Log in or Sign up
Coin Talk
Home
Forums
>
Coin Forums
>
Ancient Coins
>
Palaeologan Despotate of Rhodos or Genoese Signoria di Rodi
>
Reply to Thread
Message:
<p>[QUOTE="seth77, post: 3383544, member: 56653"]This coin is so ugly and unremarkable in its appearance, that it would be completely irrelevant, if not for the story it might be a part of.</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]898525[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>AE17x15x13mm, 0.80g, copper follaro or fractional(?) -- Lunardi calls these possible follari, but at this time, the Byzantine coinage did not use this denomination.</p><p><br /></p><p>OBV: Figure of despot, half length, highly stylized</p><p>REV: Two large B's opposing each other, with a small design between them -- star or cross(?)</p><p>REF: cf. Lunardi R7-R11/R12/R13 for reverse, unlisted for obverse, cca. 1261-1274 or 1278-1307.</p><p><br /></p><p>Why such dating?</p><p><br /></p><p>Here is where the story starts and gets really interesting:</p><p><br /></p><p>The Genoese Signoria di Rodi was established in 1278 and was under the suzerainty of the Palaeologan Empire. Its coinage is usually very crude and shows the facing B's of the Palaeologan dynasty. Lunardi assumes that this Consnatntinople-related theme is due to the fact that although the Genoese of Rhodes owed fealty to the Roman Emperor for the island, they did not get official rights to mint their own coinage. So the minting was strictly local -- coins of these issues are very localized to Rhodes -- and probably not in very high volumes. Their function was to act like a surrogate for the Imperial petty coinage in the Genoese communities on the island. Some of the rulers of the Genoese of Rhodes were Giovanni dello Cavo, a pirate -- who received the island from Michael VIII in 1278, but was forced by oath to share it with Turkish pirates and Andrea and Ludovico Moresco, who were recognized as feudals of Rhodes in 1282 after the demise of the pirate lord. The Moresco brothers and their uncle, Vignolo Vignoli, Signore di Kos and Lord of the Archipelago started a campaign to rid the area of piracy in the early 1300s. By 1304 Andrea Moresco was <i>vestiarios </i>of Roman Emperor Andronikos II, acting on his behalf against the Catalan pirates of Gallipoli (1304-1305). The methods and the crews employed by the Moreschi and Vignoli, with some success against the Turkish and Catalan pirates, were also corsair-like and by 1306/7 the Genoese commanders were considered pirates by King Henry II of Cyprus. Thus, in a political maneuver in 1306 that is still rather obscure, Andrea Moresco undertook a secret trip to Cyprus, where he is thought to have invited Fulco de Villaret, the Master of the Hospitallers, to join the anti-piracy campaign in return for the full surrender of the island of Rhodes to the Order.</p><p><br /></p><p>The whole affair is still unclear, as the Moresco clan is still very much in favor at Constantinople in 1307 and 1308, when Andrea Moresco is at the helm of an Imperial fleet against the Catalan pirates. At the same time, Rhodes had been already invaded by the Hospitallers and the Order was actively helped by Ludovico Moresco and other Archipelago Italian lords to clean the island completely from Turkish encroachments and piracy, completing the full conquest of the island in 1309 and effectively carving it out of Constantinopolitan over-lordship.</p><p><br /></p><p>The Moreschi remained at least titular lords over a number of islands in the Archipelago (like Karpathos or Kassos), which they claimed and fought over with the Turks or the Venetians. By 1309 Andrea Moresco had been captured by the cypriots and was hanged as a pirate. Later on that same year, in a confrontation over Karpathos, Ludovico Moresco was captured by the Cornari of Venice.</p><p><br /></p><p>In Rhodes, after they fully established their rule over the island in 1309, the Hospitallers started minting their own western-style coinage: <i>deniers</i>, which were also inspired by the Genoese coinage, with the usual Genoese city gate or tower, and were very likely minted by Genoese mint masters and celators for the new authority of the Hospitallers (cf. Lunardi p.148). These coins though had nothing to do with the Imperial monetary system.</p><p><br /></p><p>Another hypothesis about this specimen, and many of the other Rhodes small denominations in copper, is that they might had also been minted under Iohannes Palaeologos, the brother of Michael VIII, who ruled Rhodos as despot from 1261 to around 1274, so before the Genoese signoria. John Palaeologos was of vital importance in the Battle of Pelagonia in 1259, where the Latin forces were defeated and Guillaume II de Villehardouin of Morea was taken captive alongside many Western knights from Morea, the Duchy of Athens and Sicily. To show his appreciation, his brother granted him Rhodes and the title of <i>Despot </i>after the Greeks recaptured Constantinople from the last Latin Emperor in 1261.</p><p><br /></p><p>Iohannes also did not have a clear and stated right to coinage, but it is not impossible that he, like the Gabals family before him, could have had coins minted for use in the local economy.</p><p><br /></p><p>This particular specimen might be one of those coins minted under Iohannes Palaeologos as Despot of Rhodes, if we take into the account that the obverse depiction of a despot (although crude and schematic) is to be a rendition of the actual despot ruling and not just a generic Byzantine image, adopted for other reasons later on by the Genoese.</p><p><br /></p><p>The similar specimens recorded by Lunardi:[ATTACH=full]898535[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]898536[/ATTACH][/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>
