Medieval Monday!

Here is a coin that is the subject of one of my earliest threads here on Cointalk. I acquired this particular coin in a bag of foreign coins given to me by an aunt of mine in 2015.



Patriarchate of Aquileia
John of Moravia
AR Denaro 1387 - 1394

 

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Solid example, @TTerrier. From here, it's looking on the early side, 12th c.

 

Henry VII type I halfpenny with open crown and mintmark lis on half rose. A decent example of this rare little coin.

 

And a second Henry VII type I rarity with fewer than a dozen known, this time a halfgroat. The mintmark is lis struck over only the extreme left of a rose. Probably best equal to lis on half rose as per the previous coin. The exact identity of these early Henry VII marks is not always clear.

 

Henry VI Rosette-Mascle penny from York ecclesiastical mint under Abp. Kemp.

 

A recent acquisition. If your city is called Lindau ("linden tree meadow"), it makes sense to have a linden tree on your coinage:

Lindau, royal mint, AR bracteate penny, ca. 1295–1335. Obv: linden branch with three leaves and twelve blossoms in fields. Rev: negative design (bracteate). 20mm, 0.37g. Ref: Berger 2528–2531.

 

Kingdom of Hungary(sorry/ poor photos/ coin is FDC)

 

I hve been eyeing these coins from Lindau for some time - hopping to pull the trigger soon. Nice one!

 

1641 Ferdinand lll 3 kreuzter

 

I tend to take in interest in German coins around this time of year - this is also roughly the time when I bought the coin I use as my avatar:
HRE - Cologne
Archbishop Philipp von Heinsberg, r. 1167-1191
AR Pfennig, 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
Ref.: De Wit 1993

 

@FitzNigel, you can post that one as many times as you want!!!! Eck-Ceptional. Almost the 12th c. equivalent of 'Proof.'

 

Duchy of Lorraine, Ferri III (1251-1303), petit denier of Nancy.

Not the greatest example, but with all the gee-whiz martial bells & whistles you could want; Ferri on horseback, brandishing a sword (identically to any number of contemporary aristocratic seals); mint name, with a mailed arm holding another sword.
...Here's one example of a seal, a later one of Pierre 'Mauclerc' de Dreux, after his son had acceded to the duchy of Brittany, c. late 2nd quarter of the 13th century.

 

From the East
Dehli Sultanate
Mohammad III bin Tughluq 1326-51
AV Tanka ND/ Mint unknown

 

I need to throw in my lot with the Medieval Monday too.
Here’s Aethelred the Unready, one of my favorite monarch names ever:


Aethelread the Unready 978-1016 AD. AR Penny

Reference: Spink 1151

Weight: Diameter: 19mm Conservation: EF

 

I do like those issues from Lorraine! Such fantastic imagery! I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a petite denier from there before!

 

A lovely example! My Æthelred has some peck marks (which I wanted), and a hole (which I was willing to tolerate):
England
Athelred II, r. 978-1016 (997-1003)
Canterbury Mint, AR Long Cross Penny, 19.65 mm x 1.8 grams
Obv.: +ÆÐELRED REX ANGLO[rum]. Bare-headed bust left
Rev.: +LEO FRIC MΩO CENT. Voided long cross, each end terminating in three crescents
Ref.: North 774, SCBC 1151
Note: Peck marked and holed, likely by the Vikings

and I already posted this for Medieval Monday once before, so I will need to find another candidate to share. By the way @svessien - ‘the Unready’ as an epithet was a Victorian invention. He was called Æthelred Unræd which was a pun on his name ‘Æthelread’ meaning ‘the well counseled’ and ‘Unræd’ meaning ‘the poorly counseled.’ (Or something like that - it’s been a while)

 

I have heard the scandinavian word «rådløs» used. It means «without counsel», and can mean that you don’t have the ability to make a decicion, or that you are practically without someone to guide you. It’s interesting that the old word «ræd» and the modern «råd» are so close to each other after 1000 years.

Nice coin!

 

@FitzNigel, they are fun! Last I knew they were relatively easy to find and not over the top pricewise. I'd recommend holding out for a better example. ...If you found one anywhere near your incredible Philipp von Heinsberg, that would be a real coup. But these enthusiastically continue the whole western German tradition of apalling strikes.

 

@svessien, English is a wild language, merely in the sense that over most of the last millennium --accelerating from the Renaissance and Shakespeare-- it's morphed from an unassuming, unambiguously Germanic language to something almost at the level of an honorary Romance one. ...As languages goo, it's a Sponge!
(...Oh. "AEthelred" more nearly means "Noble Counsel." As a component of Anglo-Saxon royal names, the component 'AEthel--' is pervasive; a little like "-Amun" in Pharoanic Egyptian ones.)

 

A grand denier of Chartres:


AR22x21mm 1.20g grand denier, minted in the city of Chartres around 1000.
+ CARTIS CIVITAS; cross
Chartraine tete/monogramme de Raoul degeneree, with three besants
Poey d'Avant 1731, Boudeau 206, Duplessy 431


This is the issue that stabilizes the feudal coinage at Chartres, under Eudes I and Thibaut II de Blois, marking the typology that would continue off and on until the early 14th century.

These grand deniers are specific of the late 10th century early 11th and served as blueprints for countless immobilizations on lower flans and weights. Both Poey d'Avant and Boudeau place this issue at the beginning of the series for feudal Chartres.

A discussion about the origin of the reverse design with the controversy between the "bleso-chartraine tete" (a stylized effigy of a royal bust, stemming likely from Chinon) and the premeditated degeneration of the monogram of King Raoul (923-936) can be read here.

Similar specimen here.