Medieval Monday

[JeandAcre]

...Nope, @seth77, I can't doubt that the same letter form shows up in other media, within the High Medieval context (11th-13th centuries) that we're talking about.  Independently of its likely origins in Uncial.  --Which, in turn, conspicuously involves the primary, written medium.  

See where I'm going here?  It would really be worth someone's time to look for this across media, but during the same interval.

Edited October 11, 2022 by JeandAcre

[Edessa]

Germany, Bishopric of Bamberg. Heinrich I von Bilversheim, Bishop, AD 1242-1257. AR Pfennig (18mm, 0.55g). Episcopal mint in Bamberg. Obv: Cross with lilies in the corners in circular border, stars around the edges. Rev: Bishop's bust with crosier. Ref: Krug 73. 

[John Conduitt]

Eadmund Small Cross Horizontal-Pellet 1 Penny, 939-946

Southern mint. Silver, 20mm, 1.21g. Small cross pattée; +EΛDMVИD REX (moneyer Eadred) in two lines broken by row of three crosses pattée; pellet above and below (S 1105). PCGS AU-50.

[Severus Alexander]

WOW!!!  @John Conduitt, that is quite a coin!!  Have you read Bernard Cornwell's entertaining Uhtred series?

I do have a new coin to show off for Medieval Monday though, which at least shares attractive toning with your marvellous entry.  I quite like the portrait style, and it's a portrait of Henry II, Holy Roman Emperor, a must-have on my historical list:

Mint is Strasbourg, which is also cool I think, due to its being near the French/German border. I haven't done any research on the coin to speak of, although I do have a couple of references: Dbg. 920 and Kluge 82.

Also picked up this trachy on a whim. Bulgarian maybe? What do you think?

Edited October 17, 2022 by Severus Alexander

[JeandAcre]

Thanks to both of you guys for stepping up to the plate. 

@Edessa, I for one will never know enough about brakteats, large or small, early or later.

@John Conduitt, it's like, Huzzah! Huzzah!  'Mind-blowing' is exactly the right word.

To my surprise, it looks as if I haven't posted this here, yet.

Philippe III, 1270-1285.  Toulousain. 

Obv. Fleur de lis; PhILIPVS REX. 

Rev. Cross; legend punctuated by still more fleurs de lis: [/] TO [/] LA [/] CI [/] VI.  Duplessy, Monnaies Francaises Royales, 203.

When Alphonse, a younger brother of Louis IX, died without heirs on his way back from Louis's second crusade (1271), his extensive appanages (feudal holdings of cadets of the royal family) reverted to the Capetian crown.  Prominent among them, along with the county of Poitou, in northern Aquitaine, was Toulouse, facing the Mediterranean, whose heiress Alphonse had married, but without issue.  Here, the profusion of fleurs de lis suggests Philippe's eagerness to emphasize the arrival of Toulouse (whose original counts had a long history of wrangling with the Capetians) into the immediate royal orbit.

Regarding the denomination, I've yet to find an indication of how these were valued, in terms of royal deniers parisis or tournois.  --If anyone knows (@seth77, for one?), Please, Holler!  They're clearly of good silver, like the gros tournois.  (In contrast to the royal deniers, which were better than the feudal competition, but still billon).  But, from here, I can only guess at their valuation, relative to either the gros tournois or the two pincipal royal deniers.

Edited November 12, 2022 by JeandAcre

[JeandAcre]

@Severus Alexander, to wallow in the obvious, your trachy calls for a shout-out to @TheTrachyEnjoyer.  I know I'm clueless.

But as far as your Heinrich II denar, it's got to be just like this.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mDIG-RNwGeI 

I dearly love those Salian denars.  Congratulations on such a resonantly cool one!

