Medieval Monday!

Sorry. Really. We're obviously done with it now. But I wanted this to be public. It goes back months on end. And the available alternative wasn't working.
...It's a Hobby, Right? With a minimal level of collegiality, this can actually Work!

 

Log in or Sign up to hide this ad.

Ignoring the unpleasantries...

I was hoping to post my first purchase of the year today, but I didn’t get around to photographing it. Instead, here is my first purchase from last year:
Feudal France - Normandy
William II-William Clito/Henry I, r. 1035-1135 (1075-1130)
AR Denier, 19.02 mm x 1.0 grams
Obv.: +NORMANNIA. Patriarchal Cross with two pellets below. Legend begins at 3h
Rev.: Church pediment, containing pellet, surmounted by cross, the letters P A X within semicircles on each side
Ref.: Dumas XX-23 variety
Ex. Richard A. Jourdan Collection
Note: Dumas group C et D according to Moesgaard

 

Nice one, @FitzNigel! (For people tuning in late to 11th-early 12th-century Norman: No (...dramatic pause), Really!!!) It's especially great that this could date to William Clito. ...I've said 'Wow' too many times on this forum already today, but you're due for one.
...And please receive my cordially sincere thanks for your help in 'righting the boat' on this thread!

 

Since it’s still Monday in this part of the world, there’s this convergence of still recent acquisitions --although one of them has already been posted.


Picardie (now in Belgium); jeton of Tournai, c. 1415-1497. ‘Found in Suffolk;’ the background of the dealer’s pics is cool: a repro of a page from the Luttrell Psalter; English, c. earier 14th c.


England, Henry VIII, halfgroat of York. First coinage; star mintmark, c. 1514-1526. Issued under Archbishop /Cardinal Wolsey. Papal keys in left and right fields, cardinal’s hat below. Spink (all I’m looking at, for this minute) 2326.
The last titled, never mind practicing knight in my direct line of descent was Lionel Dymoke, who accompanied Henry VIII on his invasion of France in 1513. Although predicated on a tangle of continental diplomatic obligations, the campaign can be (and was) seen as a continuation of the Hundred Years’ War, which had ended in French victory sixty years before. (Witness Henry's continuing claim to the throne of France, at the end of the obverse legend, and the arms of England, still quartering the arms of England with those of France.) From Calais (the only remaining English possession in France), the army advanced eastward across Flanders, razing Therouanne, routing the French at the Battle of the Spurs, and capturing Tournai. Despite the auspicious beginning, however, the logistics of a permanent occupation proved too much. The costs of the campaign --including conspicuous displays both of early artillery, and of Henry’s more generalized extravagance-- proved unsustainable, and the army withdrew. Henry formally ceded Tournai back to Francis I in 1518. As Charles Cruikshank summarizes, ‘the most that can be said about the campaign is that Henry achieved his personal objective. ....[In light of the preceding century, and Henry’s own chivalric aspirations, h]onour was satisfied – at a staggering price.’ (Henry VIII and the Invasion of France. 1990 / 1991, p. 163.)
Back home in northern England, within earshot of more pressing hostilities along the Scottish border, a note of ambivalence might be heard in Lionel’s will, drawn up on 15 April of the preceding year.
“I leon Dymoke [...] being of good and hoole mynde make and ordigne my testament and Last will in forme following [.... F]orasmoch as no man is certein of the houre of dethe nor what place he shall die and nothyng so certein as dethe[,] and for as moch as I by the kynges pleasure shall goo in hys warrys in the parties be yond the see[:] Therefore my body to be buryed where it shall please almyghty god [....]
(From an extract of the will quoted by James Conway Walter, as ‘a good speciment of the orthography of the period,’ in his History of Horncastle (Horncastle [Lincs.]: Morton, 1908), p. 184. On Google Books, in full view: http://tinyurl.com/28dkudo.)
Here’s what’s left of Lionel’s less than flattering monumental brass, in the parish church of Hornsby, Cumbria, a little southwest of Carlisle.

This is a Victorian rendition of the entire brass, with the full inscriptions (in late medieval Latin), and the shield in the upper right corner, the coat of arms of the office of ‘King’s Champion.’ This was the guy who, on the eve of the king’s coronation, would show up in the banqueting hall, in full armor, on horseback, and challenge anyone who would contest the royal succession. Lionel, being a younger brother, saw fit to include it on his brass anyway. ...The sheer profusion of coats of arms, through maternal as well as paternal descent, presages the profusion of heraldic ‘quartering’ (1/16-ing, etc.) which would shortly ensue, signalling the full arrival of heraldry into its modern, some might suggest more decadent phase.

...Yipes. For people in other time zones, this is equal parts freaking early, and freaking late.

 

Somehow I came up with 2 of these Delhi Sultans AH 733/1333 AD BI 6 gani coins.

 

Today I'll start a new medieval Monday
My favorite type of ecu d'or is an early from Charles VI and Charles VII. But I do not want a coin from "Blessed King" but from "Victorious". This is a little bit more difficult task But I have one, which remind me about a Jeanne d'Arc and that interesting times...

 

Beautiful. Is the retrograd S at the end of Karolvs a common thing on these écus?

I happen to have a coin of Charles VI, - a blanc guénar, but I am not really into french medieval coins. I only wanted to have one from the Tournai mint, since I live nearby, and those of Charles VI come fairly often in good condition for reasonable prices. I actually have another one (gros florette) but this one is the nicest.

