nc 173 - 2013 coin hoards reduced

The NumismaticChronicle 173

Offprint

L O N D O NT H E R O YA L N U M I S M AT I C S O C I E T Y

2 0 1 3

COIN HOARDS 2013MEDIEVAL and MODERN HOARDS

Four Christiana Religio Hoards of Louis The Pious (81440)3. Saint-Seine-lAbbaye (Cte-dOr, France), 20114. Cosne dAllier (Allier, France), 20115. Yonne dpartement (France), 20136. Loire river bank, near Angers (Maine-et-Loire, France), 2012

by

SIMON COUPLAND

The NumismaticChronicle 173

Offprint

L O N D O NT H E R O YA L N U M I S M AT I C S O C I E T Y

2 0 1 3

COIN HOARDS 2013MEDIEVAL and MODERN HOARDS

7. Saint-Mme-le-Tenu (Loire-Atlantique), 2009

by

SIMON COUPLAND

349MEDIEVAL AND MODERN HOARDS

FOUR CHRISTIANA RELIGIO HOARDS OF LOUIS THE PIOUS (81440)

SIMON COUPLAND

3. Saint-Seine-lAbbaye (Cte-dOr, France), 2011

[PLATES 6263]

Dep. 82540 12

Disp. In trade

In 2011, I included in my Checklist of Carolingian coin hoards a small hoard of six coins of Louis the Pious (81440) well-known type with +HLVDOVVICVSIMP around a pelleted cross on one face and the legend +XPISTIANARELIGIO around a temple on the reverse (it would be more accurate to describe it as a church, but the term is too well established to alter).1 This type was produced in enormous numbers throughout the Carolingian empire between 822/3 and 840, and continued circulating long after the emperors death until the reform of the West Frankish coinage by Charles the Bald (84077) in 864. A footnote reported that two of the coins were attributable to Milan and one perhaps to Tours, the latter being illustrated on the accompanying plate (Pl. 27, 6). I have subsequently discovered that a further six coins of the same type were found at the same spot, and have been able to obtain images of them all (Pl. 62, F1-5 and G6). The absence of any coins of Louis preceding Class 2 coinage and of any coins minted after 840 indicates that the hoard can be dated to the period while the type was being produced and after the previous type was removed from circulation, namely 82540.

A combination of stylistic links with the preceding or succeeding coinage types, the distribution of finds, and the volume of finds (on the assumption that the major mints before 822 and after 840 were most likely also the principal mints of the 820s and 830s) permits the attribution of some 50% of these Christiana religio coins to specific mints, namely Quentovic, Dorestad, Trier, Orlans, Milan, Venice, Verdun, Dax, Auxerre, Sens, Melle and, more speculatively, to Strasbourg, Tours and Paris, and perhaps also Maastricht.2 Six of the coins found at Saint-Seine-lAbbaye belong

1 S. Coupland, A checklist of Carolingian coin hoards 751987, NC 171 (2011), pp. 20356, no. 45. MG: K.F. Morrison and H. Grunthal, Carolingian Coinage, ANS NNM 158 (New York, 1967); Depeyrot: G. Depeyrot, Le Numraire carolingien: corpus des monnaies (third edition, Wetteren, 2008).

2 Quentovic, Dorestad, Maastricht, Trier, Orlans, Milan, Venice, Verdun, Dax: S. Coupland, Money and coinage under Louis the Pious, Francia 17/1 (1990), pp. 2354, reprinted in S. Coupland, Carolingian Coinage and the Vikings: Studies on Power and Trade in the 9th Century (Aldershot, 2007), at pp. 405; Auxerre and Sens: E. Vandenbossche and S. Coupland, Une trouvaille de deniers carolingiens dans la rgion de Bray-sur-Seine, NC 172 (2012), pp. 30721; Melle (M1M3): S. Coupland, Les monnaies de Melle sous Louis le Pieux, in Mine, mtal, monnaie : autour du cas de Melle. Les voies de la quantification de lhistoire montaire du haut Moyen ge (Paris, forthcoming); Strasbourg and the reasons for questioning the identification of Maastricht (Group C): S. Coupland, Privy marks on the Christiana religio coinage of Louis the Pious, in G. Dethlefs, A. Pol and S. Wittenbrink (eds), NUMMI

MEDIEVAL AND MODERN HOARDS

350 COIN HOARDS

to published groups, and a further two belong to a group which bears parallels to the mint-signed coins of Charles the Bald from Tours and which can thus tentatively be attributed to that mint, awaiting confirmation (or correction) as more hoards and single finds of the type with a definite provenance are unearthed.3 The following catalogue will describe the characteristics of the groups represented at Saint-Seine-lAbbaye and the significance of their presence in this hoard.

