Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-dzt6s Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-01-05T13:38:43.817Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

THE HEIGHT OF DENIER TOURNOIS MINTING IN GREECE (1289–1313) ACCORDING TO NEW ARCHAEOMETRIC DATA

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 March 2017

J. Baker ,
V. Kantarelou ,
A.G. Karydas ,
R.E. Jones ,
P. Siozos ,
D. Anglos  and
B. Derham
J. Baker*
Affiliation:
Heberden Coin Room, Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford, UK
V. Kantarelou
Affiliation:
Institute of Nuclear Physics, NCSR ‘Demokritos’, Aghia Paraskevi, Attica, Greece
A.G. Karydas
Affiliation:
Institute of Nuclear Physics, NCSR ‘Demokritos’, Aghia Paraskevi, Attica, Greece Nuclear Science and Instrumentation Laboratory, IAEA, Seibersdorf, Austria
R.E. Jones
Affiliation:
Archaeology, University of Glasgow, UK
P. Siozos
Affiliation:
Institute of Electronic Structure and Laser, Foundation for Research and Technology-Hellas, Herakleion, Greece
D. Anglos
Affiliation:
Institute of Electronic Structure and Laser, Foundation for Research and Technology-Hellas, Herakleion, Greece Department of Chemistry, University of Crete, Herakleion, Greece
*
[email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The years 1289–1313 witnessed particularly prolific minting activities at different southern and central Greek mints on behalf of different polities. The coin issues are of great economic and political relevance, and therefore of interest to modern historians. Our understanding of these is based on traditional sources, either numismatic (types and finds), or historical. This paper aims to investigate the possibilities of adding further details to the picture through archaeometry. Specifically, tournois pennies of the three main mints of the region (Clarentza, Thebes, Naupaktos) excavated at Ancient Corinth were analysed according to two different non-destructive methods, X-ray fluorescence spectrometry (XRF) and laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS). The resulting relative silver percentages and the fingerprints of the trace elements have supported our attempts to put the different coin types in chronological order and to add detail to the context and intent for each one of these. A vivid picture of monetary production emerges. The different issuing authorities were usually intent on maintaining a decent standard while variously trying to put pressure on rivals or to harmonise their productions with their allies. All the analysed mints were commercial in character, though they were subject to the great political changes affecting Greece in this period, the ambitions of the Angevin dynasty, the various challenges which it faced in Athens, the Peloponnese and the western Mainland, and finally the destructive arrival of the Catalans. In times of need, specifically military, these same mints could therefore rely on further bullion which reached them through internal or external political channels.

Η ακμή της κοπής δηναρίων τορνεσίων στην Ελλαδα σύμφωνα με νέα αρχαιομετρικά δεδομένα

Η κοπή νομισμάτων κατά τη χρονική περίοδο 1289–1313 αποδείχτηκε ιδιαίτερα παραγωγική για τα νομισματοκοπία διαφορετικών πολιτειών της νότιας και της κεντρικής Ελλάδας. Οι νομισματικές κοπές έχουν οικονομική και πολιτική σημασία και ως εκ τούτου παρουσιάζουν ενδιαφέρον για τους σύγχρονους ιστορικούς. Οι γνώσεις μας πάνω στα νομίσματα βασίζεται σε νομισματικές (τύποι νομισμάτων) ή ιστορικές πηγές. Αυτή η εργασία έχει σαν στόχο να προσθέσει περαιτέρω λεπτομέρειες στην έρευνα των νομισμάτων μέσω της Αρχαιομετρίας. Πιο συγκεκριμένα, νομίσματα των κύριων νομισματοκοπείων της εποχής (Γλαρέντζα, Θήβα, Ναύπακτος) που ανασκάφθηκαν στην Αρχαία Κόρινθο μελετήθηκαν με δύο διαφορετικές μη καταστροφικές μεθόδους, τη φθορισιμετρία των ακτίνων Χ (XRF) και τη φασματοσκοπία πλάσματος επαγόμενου από λέιζερ (LIBS). Οι μετρούμενες συγκεντρώσεις του αργύρου αλλά και των ιχνοστοιχείων υποστήριξαν τις προσπάθειές μας για κατάταξη των διαφορετικών τύπων νομισμάτων σε χρονολογική σειρά προσθέτοντας λεπτομέρειες για τη σύσταση τους. Μια ζωντανή εικόνα της νομισματικής παραγωγής αναδύεται. Οι διάφορες αρχές συνήθως προσπαθούσαν να διατηρήσουν τη ποιότητα των μετάλλων ενώ παράλληλα προσπαθούσαν να ασκήσουν πίεση στους αντιπάλους ή να εναρμονίσουν τις παραγωγές τους με τους συμμάχους τους. Όλα τα εξεταζόμενα νομισματοκοπεία είχαν εμπορικό χαρακτήρα, αν και είχαν υποβληθεί στις μεγάλες πολιτικές αλλαγές που επηρεάζουν την Ελλάδα αυτή την περίοδο, οι φιλοδοξίες της δυναστείας των Ανδηγαυών, οι διάφορες προκλήσεις που αντιμετωπίζουν στην Αθήνα, την Πελοπόννησο και τη δυτική ηπειρωτική χώρα, και τέλος, η καταστροφική άφιξη των Καταλανών. Σε στιγμές ανάγκης, ειδικά σε περίοδο πολέμου, τα νομισματοκοπεία στηρίζονταν για την ανανέωση του χαλκού και του αργύρου σε εσωτερικές ή εξωτερικές πηγές.