Edited October 18, 2022 by JeandAcre

[JeandAcre]

@Severus Alexander, I've been trying to find my post that included my example of your Heinrich II of Strasbourg.  So far, it's eluding capture, either in this or the other forum.  Rats.  But (wish you could stop me) the vertical part if the reverse legend, between the fun architectural motifs, reads, 'ARGEN[T],' emphasizing the fineness of the silver content, especially for people this far west in the Salian empire, not far from the ubiquitously billon deniers of France, whether royal or (often only worse) feudal.

But I'm completely on your page about the cultural coolness of the Franco-German border, especially during this interval.  You could start with language.  I have to quote Simon John's biography of Godfrey of Bouillon (Routledge, 2019; especially fun for devoting a lot of attention to Godfrey's origins in Lorraine):

"It is important to note that the borders of Lotharingia were largely political. rather than ethnic or cultural.  While the Lotharingian duchies were components of the [German / Salian] Empire in political terms, the region was inhabited by a range of different peoples, including Frisians, Franks, Alemans, and [Francophone] Walloons, who spoke a variety of languages."  (17.)  

Anyway, here's my example.  ...Thank you, the Dannenberg is worth a Google translate, if you're like me, and that's the best you can do.

The vertical legend on the reverse, 'ARGEN[T],' goes a distance toward emphasizing that this issue is of typically good, German silver (cf. Anglo-Saxon pennies, of this and earlier periods --thanks again, @John Conduitt), in contrast to the billon which was more common among French deniers, right, whether royal or feudal.  ...Which is why it's so much fun that my example (from a dealer in Estonia) still has peck marks, from the late Viking Age.  No one was believing this, sight unseen.

Edited October 18, 2022 by JeandAcre

[Hrefn]

@JeandAcre I believe there may be another reason for ARGEN(T) on a coin from Strasbourg, which you may find of interest.   The town’s name under the Romans was Argentoratum, from an even earlier Gaulic word meaning, I have read, Silver Fort or Treasure Fort.  
Here is an earlier coin of Strasbourg which preserves the old Latin name, somewhat garbled, as ARGENTINA CIVITAS.  The coin was gilded and used as jewelry.

[Hrefn]

Indeed, your coin says ARGENTINA in the form of a cross.  Very cool!!!!

[JeandAcre]

Thank you  That Much, @Hrefn, for your needful illumination about Strasbourg!

Yes, some of what you said was dimly familiar ...but that's exactly how far I would have gotten, without finding the relentlessly elusive post.

Edited October 18, 2022 by JeandAcre

[seth77]

7 hours ago, JeandAcre said:

Thanks to both of you guys for stepping up to the plate. 

@Edessa, I for one will never know enough about brakteats, large or small, early or later.

@John Conduitt, it's like, Huzzah! Huzzah!  'Mind-blowing' is exactly the right word.

To my surprise, it looks as if I haven't posted this here, yet.

Philippe III, 1270-1285.  Toulousain. 

Obv. Fleur de lis; PhILIPVS REX. 

Rev. Cross; legend punctuated by still more fleurs de lis: [/] TO [/] LA [/] CI [/] VI.  Duplessy, Monnaies Francaises Royales, 203.

When Alphonse, a younger brother of Louis IX, died without heirs on his way back from Louis's second crusade (1271), his extensive appanages (feudal holdings of cadets of the royal family) reverted to the Capetian crown.  Prominent among them, along with the county of Poitou, in northern Aquitaine, was Toulouse, facing the Mediterranean, whose heiress Alphonse had married, but without issue.  Here, the profusion of fleurs de lis suggests Philippe's eagerness to emphasize the arrival of Toulouse (whose original counts had a long history of wrangling with the Capetians) into the immediate royal orbit.

Regarding the denomination, I've yet to find an indication of how these were valued, in terms of royal deniers parisis or tournois.  --If anyone knows (@seth77, for one?), Please, Holler!  They're clearly of good silver, like the gros tournois.  (In contrast to the royal deniers, which were better than the feudal competition, but still billon).  But, from here, I can only guess at their valuation, relative to either the gros tournos or the two pincipal royal deniers.