15: Group F (Milan)4

1. Obv. +HLVDOVVICVSIMP, pelleted crossRev. XPISTIANARELIGIO, temple1.7 g. MG 472; Depeyrot 1179

2. Obv. +HLVDOVVICVSIMP (point in the O?), pelleted crossRev. XPISTIANARELIGIO, templeMG 472; Depeyrot 1179



5. Obv. +HLVDOVVICVSIMP, pelleted crossRev. XPISTIANARELIGIO, templeMG 472; Depeyrot 1179. The attribution of this coin to Group F is likely but less certain.

There is little question that this group of coins is Italian in origin due to the parallels which can be observed with coinage minted in Italy in the preceding and succeeding coinage types. All have the same neat, elongated lettering on both faces, similar to the distinctive forms of the inscriptions on the coins of Louis the Pious and Lothar I (84055) from Milan and Pavia (but not Venice). The reverse depicts a narrow, upright temple with distinct central cross. Some coins (though none among these five) have an HL ligature at the start of the emperors name, a feature also found on coinage of Lothar I from Milan and Venice, but not Pavia. The A is almost always barred, which is by no means universal on this type, and a number of coins include points in the obverse and / or reverse legends, a feature found on numerous mint-signed coins of Louis from Milan, but again none from Pavia. The central cross varies, on some coins so splayed as to appear like a snowflake, on others squat and stubby, and everything in between. The central cross on Charlemagnes (768814) Milanese monogram issues and Louis mint-signed coinage from Milan is similarly squat and solid, with splayed ends, while on the Pavian coinage it is quite different:

DOCENT! Mnzen - Schtze - Funde. Festschrift fr Peter Ilisch zum 65. Geburtstag am 28. April 2012 (Osnabrck, 2012), pp. 4453; Tours and Paris: see below.

3 The group was first published by H. Emmerig, Der Freisinger Mnzschatz und das Geldwesen in Bayern zur Karolingerzeit, 38. Sammelblatt des Historischen Vereins Freising (2004), pp. 1175, at p. 29.

4 Coupland, Money and coinage under Louis the Pious, p. 43.


consistently slim and unsplayed. It therefore appears that all the coins in this group, my Group F, should be attributed to Milan rather than to Pavia, whether or not they include pellets in the legends.5 This is surprising given the significance of the Pavian mint earlier in Louis reign and its continuing activity under Lothar I;6 it is of course possible that during this period a single die-cutter was producing dies for both mints, making them indistinguishable, but the sheer scale of the coinage makes this unlikely.

The hypothesis of an Italian origin for the coins is confirmed by the distribution of the group in hoards, coin collections and single finds. 14 of the 32 Christiana religio coins found in a hoard from Freising in Bavaria belong to Group F, and it is noteworthy that Italian issues predominate among the mint-signed single finds from the region.7 Coins of Group F also dominate the Swiss hoard from Hermenches (some 141 out of 320 Christiana religio coins present) but are rare in northern hoards.8 At least one was present in hoards from Fontaines and somewhere in Aquitaine, and perhaps at Saint-Pierre-des-Fleurs.9 They are very well represented in the collections at Grenoble and Montpellier, which almost certainly reflect local finds.10 The distribution of the single finds (Map, which also shows the locations of the hoards described here) also supports this Italian identification and indicates the importance of the group: the large rhomboid symbol represents a productive site in the north of the dpartement of Isre, where 14 of the 40 single finds of Christiana religio coins are of Group F.11 While the distribution might at first glance seem to favour a mint in the Rhne valley, there was no known mint of any size and significance in that region at this time, and there are very few recorded single finds from Italy, meaning that the map in fact supports the attribution of this group and Group G to Italian mints.