Type
Articles
Information
Annual of the British School at Athens , Volume 112 , November 2017 , pp. 267 - 307
Copyright
Copyright © The Council, British School at Athens 2017 

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.)

References

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Abulafia, D. 1995. ‘The Aragonese kingdom of Albania: an Angevin project of 1311–1316’, Medieval History Review 10.1–2 (= Studies in Honour of David Jacoby: Intercultural Contacts in the Medieval Mediterranean), 1–13.Google Scholar
Abulafia, D. 1997. The Western Mediterranean Kingdoms 1200–1500 (Harlow).Google Scholar
Airaldi, G. 1995. ‘Roger of Lauria's expedition to the Peloponnese’, Medieval History Review 10.1–2 (= Studies in Honour of David Jacoby: Intercultural Contacts in the Medieval Mediterranean), 14–23.Google Scholar
Armstrong, P. 1993. ‘Byzantine Thebes: excavations on the Kadmeia, 1980’, BSA 88, 295–335.Google Scholar
Asonitis, S. 1999. Ανδηγαυική Κέρκυρα (13ος – 14ος αι.) (Corfu).Google Scholar
Asonitis, S. 2005. Το Νότιο Ιόνιο κατά τον Όψιμο Μεσαίωνα. Κομητεία Κεφαλληνίας, Δουκάτο Λευκάδας, Αιτωτολοακαρνανία (Athens).Google Scholar
Athanasoulis, D. 2013a. ‘The triangle of power. Building projects in the metropolitan area of the crusader principality of the Morea’, in Gerstel, S. (ed.), Viewing the Morea: Land and People in the Late Medieval Peloponnese (Washington), 111–51.Google Scholar
Athanasoulis, D. 2013b. ‘Corinth’, in Albani, J. and Chalkia, E. (eds), Heaven and Earth. Cities and Countryside in Byzantine Greece (Athens), 192–209.Google Scholar
Baker, J. 2001. ‘Three fourteenth-century coin hoards from Apulia containing gigliati and Greek deniers tournois’, RIN 102, 219–80.Google Scholar
Baker, J. 2003. ‘Coin circulation in early 14th century Thessaly and south-eastern mainland Greece’, in Moschonas, N.G. (ed.), Χρήμα και Αγορά στην Εποχή των Παλαιολόγων (Athens), 293–336.Google Scholar
Baker, J. 2011a. ‘Chiarenza/Glarentza’, in Travaini, L. (ed.), Guida per la storia delle zecche italiane medievali e moderne (fino all'Unità) (Rome), 1304–7.Google Scholar
Baker, J. 2011b. ‘Corfu/Kerkyra’, in Travaini, L. (ed.), Guida per la storia delle zecche italiane medievali e moderne (fino all'Unità) (Rome), 1317–18.Google Scholar
Baker, J. 2011c. ‘Corinto/Korinthos’, in Travaini, L. (ed.), Guida per la storia delle zecche italiane medievali e moderne (fino all'Unità) (Rome), 1319–21.Google Scholar
Baker, J. 2011d. ‘Lepanto/Naupaktos’, in Travaini, L. (ed.), Guida per la storia delle zecche italiane medievali e moderne (fino all'Unità) (Rome), 1352–3.Google Scholar
Baker, J. 2011e. ‘Neopatria/Hypate’, in Travaini, L. (ed.), Guida per la storia delle zecche italiane medievali e moderne (fino all'Unità) (Rome), 1404–5.Google Scholar
Baker, J. 2011f. ‘Salona/Amfissa’, in Travaini, L. (ed.), Guida per la storia delle zecche italiane medievali e moderne (fino all'Unità) (Rome), 1437–8.Google Scholar
Baker, J. 2011g. ‘Tebe/Thiva’, in Travaini, L. (ed.), Guida per la storia delle zecche italiane medievali e moderne (fino all'Unità) (Rome), 1461–4.Google Scholar
Baker, J. 2011h. ‘Tino/Tinos’, in Travaini, L. (ed.), Guida per la storia delle zecche italiane medievali e moderne (fino all'Unità) (Rome), 1465–6.Google Scholar