I think I saw this info somewhere, perhaps it's even in Duplessy's Tome I or at the very least in the analysis of Alphonse coinage by Bompaire et al. I'll check and return.

Edited October 18, 2022 by seth77

[seth77]

Duplessy gives it at 2 deniers tournois for a toulousain p. 100.

[JeandAcre]

Many, Many Thanks, @seth77!  I have the 2nd edition, but the '2 d. t.' was sailing over my radar this whole time. 

This makes all the intuitive sense in the world, between the silver content being on a vaguely comparable level to a (...what is the plural, anyway?) gros tournois, and the weight being that much less than twice a contemporaneous, billon denier tournois (right, with Duplessy's example of Philippe III (204) clocking in at 1.127 grams).

Edited October 18, 2022 by JeandAcre

[John Conduitt]

Edward IV Contemporary Counterfeit, 1490-1500
London, imitating York. Silver, 15mm, 0.42g. Facing bust; ECARCVS CEI (G)RA REX (instead of EDWARD DI GRA REX ANG). Long cross with quatrefoil; (CIVI TAS) EBOB ACI (instead of CIVITAS EBORACI); York reverse 3. Small letters; same broken B for B and R. Copies 1465-1483 coinage but probably produced early in Henry VII's reign when official Edward IV coins in circulation would be worn and clipped. From the Queenhythe Hoard.

[Edessa]

Germany, East Frisia. Anonymous. Mid-11th century. AR Pfennig (1.06g). Obv: INOVNOCI /////; Stylized head with protruding hair to the left, in circle of pearls. Rev: CVNOVNO////; Cross in circle of pearls. Ref: Dannenberg 1298; Jesse 63. Fine for type with peck marks. Ex WAG Feb 2009, Lot 2446. Possibly an imitation of Bishop Bernward, AD 993-1022, Hildesheim bistrum.

[JeandAcre]

Those are two really coolly arcane ones, @John Conduitt and @Edessa.  

Here's one I haven't posted here.  Edward I, New Coinage, but from the ecclesiastical mint of Bishop Bec of Durham.  The obverse legend begins with a cross moline, which was Bec's coat of arms.

Here's a manuscript leaf from a little later, showing the arms of Bec and Edward II.

Bec sold the castle of Alnwick to the Percys, future earls of Northumberland.  If you squint at this picture of one of the barbicans, built in the 1350s, you can see the shields of arms of several related families (just below the crennelations).

Edited October 31, 2022 by JeandAcre

[John Conduitt]

This coin was dug up in Hexham, in the same part of the world as Alnwick. It goes with the Eanred from the Bolton Percy Hoard I posted earlier, although that's a fair bit further south. Bolton Percy is so named because it also belonged to the Percy family!

Eanred Styca, 837-841

Eoferwic (York). Billon, 13mm, 1.26g. Pellet within linear circle; Pellet within linear circle; +EAHRED REX (SCBC 862; SCBI Mack 372, this coin). Ex RP Mack. From the Hexham (Northumberland) Hoard 1832, deposited in Aethelred II's second reign, 843-850. Elizabeth Pirie used stycas from Hexham, Kirkoswald and Bolton Percy to create the typology for the coinage.

[JeandAcre]

Brilliant example and, Yeah, Fantastic provenance, @John Conduitt!!!  

...I don't think this one's been posted on this forum.

Raoul /Rodolphe, King of Francia 923-936.  --A duke of Burgundy, who was king by marriage to a daughter of Robert I, he was the only Carolingian-era king who didn't have either Robertian or Carolingian descent.  Fortunately, the Germanic tradition of kingship by election was still very present, in Francia as well as Germany.

Obv. Adaptation of Eudes /Odo's monogram from earlier in the century, with elements of 'RODOLFO.'  (From 9 o'clock:) +GRATIA D-I REX.