[QUOTE="seth77, post: 3383544, member: 56653"]This coin is so ugly and unremarkable in its appearance, that it would be completely irrelevant, if not for the story it might be a part of. [ATTACH=full]898525[/ATTACH] AE17x15x13mm, 0.80g, copper follaro or fractional(?) -- Lunardi calls these possible follari, but at this time, the Byzantine coinage did not use this denomination. OBV: Figure of despot, half length, highly stylized REV: Two large B's opposing each other, with a small design between them -- star or cross(?) REF: cf. Lunardi R7-R11/R12/R13 for reverse, unlisted for obverse, cca. 1261-1274 or 1278-1307. Why such dating? Here is where the story starts and gets really interesting: The Genoese Signoria di Rodi was established in 1278 and was under the suzerainty of the Palaeologan Empire. Its coinage is usually very crude and shows the facing B's of the Palaeologan dynasty. Lunardi assumes that this Consnatntinople-related theme is due to the fact that although the Genoese of Rhodes owed fealty to the Roman Emperor for the island, they did not get official rights to mint their own coinage. So the minting was strictly local -- coins of these issues are very localized to Rhodes -- and probably not in very high volumes. Their function was to act like a surrogate for the Imperial petty coinage in the Genoese communities on the island. Some of the rulers of the Genoese of Rhodes were Giovanni dello Cavo, a pirate -- who received the island from Michael VIII in 1278, but was forced by oath to share it with Turkish pirates and Andrea and Ludovico Moresco, who were recognized as feudals of Rhodes in 1282 after the demise of the pirate lord. The Moresco brothers and their uncle, Vignolo Vignoli, Signore di Kos and Lord of the Archipelago started a campaign to rid the area of piracy in the early 1300s. By 1304 Andrea Moresco was [I]vestiarios [/I]of Roman Emperor Andronikos II, acting on his behalf against the Catalan pirates of Gallipoli (1304-1305). The methods and the crews employed by the Moreschi and Vignoli, with some success against the Turkish and Catalan pirates, were also corsair-like and by 1306/7 the Genoese commanders were considered pirates by King Henry II of Cyprus. Thus, in a political maneuver in 1306 that is still rather obscure, Andrea Moresco undertook a secret trip to Cyprus, where he is thought to have invited Fulco de Villaret, the Master of the Hospitallers, to join the anti-piracy campaign in return for the full surrender of the island of Rhodes to the Order. The whole affair is still unclear, as the Moresco clan is still very much in favor at Constantinople in 1307 and 1308, when Andrea Moresco is at the helm of an Imperial fleet against the Catalan pirates. At the same time, Rhodes had been already invaded by the Hospitallers and the Order was actively helped by Ludovico Moresco and other Archipelago Italian lords to clean the island completely from Turkish encroachments and piracy, completing the full conquest of the island in 1309 and effectively carving it out of Constantinopolitan over-lordship. The Moreschi remained at least titular lords over a number of islands in the Archipelago (like Karpathos or Kassos), which they claimed and fought over with the Turks or the Venetians. By 1309 Andrea Moresco had been captured by the cypriots and was hanged as a pirate. Later on that same year, in a confrontation over Karpathos, Ludovico Moresco was captured by the Cornari of Venice. In Rhodes, after they fully established their rule over the island in 1309, the Hospitallers started minting their own western-style coinage: [I]deniers[/I], which were also inspired by the Genoese coinage, with the usual Genoese city gate or tower, and were very likely minted by Genoese mint masters and celators for the new authority of the Hospitallers (cf. Lunardi p.148). These coins though had nothing to do with the Imperial monetary system. Another hypothesis about this specimen, and many of the other Rhodes small denominations in copper, is that they might had also been minted under Iohannes Palaeologos, the brother of Michael VIII, who ruled Rhodos as despot from 1261 to around 1274, so before the Genoese signoria. John Palaeologos was of vital importance in the Battle of Pelagonia in 1259, where the Latin forces were defeated and Guillaume II de Villehardouin of Morea was taken captive alongside many Western knights from Morea, the Duchy of Athens and Sicily. To show his appreciation, his brother granted him Rhodes and the title of [I]Despot [/I]after the Greeks recaptured Constantinople from the last Latin Emperor in 1261. Iohannes also did not have a clear and stated right to coinage, but it is not impossible that he, like the Gabals family before him, could have had coins minted for use in the local economy. This particular specimen might be one of those coins minted under Iohannes Palaeologos as Despot of Rhodes, if we take into the account that the obverse depiction of a despot (although crude and schematic) is to be a rendition of the actual despot ruling and not just a generic Byzantine image, adopted for other reasons later on by the Genoese. The similar specimens recorded by Lunardi:[ATTACH=full]898535[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=full]898536[/ATTACH][/QUOTE]
Your name or email address:
Do you already have an account?
No, create an account now.
Yes, my password is:
Forgot your password?
Stay logged in
Coin Talk
Home
Forums
>
Coin Forums
>
Ancient Coins
>
Palaeologan Despotate of Rhodos or Genoese Signoria di Rodi
>
Home
Home
Quick Links
Search Forums
Recent Activity
Recent Posts
Forums
Forums
Quick Links
Search Forums
Recent Posts
Competitions
Competitions
Quick Links
Competition Index
Rules, Terms & Conditions
Gallery
Gallery
Quick Links
Search Media
New Media
Showcase
Showcase
Quick Links
Search Items
Most Active Members
New Items
Directory
Directory
Quick Links
Directory Home
New Listings
Members
Members
Quick Links
Notable Members
Current Visitors
Recent Activity
New Profile Posts
Sponsors
Menu
Search
Search titles only
Posted by Member:
Separate names with a comma.
Newer Than:
Search this thread only
Search this forum only
Display results as threads
Useful Searches
Recent Posts
More...