Baker, J. 2015. ‘Money and currency in medieval Greece’, in Tsougarakis, N. and Lock, P. (eds), A Companion to Latin Greece (Leiden), 217–54.Google Scholar
Baker, J. and Galani-Krikou, M. 2004, “Το νομισματοκοπείο των Νεών Πατρών. Deniers tournois 14ου αιώνας μ.Χ.”, in Το νόμισμα στο Θεσσαλικό χώρο (Athens), 409–30.Google Scholar
Baker, J. and Galani-Krikou, M. forthcoming. “Δυτικός μεσαίων στην Πελοπόννησο”, in Το νόμισμα στην Πελοπόννησο. Στʹ επιστημονική συνάντηση – Άργος 26–29 Μαίου 2011 (Athens).Google Scholar
Baker, J. and Ponting, M. 2001. ‘The early period of minting of deniers tournois in the principality of Achaïa (to 1289), and their relation to the issues of the Duchy of Athens’, NC 161, 207–54.Google Scholar
Baker, J. and Stahl, A. 2013. ‘Coinage and money in the Morea after the Fourth Crusade’, in Gerstel, S. (ed.), Viewing the Morea: Land and People in the Late Medieval Peloponnese (Washington), 153–84.Google Scholar
Baker, J. and Tsekes, G. forthcoming. ‘Medieval coins from the area of Limnes in the Argolis’, in Το νόμισμα στην Πελοπόννησο. Στʹ επιστημονική συνάντηση – Άργος 26–29 Μαίου 2011 (Athens).Google Scholar
Bon, A. 1969. La Morée franque: recherches historiques, topographiques, et archéologiques sur la Principauté d'Achaïe (1205–1430) (Paris).Google Scholar
Chrestomanos, A.K. 1905. “Ανάλυση αρχαίων νομισμάτων” (in French), JIAN 8, 115–20.Google Scholar
Dourou-Iliopoulou, M. 1987. Η Ανδηγαυική κυριαρχία στη Ρωμανία επί Καρόλου Αʹ (1266–1285) (Athens).Google Scholar
Dourou-Iliopoulou, M. 1993. “Η Ανδεγαυική παρουσία στο πρινκηπάτο της Αχαίας και στην Κέρκυρα τα πρώτα χρόνια του Καρόλου Βʹ 1289–1300”, Εώα και Εσπέρια 1, 45–59.Google Scholar
Evans, A. (ed.) 1936. Francesco Balducci Pegolotti, La Pratica della Mercatura (Cambridge, Mass.).Google Scholar
Galani-Krikou, M. 1997. “Θήβα 10ου – 14ου αιώνας. Η νομισματική μαρτυρία από την Άγια Τριάδα”, Σύμμεικτα 11, 113–50.Google Scholar
Graff, G. 1998. ‘Les deniers tournois de la Grèce franque. Analyse d'un ensemble de 900 deniers provenant vraisemblablement du trésor de Pylia (1968/1969)’, Liste Jean Elsen 197 and 198, 1–8 and 1–10.Google Scholar
Hendrickx, B. 1988. ‘Régestes des empereurs latins de Constantinople (1204–1261/1272)’, Byzantina 14, 7–220.Google Scholar
Hendy, M.F. 1985. Studies in the Byzantine Monetary Economy c. 300–1450 (Cambridge).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hopf, C. 1867–8. ‘Geschichte Griechenlands vom Beginn des Mittelalters bis auf unsere Zeit’, in Ersch, J. and Gruber, J. (eds), Allgemeine Encyclopädie der Wissenschaften und Künste 85–6 (Leipzig), 67–465 and 1–190.Google Scholar
Jacoby, D. 2000. ‘The production of silk textiles in Latin Greece’, in Τεχνογνωσία στη λατινοκρατούμενη Ελλάδα (Athens), 22–35 (= Jacoby, D., Commercial Exchange Across the Mediterranean (Aldershot, 2005), no. XII).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jacoby, D. 2001. ‘Changing economic patterns in Latin Romania: the impact of the West’, in Laiou, A.E. and Mottahedeh, R.P. (eds), The Crusades from the Perspective of Byzantium and the Muslim World (Washington D.C.), 197–233 (= Jacoby, D., Commercial Exchange Across the Mediterranean, Aldershot (2005), no. IX).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jacoby, D. 2002. ‘La consolidation de la domination de Venise dans la ville de Négrepont (1205–1390). Un aspect de sa politique coloniale’, in Maltezou, C.A. and Schreiner, P. (eds), Bisanzio, Venezia e il mondo franco-greco (XIII–XV secolo) (Venice), 151–87.Google Scholar