5 Contra MEC 1, p. 530. The attributions by Haertle to Milan, Pavia or Venice do not seem to follow any recognisable pattern, as is very evident from his plates 2 and 4, and should be ignored: C.M. Haertle, Karolingische Mnzfunde aus dem 9. Jahrhundert (2 vols, Cologne, Weimar and Vienna, 1997).

6 Coupland, Money and coinage under Louis the Pious, p. 32; idem, The coinage of Lothar I (840855), NC 161 (2001), pp. 15798, reprinted in Carolingian Coinage, at pp. 1767.

7 Coupland, Checklist, no. 35; Emmerig, Freisinger Mnzschatz, F2F15.8 Coupland, Checklist, no. 38; see the table in S. Coupland, The Roermond coins reconsidered,

Medieval and Modern Matters 2 (2011), pp. 2550, at p. 30.9 Coupland, Checklist, nos 85, 96 and 57. Fontaines: M. Prou, Note sur le titre de quelques deniers

des IXe et XIe sicles essays la Monnaie, Gazette numismatique II (1898), pp. 22732, at p. 230 (Fig. 9); Saint-Pierre-des-Fleurs: S. Coupland and J.C. Moesgaard, Trsors montaires peut-tre enfouis lors des premiers raids vikings dans la valle de la Seine, BSFN 67.7 (Sept. 2012), pp. 2229, Fig. 17.

10 At Grenoble five of the 13 Christiana religio coins (Monnaies de la Bibliothque municipale de Grenoble nos 4649, 51, but note that the obverses and reverses of 50 and 51 have been confused); at Montpellier the comparable figure is 38 out of 66 deniers; one of the Montpellier coins shares a reverse die with one from Grenoble. The late M. Lafaurie kindly lent me photographs of the collection, which revealed that the Montpellier catalogue is unfortunately unreliable: nos 105, 107 and 108 all depict the obverses and reverses of different coins: Monnaies dor et dargent de la Socit Archologique de Montpellier, Journes numismatiques 1974 (Montpellier, 1974).

11 S. Coupland, The use of coin in the Carolingian empire in the ninth century, in M.R. Allen, R. Naismith and E. Screen (eds), Early Medieval Monetary History - Studies in Memory of Mark Blackburn (Aldershot, forthcoming). Two of the nord-Isre coins of Group F are illustrated in S. Coupland, Carolingian single finds and the economy of the early ninth century, NC 170 (2010), pp. 287319, at pp. 31011.

352 COIN HOARDS

Map: Continental single finds of Christiana religio coins of Louis the Pious from Milan (squares) and Venice (circles). The size of the symbol reflects the number of

finds. Locations of the coin hoards discussed in the article are depicted by stars.

The evidence of the hoards and single finds also indicates a large scale of production. We have already referred to the large number of Group F coins in the Hermenches and Freising hoards and among the single finds from north Isre; in addition, 178 of the 216 Christiana religio coins in the Chaumoux-Marcilly hoard, from near Bourges, apparently belonged to this group.12 Astonishingly, among the 141 coins of this group at Hermenches I found only one die pair and another pair struck from the same reverse die. Milan was one of Charlemagnes most productive mints after the reform of 793/4, it minted portrait coinage at the start of Louis reign, and it is also well represented among finds of Louis second coinage type, though not as significant as Pavia or Venice.13 The presence of these four or five Milanese coins at Saint-Seine-lAbbaye thus provides supporting evidence not only of the mints significant role in the Carolingian economy in the 820s and 830s but also of

12 Coupland, Checklist, no. 53.13 Coupland, Carolingian single finds, pp. 31011.


the circulation of numbers of these Italian coins in Burgundy at this period, when they were no longer reaching all parts of the empire.14

