Tasciovanus Jugate Bearded Heads Bronze Unit

My latest purchase is uncommon enough that you might never have seen one – mainly because you weren’t looking. British Iron Age bronzes aren’t popular as they don’t come in good condition. Apart from the early potins, bronze is rarely, if ever, found in hoards – most are gold, while the biggest are silver. This may be because they were votive, while bronze was used only for low-value commerce – although early Roman hoards in Britain are mostly silver too.

It comes from Tasciovanus’s wide and varied bronze issues. The fact that he made so many points to a vibrant economy, and not the stereotype of endlessly warring tribes. It’s actually in reasonable condition for the type. Of the 9 examples on the Portable Antiquities Scheme database, 6 are in such poor shape they’re described as ‘probably a Tasciovanus jugate type.’ Only 7 obverse and 9 reverse dies have been identified, because most are unidentifiable.

Tasciovanus 1st Coinage ‘Trinovantian M’ Unit, 20-10BC

Verlamion (St Albans). Bronze, 16mm, 1.9g. Jugate bearded heads facing right with elaborate hair arranged in two rows of crescents; VER(I) in front. Ram left, pellets and rosettes in front and below, (rosette flanked by two pellets above); TA(SC) above (ABC 2655; V 1705; S 242).

The ‘ram’ is thought to be copied from a denarius, where it was associated with Mars (and so war), although whether Tasciovanus knew that is debatable. The jugate portraits may also have been inspired by Roman coinage. But the style is anything but Roman. As with most Iron Age British coins, there’s little to go on for chronology but style. The bearded heads, rosettes and archaic lettering (if you can make it out) place these at the start of Tasciovanus’s bronze coinage.

Across Tasciovanus’s 3 issues, the coins became increasingly Romanised. This coin comes from the Romanised period, when the busts were less wild (and more clean-shaven) but the coins still had something of the Iron Age about them:

Tasciovanus 3rd Coinage ‘Trinovantian O’ Unit, 5BC-AD5

Verlamion (St Albans). Silver, 13mm, 1.40g. Quadrilobe inscribed with saltire, superimposed on stylized cross, V-E-R-L in angles. Boar right; TAS above, star below (ABC 2628; V 1796; S 236). Tasciovanus was the first British ruler to name mints on his coins. There were two, both supplying the whole area: the earlier coins were struck at Verlamion/St Albans (the Catuvellauni capital founded by Tasciovanus), while later Camulodunum/Colchester (the former Trinovantes and future Roman capital) became important.

So, who was this powerful king? We only know him from his coinage. Tasciovanus was ruler of the Catuvellauni tribe from around 25BC to AD10. Caesar encountered his predecessor, Cassivellaunus, when he invaded in 55-54BC, along with the Trinovantes tribe, who were by Tasciovanus’s time part of the same group. They covered southeast England north of the Thames. Under Tasciovanus, the Catuvellauni grew in strength militarily and economically, and came to dominate the tribes around them.

Indeed, it was the Catuvellauni occupation of Verica's northern Atrebates capital that led him to request Claudius’s help and precipitate the Roman conquest. But like Verica, Catuvellauni power originally came from co-operating with the Romans. Supplying the Roman army and disrupting trade between other tribes during the Gallic Wars earned them a lot of gold, which gave them an advantage.

The Helpful-If-Probably-Inaccurate Map of Southern British Iron Age Tribes

All these tribes produced coins, except the Dumnonii. (The Regni didn’t but were in with the Atrebates). The only coin producers missing from the map are the Corieltauvi, who inhabited a region north of the Catuvellauni, and the Vectuarii on the Isle of Wight. (Image: Nwbeeson, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0, via Wikimedia Commons).

At the end of Tasciovanus’s reign, there seems to have been something of a struggle for the succession. Coins were struck with the abbreviated names of what might be rivals, or heirs, or subordinate kings, or maybe just new mints. Given the obscure nature of this point in history, it seems fitting that the coins are equally murky. The eventual successor, Cunobelinus, was also successful and famed for his gold staters featuring an ear of barley.

Rues ‘Trinovantian S’ Unit, AD1-10

Verlamion (St Albans). Bronze, 15mm, 1.7g. Bearded head right; RVIIS. Horseman right; VIR (ABC 2754; V 1892; S 272). Found in a field beside the A1(M) near Baldock, Hertfordshire in December 1997 (Portable Antiquities Scheme CCI-981064 https://finds.org.uk/database/artefacts/record/id/305955). Rues (‘the red’) may have been the ruler of the eastern Catuvellauni and a subordinate king of Tasciovanus. He looks a lot like his ‘father’.

Main Source: Celtic Coinage of Britain, RD Van Arsdell https://vanarsdellcelticcoinageofbritain.com/index.html

 

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John, I enjoyed your article & hopefully it's given featured status . Of the 3 coins you've pictured, the one that impressed me the most is the silver unit with a boar on the reverse . Your coin is far superior to the example pictured in Chris Rudd's book, & is labeled Very rare. Chris Rudd writes "The coinage of Tasciovanos, meticulously studied by Rainer Kretz, was one of the most sophisticated coinages seen in Britain and Gaul. It had no fewer than six different denominations in gold, silver and bronze." Pictured below is an example of the gold stater you mention in your article with an ear of barley that was issued by his son Cunobelinus.

CELTIC, Trinovantes & Catuvellauni. Cunobelinus. Circa AD 10-43. AV Stater: 5.42 gm, 18 mm, 12 h. Camulodunum Mint. ABC 2786. Al Kowsky Collection.
Ex CNG Triton XXIV, lot 1365, January 2021; Ex Dix Noonan Webb 114, lot 1281, September 2013.

 

Very interesting @John Conduitt ...
Here's a bronze of his son Cunobelin with his father named on the reverse..
Britannia, Trinovantes & Catuvellauni. Cunobelin. Circa 9-41 AD. AE Unit (2.437 g, 14mm).
Obv: Winged head left, CVNO in front, BELIN behind.
Rev: Metal worker, presumably the smith god known as Sucellus in parts of Gaul, sitting on a solid seat with a detached upright back, holding an L-shaped hammer in his right hand, left hand holding a metal bowl, there is always a distinct bun of hair behind the smith's head, TASCIO (Tascionus his father) behind, beaded border.
Van Arsdell 2097; ABC 2969; SCBC 342. Hobbs 1972-83;..VF.