Britannica Money

Table of Contents

Coinage in western continental Europe, Africa, and the Byzantine Empire

The fall of Roman power in the West left the gold currency of the Byzantine Empire undisturbed; it was to become the most dominant single influence in European coinage for 1,000 years, competing at first with the gold of the Arab caliphates and later with that of the great Italian commercial republics as well. Byzantine coinage, in its continuity, contrasted strongly with the often erratic monetary systems from the 5th to the 7th century in western Europe, where Germanic invaders inherited the apparatus, money included, of the Roman Empire. In general, they took over the main features of late Roman coinage. Emphasis on gold continued, with silver and some bronze; gold chiefly served for the triens, or third (1/3 of the Constantinian solidus). The types of the gold coins for some time reflected Byzantine prestige, showing a formalized portrait obverse and titles of the reigning Byzantine emperor, toward whom widespread respect was paid even when Western kings began to add their personal monograms to the normal Victory reverses. Imperial prerogative, so powerful an influence on western gold, had less effect on silver, the types of which in the West became more flexible; in bronze, where obvious efforts were at times made to link with traditional Roman design, flexibility was greater still. In technique these coinages varied widely: that of Italy was not without elegance; that of Spain developed an elaborately stylized balance, depending largely on its bold letter forms; the highly abstracted figures of Gallic coins have found great favour among 20th-century artists, while those of Africa and Britain were in general considered artistically inferior. The weights of gold coinages were kept at a reasonably steady level, though fineness ultimately declined with the economic decline of the issuing kingdoms themselves.

Post-Roman coinage in the West

In Italy Odoacer (476–493) had coined in silver and bronze at Ravenna after setting up a Teutonic kingdom. The Ostrogothic coinage that followed, from Theodoric (493–526) onward, consisted of gold, mainly imitating current Byzantine issues and with the imperial portrait (Theodoric’s fine portrait on a unique triple solidus is wholly exceptional). Silver and bronze were supplementary. The Lombards of Italy (568–774) had no distinctive coinage of their own until the gold struck in the name of Grimoald, duke of Beneventum (662–671), which was followed by gold and silver from a number of mints elsewhere. In Africa the Vandal kings Gunthamund (484–496) and Hilderic (523–?530) issued silver and bronze coinage, respectively, inscribed with their names; the types and denominations looked to imperial models and, in the case of the bronze, to those of Carthage especially. Vandal gold was perhaps struck by Gaiseric (428–477) or Huneric (477–484) in the Byzantine emperor’s name, but in the absence of any royal monogram it cannot easily be attributed. The chief Spanish coinage was that of the Visigoths, who controlled southern Gaul also and—after Leovigild (568–586)—Suevia (modern Galicia), with its rich gold mines; hence the fact that of 79 Visigothic mints a high proportion was concentrated in northwestern Spain. Visigothic gold coinage was produced up to the Arab invasion in the 8th century and consisted almost entirely of thirds, at first imitating Byzantine models, and bearing kings’ names and titles. The most prolific mints were Mérida, Toledo, Sevilla, Tarragona, and Córdoba.

Gold triple solidus of Theodoric from the mint at Rome, c. ad 500; in the Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris. Diameter 34 mm.

Courtesy of the Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris

In Gaul the Burgundians struck their own imitative gold thirds, first, under Gundobad (473–516), inscribed with a royal monogram, though not yet displacing the imperial name and portrait. The largest of the Gaulish coinages, however, was that of the Merovingian Franks, beginning with Clovis I (481–511). The gold consisted mainly of thirds, at first with some subsidiary silver and copper, inscribed by Theodoric I (511–533/534) and Childebert I of Paris (511–558) with their own names. As elsewhere, the types of the gold borrowed steadily from the imperial series, either the former Roman or the current Byzantine. Reverses showed a Victory, though the theme of the “cross on steps” of Tiberius II (578–582) gradually displaced it, beginning in the south. Obverses generally showed a profile, and later sometimes a frontal, bust. A profound break with tradition came when Theodebert I (533/534–547/548) substituted his own name on his gold for that of the Byzantine emperor—a change that in turn was to influence Visigothic gold. The right of striking gold had meanwhile been widely extended, to mints presumably operated by royal permission and numbering nearly 500 in all. These were distributed over an area including not only what is now France but also the Low Countries, the Rhineland, and Switzerland. The types of Merovingian gold coins diverged increasingly from imperial models: nearly all of them were inscribed on the obverse with the name of the issuing authority, most often municipal, and on the reverse with that of the moneyer. As the Merovingian dynasty drew to a close in the 8th century, gold coinage became poorer in quality, and it gave way to the small silver denarius, of about 1.2 grams, struck in quantity. This change heralded the Carolingian revival of the denarius.

Coinage supply to Britain was interrupted when the mints of Roman Gaul were closed about 395, and scarcely any gold or silver coin entered Britain during about 450–550. Subsequent penetration of Merovingian gold encouraged a brief Anglo-Saxon coinage of gold thirds (see below Early Anglo-Saxon coins).