6: Group G (Venice)15

6. Obv. +HLVDOVVICVSIMP, pelleted crossRev. XPISTINRELIGIO, temple1.7 g. MG 472; Depeyrot 1179

The group of coins which is attributable to Venice, my Group G, is very different in style to those ascribed to Milan. What characterizes all the coins in the group is the solid, block-like lettering of the inscriptions and the flattened appearance of the designs. This is dissimilar from Louis mint-signed coinage from the immediately preceding period, but it is comparable to the independent mint-signed coinage struck at Venice bearing the legends DSCVNSERVAROMANOI (Deus conserva Romanorum imperium) and XPESALVAVENECIAS (Christe salva Venecias), two of which were present in the Hermenches hoard.16 Further evidence that Group G coins were struck in Italy comes from the fact that some coins have HL ligatures, as do the Venetian and Milanese coinages of Lothar I. Some also have ligatures, which narrows the field to Venice, as this feature is found on many of Louis mint-signed coins from Venice, but not those from Milan.17 Although there are no comparable mint-signed temple coins minted by Louis son and successor Lothar I, there is a stylistically similar group of Christiana religio coinage minted by him which can likewise be attributed to Venice.18 The obverse design tends to be similar on all Group G coins, with a large, regular obverse cross, but the temple on the reverse varies remarkably in size and shape, with some tall and thin, others, like this one, broad and square, and yet others small and squashed. A few coins include points either side of the temple and/or a circle beneath (e.g. MEC 1.799).19

As in the case of Milan, the stylistic attribution is confirmed by the find distribution. Group G coins were present in significant numbers at Freising (11 coins out of 32) and Hermenches (at least 56 out of 320, including three die duplicates and three reverse die-pairs).20 16 of the 40 single finds which I have seen from nord-Isre were of this group, as were the other single finds illustrated on the map.21 10 were present in the Roermond hoard, alongside nine comparable Group D issues of Lothar I, at least three at Pilligerheck, and two in the first hoard from St-Pierre-des-Fleurs.22 It

14 Coupland, Roermond coins reconsidered, pp. 302.15 Coupland, Money and coinage under Louis the Pious, pp. 434.16 Haertle, Karolingische Mnzfunde, pl. 4, 234.17 This is rarely noted in written descriptions of coins, but see e.g. MEC 1.789 or R.H.M. Dolley and

K.F. Morrison, The Carolingian Coins in the British Museum (London, 1966), nos 46, 48. Numerous other examples could be cited.

18 Coupland, Coinage of Lothar I, p. 187 (Group D).19 See also Coupland, Privy marks, p. 46, Fig. 8.20 Coupland, Checklist, nos 35, 38. Freising: Emmerig, Freisinger Mnzschatz, F 1626; Hermenches:

Haertle, Karolingische Mnzfunde, pl. 13: nos 5, 1315. His own attributions should be ignored.21 Two of the Group G nord-Isre coins are illustrated in Coupland, Carolingian single finds,

pp. 31213.22 Coupland, Checklist, nos 1178, 57; St-Pierre-des-Fleurs: Coupland and Moesgaard, Trsors

montaires, Figs 1516.

354 COIN HOARDS

is noteworthy that Hubert Emmerigs survey of Carolingian single finds in Bavaria recorded four single finds of mint-signed Venetian coins of Louis the Pious in the region, significantly more than the coins of any other mint.23 Group G coins were also reaching Aquitaine at this time: at least four, and probably more, were present in the hoard from Lauzs (Lot),24 seven of the 16 Christiana religio coins of Louis in an Aquitanian hoard without a precise find spot were of this group,25 and so was one in the Hljarp hoard, which contained a significant Aquitanian component.26 There was also one in each of the hoards from Luzancy, Burgum (Friesland) and, from the tenth century, Fcamp.27

Analysis of the silver content and metrology of these coins suggests that coins minted at Venice may have been of poorer silver and lower weight than other contemporary issues, allowing the Venetians to exploit their situation outside imperial Frankish control to make greater profits on their production of coin than other Carolingian mints.28 The coins in the Montpellier collection corroborate that studys findings with regard to weight: the Group F coins had an average weight of 1.69 grams, whereas the Group G coins weighed on average only 1.60 grams.

As was true of Milan, the number of finds indicate that Venice was one of Louis most significant mints during this period, a finding consistent with its status in the early 820s,29 and again it is significant that this coin has turned up in a Burgundian hoard containing deniers from a range of Frankish mints.