 

Another (very late) medieval coin with a lily. I'm just 50 miles away from Strasbourg, and I would love to visit soon and spend an hour or two in the Musée de l'Œuvre Notre-Dame – but that is another thing that will have to wait until the pandemic is over...


Strasbourg, civic issue, AR kreuzer (zweiling), 1480 – early 16th c. Obv: + MONETA ARGET; lily. Rev: + GLA IN EXCELS DO; lily. 16.5mm, 0.87g. Ref: Engel/Lehr 1887, 398 var (legend details).

 

Very impressive example, @Choucas. ...Sorry about my English ancestor's antics in Tournais (a few posts above, as of last week). Glad the good guys eventually won!

 

Duchy of Burgundy, Odo /Eudes II (1143-1162). Denier of Dijon.

 

I was searching for a coin with a fleur de-lis to add, but apparently I don’t have one! But I’ll throw in an issue from Champagne

French Feudal, Champagne
Henry II, r. 1181-1197
Provins Mint, AR Denier 18.4 mm x 1.0 grams
Obv.: CASTRI PRVVINS. Comb of Champagne, 'V' made of three triangles above, annulet on either side, legend beginning at 10hr.
Rev.: +HENRI COMES. Cross Pattee, pellet in first quarter, omega in second, alpha in third, and annulet in fourth
Ref.: Roberts, 4727 variety

 

Ha! I have a "cyrillic trained" eyes and have not seen retrograde S. I think this is an interesting! Thank you very much for your attention!

 

..guess i'll start out this weeks' 'Medieval Monday' with this 1/5 Philipsdaalder from the low country of Philip ll(ruled 1554-56-98)..heck, he was even king of England till his wife Mary l, died in '58(jure uxoris)..his reign is a perfect example of what religious intolerance can cost ya.. coinage of Spanish Habsburg complete!

 

Nice coin! Philip II reign is very interesting, a lot of things happened in the low countries under his rule.
It allows me to share one of the coins I cherish the most in my collection.

Philip II, Brabant - Filipsdaalder (Antwerpen, 1590)
Obv. : PHS D G HISP Z REX DVX BRA
Rev. : DOMINVS MIHI ADIVTOR (Le Seigneur est mon aide)
34,05g / 43mm
Mintage : 667.323

One of the coins I wanted since I started to have interest in "older belgian coins". I could afford this one in october/november 2019. It's not going to leave my collection anytime soon.
Maybe one day I will be able to get another coin of him I really want : an ecu or 1/2 "states" ecu.
Notice the golden fleece on his chest (even though it almost looks like a maggot) and at the bottom of the coat of arms on the reverse. Also, when this one was issued he was also king of Portugal, so the small shield of Portugal appears on the reverse.

 

..very nice!..i bought a Charles V, (Naples) coin Order of the Golden Fleece the same day i bought Philip ll..

 

Italy, Kingdom of Sicily & Naples, Frederick III, AD 1296-1337. AR Pierreale: 3.15 gm, 24 mm, 1 h. MEC-772

 

Something different....from a recent discovery in India
Esatern Gangas
AV Fanam ND/ NM
Bhanudeva IV 1414-34
obverse: Conchant Bull= looks more like a Elephant Seal!
reverse: rulers name in Nagari

 

Abbasid Caliphate. Time of Harun al-Rashid. Dated 190 AH (805-806 CE). Silver dirham. 2.81g. Ma'din al-Shash mint. Cites al-Ma’mun ‘Abd Allah, as both son of the caliph and second heir to the caliphate. Also names 'Ali (b. Isa b. Mahan), the Governor of Khurasan. "Nasr" at bottom of reverse area legend. Album 219.11.

I am not sure if "Nasr" meaning "victorious" is meant to be an epithet for the governor Ali ibn Isa ibn Mahan. Leu Numismatik described it that way when they listed some similar coins in their recent auction and I'm sure they have better references than I do, so that is probably what it is. The only other explanation I can think of is that it is a control mark. Other Abbasid coins from this period have a variety of words and marks that are specific to the mint.

Ali ibn Isa ibn Mahan seems to have been quite a character. He was a corrupt and unpopular governor who bribed Harun al-Rashid with a huge treasure (worth 30 million gold dinars, so like 600 million of these silver dirhams) to stay in office. He was eventually ousted after his conduct led to a major rebellion.

He supported al-Amin in the civil war after al-Rashid's death, but his army was defeated and he was killed.

 

Here a a Buywayhid example.
They are acomplicated area of collecting. Mine came from Baldwins/ St. James 2015 event.

AV Dinar AH 3(82) al-Basra Mint in Iraq
Baha al-dawla Abu-Nasr Firuz AH379-403 4.99g. 22mm.
Amir of Khuzestan/ Iraq/ Fars

There where two types of AV Dinars/ one debased gold/ bad workmanship.
Mine is the first type/ almost pure gold/ beautifull caligraphy
There are 48 different mints/ most are super rare/ al-Basra is extremely rare mint.

 

Denier of Philippe I of France, Orleans, first issue. (Duplessy, Royales No. 50 --caveat: the plate on the preceding page (43) is for an issue of Sens, No. 74.)

Obv. Gateway (evoking LRBs), letters (unexplicated; otherwise incomprehensible).
+PHILIPVS X REX D-I.
Rev. Cross, "S" in two corners.
+AVREIiANIS CIVITA.