86
ex: Baldwins

 

I thought I would join early today - we don’t get the opportunity to have many large bronze coins like what were minted in the ancient period. The Large Follaros/Trifollaros of Sicily come close (I can’t think of many others though! Correct me - and share! - if I’m wrong!)

Norman Italy - Sicily
William II, r. 1166-1189
Messina Mint, Second Copper Large Follaro, 25.28 mm x 11.2 grams
Obv.: Lion Head
Rev.: Palm tree with dates
Ref.: NCKS 372, MEC 14.425

 

1689 6 kreu(t)zer of 'holey' Roman emperor 'hogmouth' Leopold l

 

Three denier tournois of Morea minted ca. 1346-1350s for Robert de Taranto as Angevin Prince of Achaea:


3xAR17/18mm, left to right: 0.80g, 0.70g, 0.80g billon denier tournois, minted in Glarentza/Corinth, cca. 1346 and later.
+ ROBT P' AChЄ / ROBT P AChAIЄ (spec 3); cross pattee, first spec with pellet in 2nd quarter.
+ CLARЄNCIA / DЄ CLARЄNCIA (spec 3); chateau tournois.
cf. Maloy 65-70.

Notes: These deniers tournois did not appear in context prior to 1346 so it is assumed that they were minted after this date (Malloy p. 355, Lambros apud Tzamalis p. 110) probably under the authority of Niccolo Acciaioli, the most important baron and seneschal of Morea at the time. This group is part of a collection (and probably a hoard) of deniers tournois offered by Lanz at the beginning of July 2018. The coins are well preserved and with the exception of number 3 (which seems to date from the first issue of the tournois under Robert in 1346), they were probably struck in the late 1340s and early 1350s and deposited soon afterwards, during the anarchy days of the late 1350s.

This group is interesting also as a sample of the coins of Robert which were offered by Lanz at this particular point and, if part of the same hoard or a group of similar hoards, representative of the monetary circulation in Frankish Greece during the 1350s.

Coin 3 is rather rare and stands out as better struck than the others. According to Tzamalis tho, all tournois coins of Robert are rather scarce.

 

Great coin Fitz, I love the lion obverse. One of the few other bronze issues that comes to my mind are the pieces minted by Bela III of Hungary. I've seen them called both a denar and a follaro. Here is an example, not my coin.

While of decent size, the weight is much lower than the Norman follaro. There are some really cool Armenian bronze coins that some people have shared on this forum.

 

...Rats, can't find any pics of the Cilician AEs I have. Here's an Edward I penny of Durham, issued by the bishopric, with the coat of arms of the bishop, Antony Bek, at the top of the obverse. (Sorry for the angle.)
Here's his coat of arms, below the royal one, on a manuscript c. temp. Edward II:
Bek sold Alnwick Castle to the Percies, later Earls of Northumberland, early in the 14th century. In this picture of the main barbican (outer gatehouse), c. mid-14th-c., you can just see the decorative shields below the battlements, with coats of arms of several related families.