7: Group M1 (Melle)30

7. Obv. +HLVDOVVICVSIMP, pelleted crossRev. XPISTIANARELICIO, temple1.6 g. MG 472; Depeyrot 1179

Melle was probably the only silver mine in the Carolingian empire during the early part of the ninth century, and it is thus not surprising that it was among the most

23 Emmerig, Freisinger Mnzschatz, A 1821 (= B 35, 28, 2, 24 respectively), pp. 54, 56, 623, 65.24 Coupland, Checklist, no. 89. Just five coins were illustrated, of which three are attributable

to Group G, while the description of no. 10 as having a point either side of the temple and a circle beneath makes it very likely to be a coin of this group also: J.-L. Bchade, Une trouvaille de monnaies carolingiennes, RN4 10 (1906), pp. 3025, pl. 12, nos 1, 2 and 4; Haertle, Karolingische Mnzfunde, pl. 3.14.

25 Coupland, Checklist, no. 96.26 Coupland, Checklist, no. 36. S. Coupland, Raiders, traders, worshippers and settlers: the

Continental perspective in J. Graham-Campbell, S.M. Sindbk and G. Williams (eds), Silver Economies, Monetisation and Society in Scandinavia, AD 8001100 (Aarhus, 2011), pp. 11331, at p. 115. Illus. Corpus nummorum saeculorum IXXI 3.4, pl. 6.

27 Coupland, Checklist, nos 128, 63, 279. Luzancy: S. Sombart, Catalogue no. 47, iNumis (Paris-Drouot) auction of 10 October 2008, lot 49; Burgum: NUMIS 1006384; Fcamp: F. Dumas-Dubourg, Le Trsor de Fcamp et le monnayage en Francie occidentale pendant la seconde moiti du Xe sicle (Paris, 1971), p. 262 (no. 8543).

28 G. Sarah, M. Bompaire, M. McCormick, A. Rovelli and C. Guerrot, Analyses lmentaires de monnaies de Charlemagne et Louis le Pieux du Cabinet des Mdailles: lItalie carolingienne et Venise, RN 164 (2008), pp. 355406.

29 Coupland, Money and coinage under Louis the Pious, p. 32; Coupland, Carolingian single finds, pp. 31213.

30 Coupland, Monnaies de Melle (forthcoming).


productive of mints during the first part of Louis reign and under his successor Charles the Bald.31 It is therefore to be expected that it would have minted large numbers of Christiana religio issues in the 820s and 830s. In the past, the principal obstacle to identifying these has been the almost complete absence of mint-signed temple coinage of Melle which could offer stylistic parallels. That we can tentatively now do so is in part due to stylistic similarities with Louis preceding coinage type, with the mint-name in field, in part to find evidence, and in part to the attribution of Christiana religio coins of Charles the Bald to Melle.

The latter display three quite distinct styles, which is not unexpected for a sizeable mint where a number of die-cutters would have been active. They have different obverse legends, a feature which is not matched on Louis coinage, and three different forms of temple on the reverse: one large and broad, one of medium size and compact, and the third small with a steep roof. Two of these three forms are matched on Christiana religio issues of Pippin II which can likewise be ascribed to Melle.32 There are likewise three distinct subgroups of Louis Christiana religio coinage which can be attributed to Melle on the basis of stylistic and find evidence. This coin, like two in the Cosne dAllier hoard and one in the Yonne hoard (see below), belongs to the first (and largest) group of Louis Christiana religio coins attributable to Melle, Group M1. This is easily recognised in its pure form, but there are developed forms which are demonstrably also part of the same group. The temple on the reverse is generally square, with a right-angled roof and distinct central cross, and the columns often meet the top step, occasionally also the roof. On what appear to be later coins the temple becomes squatter and the roof develops gable ends. The obverse legend also takes two forms, probably changing over time. The early form is characterized by hand-cut letters (i.e. without punches), particularly evident in the long, narrow E and S. The C and O are often small, and the downward stroke of the D extends beyond the ends of the curve, similar to, but not as pronounced as, an Anglo-Saxon thorn. The final letters of the obverse inscription, IMP, often lean backwards. These features are uniquely paralleled on Louis mint-signed Class 2 coins from Melle, suggesting that they were among the first to be minted: this specimen is a prime example.33 On other, presumably later, coins, the letters are less spindly and sprawling, more regular and substantial, and some are formed with punches. It is on some of these coins that the points around the obverse cross are engraved with square punches rather than round, producing a rhombus rather than a circular pellet (see below).34

31 Coupland, Louis the Pious, pp. 26, 33; Coupland, Charles the Bald, pp. 1314, 1467; Coupland, Carolingian single finds, pp. 30810.