Jacoby, D. 2010. ‘Thirteenth-century commercial exchange in the Aegean. Continuity and change’, in 1. Uluslararası Bizans Araştırmaları Sempozyumu (Istanbul), 187–94.Google Scholar
Jacoby, D. 2013. ‘Rural exploitation and market economy in the late medieval Peloponnese’, in Gerstel, S. (ed.), Viewing the Morea: Land and People in the Late Medieval Peloponnese (Washington), 213–75.Google Scholar
Jacoby, D. 2015. ‘The economy of Latin Greece’, in Tsougarakis, N.I. and Lock, P. (eds), A Companion to Latin Greece (Leiden), 185–216.Google Scholar
Kantarelou, V., Ager, F.J., Eugenidou, D., Chaves, F., Andreou, A., Kontou, E., Katsikosta, N., Respaldiza, M.A., Serafin, P., Sokaras, D., Zarkadas, C., Polikreti, K. and Karydas, A.G. 2011. ‘X-ray Fluorescence analytical criteria to assess the fineness of ancient silver coins: application on Ptolemaic coinage’, Spectrochimica Acta Part B: Atomic Spectroscopy 66, 681–90.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Karydas, A.G. 2007. ‘Application of a portable XRF spectrometer for the non-invasive 552 analysis of museum metal artefacts’, Annali di Chimica (Rome) 97, 419–32.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kiesewetter, A. 1994. ‘Il trattato del 18 ottobre 1305 fra Filippo I di Taranto e Giovanni I Orsini di Cefalonia per la conquista dell'Epiro’, Archivio storico pugliese 47, 177–213.Google Scholar
Kiesewetter, A. 1996. ‘Das Ende des ‘Livre de la conqueste de l'amorée’ (1301–1304). Ein Beitrag zur Geschichte des Fränkischen Griechenlands zu Beginn des 14. Jahrhunderts’, Βυζαντιακά 16, 143–90.Google Scholar
Kiesewetter, A. 1997. ‘Filippo I d'Angiò’, in Dizionario biografico degli Italiani 47, 717–23.Google Scholar
Kiesewetter, A. 2001. ‘I principi di Taranto e la Grecia (1294–1373/83)’, Archivio storico pugliese, 54, 53–100.Google Scholar
Laiou, A.E. and Morrisson, C. 2007. The Byzantine Economy (Cambridge).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Laiou, A.E. and Morrisson, C. 2011. Le monde byzantin III. L'empire grec et ses voisins XIIIe – XVe siècle (Paris).Google Scholar
Lanz, K. (ed.) 1844. Chronik des edlen En Ramon Muntaner (Stuttgart).Google Scholar
Lombardo, A. (ed.) 1951. Pasquale Longo, notaio in Corone (1289–1293) (Venice).Google Scholar
Longnon, J. 1949. L'empire latin de Constantinople et la principauté de Morée (Paris).Google Scholar
Longnon, J. 1962. ‘The Frankish states in Greece, 1204–1311’, in Setton, K.M. and Wolff, R.L. (eds), The Later Crusades 1189–1311 (Philadelphia), 234–74.Google Scholar
Longnon, J. and Topping, P. 1969. Documents sur le régime des terres dans la principauté de Morée au XIVe siècle (Paris–The Hague).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Metcalf, D.M. 1960. ‘The currency of deniers tournois in Frankish Greece’, BSA 55, 38–59.Google Scholar
Metcalf, D.M. 1971. ‘The Pylia Hoard: deniers tournois of Frankish Greece’, ANSMN 17, 173–227.Google Scholar
Metcalf, D.M. 1995. Coinage of the Crusades and the Latin East in the Ashmolean Museum Oxford, 2nd edn (London).Google Scholar
