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Particularly western iconography on the trachea of the Latin Empire of Constantinople
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<p>[QUOTE="seth77, post: 3220869, member: 56653"]To most, the Latin issues of Crusader or Latin Constantinople are boring and attract no interest. When you see them on vcoins or in other places, they are mostly identified as just "Latin Empire trachy (1204-1261)" and, if lucky, assigned to a Hendy type.</p><p><br /></p><p>Most of them are rather dull and the condition and clipping don't help either. The types are mostly variations of earlier Byzantine types, no Latin Emperor is named and the economic crisis at Constantinople and the galloping inflation meant that coins would become worse and worse each year. </p><p><br /></p><p>Occasionally though, during this period of inflation and general lack of interest in base metal coinage, when "new" types were minted almost yearly, interesting designs did pop up. One of them and my personal favorite is the "Peter and Paul" type, Type T according to Hendy, which shows on the obverse the Virgin Hagiosoritissa and on the reverse saints Peter and Paul nimbate, embracing each other:</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]838518[/ATTACH] </p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]838519[/ATTACH] </p><p><br /></p><p>This coinage was struck under Venetian supervision, perhaps under the direct authority of the Venetian podesta at Constantinople, starting with around 1235-1237, for usage in Thrace and the Bulgarian territories, to around 1241/3, when the Mongol invasion destroyed much of Bulgaria and practically turned the <i>tsarate</i> into a tributary state. According to <a href="http://glebecoins.net/paleos/Articles/Sequencing_the_Latin_Types/sequencing_the_latin_types.html" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://glebecoins.net/paleos/Articles/Sequencing_the_Latin_Types/sequencing_the_latin_types.html" rel="nofollow">hoard evidence</a> though, the type was still in use well into the 1250s.</p><p><br /></p><p>What is interesting about this type is the distinct western Catholic iconography of the reverse. Saints Peter and Paul were, of course, revered by both Churches, but their presence and posture on this small module petty coinage is distinctly Catholic, reminiscent of the famous representations on the Papal <i>bullae</i>:</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]838520[/ATTACH] </p><p><font size="3">Papal bulla from the 1240s, of Pope Innocent IV (1243-1254)</font></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>This depiction of Catholic iconography on a specifically Greek Orthodox coinage might throw some light on the idiosyncrasies of the age at Constantinople, in the larger context of the often-discussed and never-endeavored reunification of the Churches, which lingered off and on in the relationship between the Papacy and Constantinople until the fall of the latter to the Ottomans in 1453.</p><p><br /></p><p>The design of the copper coinage of Latin Constantinople was of course of very little significance in the big picture and especially to the impoverished population which used it before, around and after the devastating encroachment by the Mongols. It is nonetheless interesting to see such a juxtaposition of worlds and symbolisms at the very end of Latin rule, before Michael Palaeologos restored Greek-Romaion rule over the city and Baldwin II de Courtenay, the only Latin Emperor of Constantinople to be born in Constantinople, was forced to flee his home in 1261.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>
[QUOTE="seth77, post: 3220869, member: 56653"]To most, the Latin issues of Crusader or Latin Constantinople are boring and attract no interest. When you see them on vcoins or in other places, they are mostly identified as just "Latin Empire trachy (1204-1261)" and, if lucky, assigned to a Hendy type. Most of them are rather dull and the condition and clipping don't help either. The types are mostly variations of earlier Byzantine types, no Latin Emperor is named and the economic crisis at Constantinople and the galloping inflation meant that coins would become worse and worse each year. Occasionally though, during this period of inflation and general lack of interest in base metal coinage, when "new" types were minted almost yearly, interesting designs did pop up. One of them and my personal favorite is the "Peter and Paul" type, Type T according to Hendy, which shows on the obverse the Virgin Hagiosoritissa and on the reverse saints Peter and Paul nimbate, embracing each other: [ATTACH=full]838518[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=full]838519[/ATTACH] This coinage was struck under Venetian supervision, perhaps under the direct authority of the Venetian podesta at Constantinople, starting with around 1235-1237, for usage in Thrace and the Bulgarian territories, to around 1241/3, when the Mongol invasion destroyed much of Bulgaria and practically turned the [I]tsarate[/I] into a tributary state. According to [URL='http://glebecoins.net/paleos/Articles/Sequencing_the_Latin_Types/sequencing_the_latin_types.html']hoard evidence[/URL] though, the type was still in use well into the 1250s. What is interesting about this type is the distinct western Catholic iconography of the reverse. Saints Peter and Paul were, of course, revered by both Churches, but their presence and posture on this small module petty coinage is distinctly Catholic, reminiscent of the famous representations on the Papal [I]bullae[/I]: [ATTACH=full]838520[/ATTACH] [SIZE=3]Papal bulla from the 1240s, of Pope Innocent IV (1243-1254)[/SIZE] This depiction of Catholic iconography on a specifically Greek Orthodox coinage might throw some light on the idiosyncrasies of the age at Constantinople, in the larger context of the often-discussed and never-endeavored reunification of the Churches, which lingered off and on in the relationship between the Papacy and Constantinople until the fall of the latter to the Ottomans in 1453. The design of the copper coinage of Latin Constantinople was of course of very little significance in the big picture and especially to the impoverished population which used it before, around and after the devastating encroachment by the Mongols. It is nonetheless interesting to see such a juxtaposition of worlds and symbolisms at the very end of Latin rule, before Michael Palaeologos restored Greek-Romaion rule over the city and Baldwin II de Courtenay, the only Latin Emperor of Constantinople to be born in Constantinople, was forced to flee his home in 1261.[/QUOTE]
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