32 Coupland, Charles the Bald, pp. 1467; S. Coupland, The coinages of Pippin I and II of Aquitaine, RN6 31 (1989), pp. 194222, reprinted in Coupland, Carolingian Coinage and the Vikings, at pp. 2079.

33 Others are MEC 1.776, the Roermond coin illustrated in Coupland, Roermond coins reconsidered, p. 32 (Fig. 8, centre), and the Hljarp coin illustrated in NC 171 (2011), pl. 27.5.

34 Also M. Prou, Catalogue des monnaies franaises de la Bibliothque Nationale: les monnaies carolingiennes (Paris, 1892), no. 1017 (les globules qui cantonnent la croix tendant la forme quadrangulaire). Illus. Coupland, Monnaies de Melle (forthcoming), Fig. 12.

356 COIN HOARDS

Supporting the attribution to Melle is the fact that Group M1 is particularly well represented in southern hoards and much less so in the north. The highest proportion occurred in a probable hoard from Melle itself: nine of the ten Christiana religio coins were of Group M1.35 In the unprovenanced Aquitanian hoard mentioned earlier, alongside 41 mint-signed coins of Melle struck by Pippin II and Charles the Bald were 16 Christiana religio issues of Louis the Pious, six of them of Group M1.36 20 were present in the Hermenches hoard, the same number as at Roermond (along with 21 mint-signed coins of Melle and 12 Christiana religio coins of Charles the Bald attributable to Melle), and some 33 at Pilligerheck, three of them with rhombuses around the obverse cross.37 Three hoards each contained five coins of Group M1: Hljarp, which included one coin struck from the same reverse die as a coin at Roermond,38 Luzancy39 and Emmen, while there was at least one at Oudwoude, perhaps one at Yde, and to judge from Haertles plates, at least three at Tzummarum 1 (1987) and two at Zelzate.40 One was also found in a small hoard at Karden in Germany, and at least four single finds are known from Wijk bij Duurstede, one of them an obole (half denier), as well as single finds from Loir-et-Cher, Mainz, Oslo, La Balme de Sillingy (Haute-Savoie), Mantes-la-Jolie (Yvelines), near Reims, Texel (Noord-Holland) and Viteaux (Cte-dOr).41 These figures clearly indicate a mint of some importance in the south of the empire and are consistent with the attribution of Group M1 to Melle. The presence of this coin in the Saint-Seine-lAbbaye hoard underlines the circulation of coins of Melle far outside their origins in the west of Aquitaine: other specimens were also present at Cosne dAllier (two) and in a hoard from the Yonne (see below).

35 Coupland, Checklist, no. 29; Jean Elsen (Brussels) auctions: 98, 13 Dec. 2008, lot 687; auction 99, 28 march 2009, lots 16541655; auction 101, 13 June 2009, lots 353, 358; auction 102, 12 Sept. 2009, lots 443, 445 (= auction 103, lot 526); auction 103, 12 Dec. 2009, lot 527 (with rhombuses); the ninth has not appeared in a sale.

36 Coupland, Checklist, no. 96.37 Coupland, Checklist, nos 38, 117, 118; the figures are from my own examinations, but see Haertle,

Karolingische Mnzfunde, pls 2.911, 4.19 (Hermenches); Coupland, Roermond coins reconsidered, p. 32 (Fig. 8, centre).

38 Coupland, Checklist, no. 36; coins illustrated in Corpus nummorum saeculorum IXXI 3.4, pl. 5.2 (reverse die duplicate at Roermond), 5.5, 5.10, 6.21; Coupland, Checklist, pl. 27.5.

39 Coupland, Checklist, no. 128; S. Sombart, Catalogue of the Luzancy hoard in the Cabinet des Mdailles, Paris nos 5 (ill. Coupland, Monnaies de Melle (forthcoming), Fig. 13) and 96 (both with square pellets), 27?, 37 and 38: iNumis (Paris-Drouot) auction 10 October 2008, lots 5, 15, 47, 48 and 55.