Morozzo della Rocca, R. and Lombardo, A. 1940. Documenti del commercio venziano nei secoli XI–XIII 2 (Turin).Google Scholar
Morozzo della Rocca, R. and Lombardo, A. 1953. Nuovi documenti del commercio venziano dei secoli XI–XIII (Venice).Google Scholar
Nicol, D.M. 1972. ‘The relations of Charles of Anjou with Nikephoros of Epiros’, Byzantinische Forschungen 4, 170–94.Google Scholar
Nicol, D.M. 1981. ‘The date of the death of Nikephoros I of Epiros’, Rivista di studi bizantini e slavi, 1 (= Miscellanea Agostino Pertusi 1), 251–7.Google Scholar
Nicol, D.M. 1984. The Despotate of Epiros 1267–1479 (Cambridge).Google Scholar
Perrat, C., and Longnon, J. 1967. Actes relatifs à la principauté de Morée (= Collection de documents inédites sur l'histoire de France 6), (Paris).Google Scholar
Photos-Jones, E., Jones, R. and Bateson, D. forthcoming. ‘Light on many journeys: Charles II Scottish silver coinage leading to the closure of the Scottish Mint’, British Numismatic Journal.Google Scholar
Sakellariou, E. 2014. ‘Il principato di Taranto e l'Oriente nel tardo medioevo’ in Colesanti, G.T. (ed.), ‘Il re cominciò a conoscere che il principe era un altro re’. Il principato di Taranto e il contest mediterraneo (secc. XII–XV) (Rome), 215–31.Google Scholar
Schlumberger, G. 1878–82. Numismatique de l'Orient Latin (Paris).Google Scholar
Skartsis, S. 2009. ‘Chlemoutsi Castle (Clermont, Castel Tornese), Peloponnese: its pottery and its relations with the West (13th–early 19th c.)’ (unpublished PhD thesis, Birmingham University).Google Scholar
Spufford, P. 1988. Money and its Use in Medieval Europe (Cambridge).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Thompson, M. 1954. Coins from the Roman through Venetian period (= The Athenian Agora 2; Princeton).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tzamalis, A.P. 1981. Τα νομίσματα της Φραγκοκρατίας 1184–1566 (Athens).Google Scholar
Tzamalis, A.P. 1990. “Η πρώτη περίοδος του τορνεζίου. Νέα στοιχεία από ένα παλαιό εύρημα, Aʹ”, NomChron 9, 101–31.Google Scholar
Tzamalis, A.P. 1994. ‘The Elis Hoard/1964’, NomChron 13, 75–84.Google Scholar
Tzamalis, A.P. 2004. ‘Princess Isabelle of Achaia and her husbands. A new look at an old numismatic mystery’, NomChron 23, 68–73.Google Scholar
Tzamalis, A.P. 2016. Coins of the Frankish Occupation of Greece 1184–1566 (Athens).Google Scholar
Tzavara, A. 2008. Clarentza: une ville de la Morée latine XIIIe–XIVe siècles (Venice).Google Scholar
Vroom, J. 2006. ‘Byzantine garbage and Ottoman waste’, in Andrikou, E., Aravantinos, V., Godart, L., Sacconi, A. and Vroom, J. (eds), Thèbes. Fouilles de la Cadmée, II.2. Les tablettes en linéaire B de la Odos Pelopidou: le contexte archéologique. La céramique de la Odos Pelopidou et la chronologie du linéaire B (Pisa–Rome), 181–233.Google Scholar
Vroom, J. 2011. ‘The Morea and its links with Southern Italy after ad 1204: ceramics and identity’, Archeologia medievale 38, 409–30.Google Scholar
Westlake, P., Siozos, P., Philippidis, A., Apostolaki, C., Derham, B., Terlixi, A., Perdikatsis, V., Jones, R. and Anglos, D. 2012. ‘Studying pigments on painted plaster in Minoan, Roman and Early Byzantine Crete. A multi-analytical technique approach’, Analytical Bioanalytical Chemistry 402, 1413–32.CrossRefGoogle Scholar