Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-lj6df Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-06T04:51:09.898Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

10 - The novi denarii and forgery in the ninth century

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 May 2010

Get access

Summary

Legislative texts governing the issue and circulation of coin during the first two centuries of Carolingian rule in Gaul and Italy are relatively numerous. A recurrent feature of them is the use of the expressions novi denarii or denarii de novae monetae. These occur in the text of the Frankfurt Synod of 794, in a capitulary of 819 addressed to the missi, in a capitulary of Louis II given at Mantua in 856, and in the edict promulgated at Pîtres in 864. The question of new deniers thus comes up on four occasions, three times in Gaul and once in Italy. Although the term novus denarius is not used, a second instance from Italy is provided by a capitulary given at Mantua in 781; in a brilliant study by Philip Grierson this text was correctly interpreted as referring to the inauguration of Carolingian coinage in Italy. It had previously been regarded as providing for the creation of Charlemagne's new heavy coin and Grierson's re-interpretation has led to a considerable advance in our understanding of Carolingian coinage.

The novi denarii mentioned by the Frankfurt Synod of 794 were shown by Gariel, followed by Grierson, to refer to the heavy deniers of Charlemagne's reform, a move which led to the withdrawal from circulation of the Merovingian-type deniers that had been struck since the middle of the eighth century.

Type
Chapter
Information
Studies in Numismatic Method
Presented to Philip Grierson
, pp. 137 - 146
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 1983

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×