40 Coupland, Checklist, nos 104, 95, 120, 59, 154. The figures for Emmen are from my own examinations, but see Haertle, Karolingische Mnzfunde, pls 16.118, 19.132, 21.144; Oudwoude: De vrije Fries XX.2 (1903), pp. 6579, no. 4; Yde: Haertle pl. 36.323; Tzummarum I: Haertle pl. 7.402; Zelzate: Haertle pl. 47.3867.

41 Karden: Coupland, Checklist, no. 41, ill. Das Rheinische Landesmuseum Bonn: Berichte aus der Arbeit des Museums 6/83 (1983), p. 82; Wijk bij Duurstede: NUMIS 1033524 (obole), 1085400, 1085408 (ill. Coupland, Monnaies de Melle (forthcoming), Fig. 11), 10455130; Texel: NUMIS 1006353 (1987); Mainz: C. Stoess, Die Mnzen in E. Wamers, Die frhmittelalterlichen Lesefunde aus der Lhrstrasse (Baustelle Hilton II) in Mainz (Mainz, 1994), pp. 17781, 1878, no. 45; Oslo (Bygdy): I.H. Garipzanov, Carolingian coins in ninth-century Scandinavia: A Norwegian perspective, Viking and Medieval Scandinavia 1 (2005), pp. 4371, at p. 68 (no. 9); La Balme de Sillingy, Mantes-la-Jolie, Viteaux Loir-et-Cher, near Reims: unpublished.


89: Group N (Tours?)8. Obv. +HLVDOVVICVSIMP, pelleted cross

Rev. XPISTINARELIGIO, temple1.7 g. MG 472; Depeyrot 1179

9. Obv. +HLVDOVVICVSIMP, pelleted crossRev. XPISTINRELIGIO, temple1.1 g. MG 472; Depeyrot 1179

This group has tentatively been identified with St Martin in Tours by Emmerig in his publication of the Freising hoard, on the basis of similarities with the group of Christiana religio issues struck at that mint by Charles in the Bald in the 840s; I have not previously discussed it.42 The coins are characterised by a small to medium-sized obverse cross, often with a clear gap between the inner circle of pellets and the inscription, and on the reverse a compact, square or upright temple topped by a roof with a 90 angle at the centre. The base of the roof often projects beyond the columns and the roof itself, creating a pointed gable. The lettering is small and neat, and the Vs often display marked serifs. Among these coins are two subgroups, which may of course represent two distinct groups, but which share the aforementioned stylistic similarities and may therefore well be the products of the same mint showing development over time. In one subgroup, to which these two coins belong (Group N), the legends are correct and the lettering neat, though on some coins the obverse S (and only the S) appears double struck. A few coins have a single point below the temple. In the other subgroup (Group O) the legends are sometimes shortened, omitting the I of IMP or reducing the M to an I on the obverse, and reading RELCIO, RELICO or RLCIO on the reverse. On some coins the obverse O is particularly small and the Vs slope backwards. A number of coins of this subgroup include three points in a triangle to the left or right of the temple, or, less often, four or five points in the shape of a cross to the right of or below the temple, or an actual cross beneath the temple.43 A number of Christiana religio coins with a letter S below the temple also appear on stylistic grounds to belong to this group, although others bearing the same characteristic seem to have been produced at a different mint (see Group P below: the Yonne hoard, no. 2).44

Group N is sizeable but not enormous there were 15 in the Roermond hoard, and although I regrettably did not record numbers of this group when studying the Pilligerheck hoard, I have established from my notes and photographic records that at least four were present. There were also seven at Yde, four at Emmen, at least two at Tzummarum 1 (1987), two at Hermenches, one at Freising and Saint-Pierre-des-Fleurs, and single finds from Domburg and Wijk bij Duurstede.45 Comparable figures

42 See Emmerig, Freisinger Mnzschatz, p. 29, although I would attribute only F29 to this group, and not F28. On the coins of Tours, see Coupland, Charles the Bald, pp. 1389.

