Featured Medieval - William II of Norman Sicily

The Byzantine influence on coinage in the Western world has previously been shown in regards to Bulgarian and Serbian coins. However, certain Sicilian coins were also modeled after Byzantine coinage and the Norman Sicilian coins are no exception. Here is a Ducale of William I that was modeled after Roger II's coinage, but that was originally copied from the Alexius I's coins:

Byzantine Empire: Alexius I Comnenus (1081-1118) AR Histamenon nomisma, Thessalonica (Sear-1904; DOC VI-4)

Obv: +KЄ B Θ AΛЄZ. IC XC in field; Bust of Christ, bearded and nimbate, wearing tunic and kolobion; holds Gospels in left hand
Rev: DIMITI, DECPOTHT, Full-length figure of emperor facing, on right, and of St. Demetrius, beardless and nimbate, facing to right and handing to emperor labarum on long shaft standing on globule




Normans in Sicily: William I (1154-1166) AR Ducale, Palermo (Spahr-94; MEC-290; MIR-435)

Obv: IC XC; Bust of Christ Pantokrator facing
Rev: R DVX FI LI VS EIVS; King William, on right, and his son, Duke Roger, on left, both standing facing and holding a long patriarchal cross between them; the King also holds globus cruciger, while his son holds his sword by the hilt

This issue commemorates the investiture of William as King of Sicily and Roger as Duke of Puglia by Pope Adrian IV (Nicholas Breakspear, the only Englishman to have occupied the papal throne)

 

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I just got into these follaros this past year. One favorite I have is one with Christ on the obverse and an Islamic legend on the reverse, off the top of my head I think it is Roger II.

 

I plan on putting together a set of coins from the cousins in the South,, by the end of the year. Looking on Wikipedia at the Norman kings of Sicily and searching for coins of them has brought up a few questions.
1- I take it that their are no coins of William III, who ruled for four months?
2- Does anyone have a Follari of Tancred and his son Roger III?

 

When you are planning to start a collection, you'd better begin with a book.
In my (bilingual) catalog, The Normans' coins of the Kingdom of Sicily, by Alberto D'Andrea and Vincenzo Contreras (third ed., 2016, published in Italy), only three different gold taris are mentioned of William III. They are rare (naturally), as the useful pricelist suggest $ 1000 for a VF tari. Follari (single: Follaro) of Tancred with Roger exist (D'Andrea 406-408) but I don't have any. Price list says $ 50-65.

 

Well, I guess William III is out of the question until I get a job after University.
Interesting info on the Follaro of Tancred and Roger, I haven't been able to find one yet.
Thanks for your help.

 

Thanks for correcting the reverse, it was driving me crazy. I saw the same coin on line, it is an an excellent example. I have several including a scyphate (cupped) example. These little guys are really under appreciated and are hard to come by in readable condition. Under appreciated means, very affordable and a most excellent area of collecting.

An excellent book concerning the coins of the era and area is Metacalf's Coinage of the Latin East.

 

As an aside, here is an example of one of my other interests driven by history and the need to have more fun. Cheers to all and Happy New Year.

 

Nice group, love the doppio of Roger II, tough coin.

 

Is it a model you built? If so, brilliant work!

 

Beautiful coins!

 

Cool. I do not have the personal patience to assemble models, but I appreciate the work involved, and the fantastic end-results.

I had a friend who owned a US Light Tank M5 Stuart from WWII that he would have stooopid fun and drive around his property. LOL, although he was not allowed to buy and discharge the main 37mm rounds. You COULD get the 7.62mm secondary rounds, but that is a machine gun, and was a no-no. It was disabled before he bought the Stuart. (LOL, he DID have a Class IV license just to have it though...)

@Carthago ... this is what your wife should had gotten you instead of a Toilet Seat! I would come to your house to play!

Sorry for the momentary hi-jack...

I apologize, I really have NO COINS from the 12th C, nor any from the Medieval Period. However, I DO have something from ROUGHLY that Era...

He and his Kids kinda came round and messed things up for a while...


Mongols-Ghazna Genghis Khan 1206-1227 CE AE Jital Islamic RARE - only The Just Kahn in title

 

Well, obviously it's time to do something about that...

 

Agreed. I AM starting to look for a Cnut Penny as a start into the Medieval Foray, but still have a lot of holes that I need to fill prior to me going there...

 

The Cnut coins are nice and plentiful... I'll hopefully grab one at some point. I'm still on a french binge, but might give in to an English coin I found recently...

 

Very cool