Rev.  +AVRELIANIS CIVITA.  Nouchy 282.

[panzerman]

Here is one from my Mom's hometown/ just in from Höhn Auction day 2

Köln/ Erzbistum

AV Goldgulden ND (1415)

Dietrich II Graf von Mörs 1414-63

obv: Arms of Köln/ Mors/ in Trilobe with Crossed keys/ Arms of Trier/ Rosettes at points

THeOD II*C*AR*ePI COLOnI

St. John the Baptist holding Lys tipped Scepter/ Hand raided in Benediction/Double Headed Eagle above Shoulder

MOneTA BVInSIS

Bonn Mint

3.47g.     23mm.     .986     5h

Noss 273   Fr. 793

Höhn Auction

[VD76]

Space filler without breaking the budget ....

Lordship of Carytaena . Helena Angelina Comnena 1291-1300. Denier tournois.

17mm/ 0.47 g. 

+ҺELENA DI GRA, cross pattée 

+CLARICTIA S F , châtel tournois.

Sch. XII, 28; CCS 77b

[JeandAcre]

Wow, @VD76, I had no idea that, especially this late in the Franco-Greek series, there were lordships issuing their own coins. 

Right, @seth77 needs to publish a book on the subject ...if he hasn't already, and is just being modest. 

...Well, Hang On, this is a Female, whose descent goes all the way back to the Comneni.  I'm summarily floored.  Really wish my decidedly fragmentary acquaintance with the whole milieu didn't summarily end with Guillaume de Villehardouin.

[Severus Alexander]

1 hour ago, VD76 said:

Space filler without breaking the budget ....

Lordship of Carytaena . Helena Angelina Comnena 1291-1300. Denier tournois.

17mm/ 0.47 g. 

+ҺELENA DI GRA, cross pattée 

+CLARICTIA S F , châtel tournois.

Sch. XII, 28; CCS 77b

Fantastic!!  Did you cherry-pick that unidentified?

I recently filled in my Spanish medieval a bit.  Here's my new Alfonso I of Aragon:

(this was in that crazy Cayon rapid auction format.  Has anyone tried one of those?)

Edited November 14, 2022 by Severus Alexander

[JeandAcre]

Yep, Today It Is.

I'm going to do another harness pendant.  Over the past several years, these have been available on UKebay, predominantly as detector finds.  I'm sure this hasn't been posted on this forum.  For Anglo-Norman aristocracy, in the absence of anything like a French feudal series, these are terrific fun for effecting a broad equivalent.

Circa mid-13th-earlier 14th century, with mount.  Gules a lion rampant or, corresponding to the FitzAlan earls of Arundel /Sussex.

And, Yes, since I am that into castles, here's one pic from the official website of, wait for it, Arundel Castle, showing the 12th-century, masonry 'shell-keep' on top of the earlier motte, and some of the earlier of the  curtain walls, into the 13th century.  (Henry II built the initial 'shell keep,' during the extended minority of one of the earls.  Given that Henry's castles were visionary, whether in summing up existing convention, or expanding it, it's hard to believe that ensuing Fitzalan counts would have been less than pleased with his efforts.)

Thanks to this amazing online resource, if you're into this sort of thing:

http://www.gatehouse-gazetteer.info/English sites/3578.html

Edited November 15, 2022 by JeandAcre

[Edessa]

AYYUBID: (Saladin), AD 1169-1193, AR dirham, Dimashq, AH578. Ref: A-787.2. Very Fine. Ex Stephen Album.

[TheTrachyEnjoyer]

3 hours ago, VD76 said:

Space filler without breaking the budget ....

Lordship of Carytaena . Helena Angelina Comnena 1291-1300. Denier tournois.

17mm/ 0.47 g. 

+ҺELENA DI GRA, cross pattée 

+CLARICTIA S F , châtel tournois.

Sch. XII, 28; CCS 77b

Wow! Thats a really rarity