43 Coupland, Privy marks, p. 50, Fig. 22.44 Coupland, Privy marks, p. 50, Fig. 21; discussion on pp. 512.45 Coupland, Checklist, nos 11718, 120, 104, 59, 38, 35, 57. Roermond, Pilligerheck, Emmen,

Hermenches and Domburg: from my own examination of the coins; Yde: H.E. van Gelder, Le trsor carolingien dIde, RN6 7 (1965), pp. 24161, nos 1420 (Group D); Tzummarum 1: Haertle, Karolingische Mnzfunde, pl. 7.47, 7.56; Freising: Emmerig, Freisinger Mnzschatz F29; Saint-Pierre-des-Fleurs: Coupland and Moesgaard, Trsors montaires, Fig. 18; Wijk bij Duurstede: NUMIS 1085417.

358 COIN HOARDS

for Group O are seven at Roermond, at least 16 at Pilligerheck, three at Emmen, two at Yde, one apiece at Hljarp, Indre, Raalte, Tzummarum 1 and Wagenborgen, and a single find from Domburg.46 As Emmerig rightly observed, the stylistic similarity with Charles the Balds temple coinage from Tours, notably the gap between the obverse legend and the central cross, makes Tours a possible mint. More significant is the distribution of finds, which points to an established mint in the centre / south of the Empire, and the limited choice of candidates definitely makes Tours a plausible origin of this group. The presence of these two coins at Saint-Seine-lAbbaye in Cte-dOr supports that attribution, though it remains more speculative than many others. It is to be hoped that future finds can help determine the matter with greater certainty one way or the other.

1012: Unattributable coins10. Obv. +HLVDOVVICVSIMI, pelleted cross

Rev. XPISTINRELIGIO, templeMG 472; Depeyrot 1179

11. Obv. +NLVDOVVICVSMP, pelleted crossRev. XPISTINREIICIO, temple with no inner roof lines1.5 g. MG 472 var.; Depeyrot 1179

12. Obv. +HLVDOVVICVSIMP, pelleted crossRev. XPISTINARELICIO, temple1.5 g. MG 472; Depeyrot 1179

None of these three coins belongs to any of the groups of Christiana religio coins which have hitherto been identified. They may be the products of minor mints, or of die-cutters who produced limited amounts of coinage at major mints. No. 11 is particularly unusual in not including an internal roof line in the temple; this is found on a few other coins, but a very small proportion.47 The inscriptions are also uncommon in being poorly executed, with the use of small punches on particular letters being unusually obvious (see e.g. the misplaced tails of the obverse L and the reverse R).

46 Coupland, Checklist, nos 11718, 104, 120, 36, 87, 114, 59, 119. Roermond, Pilligerheck, Emmen, Hermenches, Wagenborgen and Domburg: figures from my own examination of the coins; Yde: van Gelder, Trsor carolingien dIde, nos 45 (Group B); Hljarp: Corpus nummorum saeculorum IXXI 3.4, pl. 6.22; Indre: E. Gariel, Les monnaies royales de France sous la race carolingienne (2 vols, Strasbourg, 18834), vol. 2, pl. 44.10; Raalte: NUMIS 1024149; Tzummarum 1: Haertle, Karolingische Mnzfunde, pl. 7.61.

47 Compare the coins of Sens produced under Charles the Bald (of a very different style): E. Vandenbossche and S. Coupland, Une trouvaille de deniers carolingiens dans la rgion de Bray-sur-Seine, NC 172 (2012), pp. 30721, at p. 312.


4. Cosne dAllier (Allier, France), 2011

[PLATE 62]

Dep. 82540 4

Disp. In trade

A small group consisting of four Christiana religio coins of Louis the Pious was sold on eBay in 2011 and 2012, and I understand that they were found near an old roadway in a forest near Cosne-dAllier.48 The coins were unearthed several metres one from another, but most likely (given the coincidence of their type and the absence of any earlier or later coins with them) represent a small dispersed hoard. Small Carolingian hoards consisting of just a few coins are common, doubtless reflecting the fact that the economy was becoming increasingly monetised, but most people would still only have possessed a handful of coins.49 These coins and there may be others in the locality still undiscovered therefore presumably represent the contents of a lost purse rather than a deliberately concealed hoard.

Cosne dAllier hoard no. 1 (2x)

12: Group M1 (Melle)1. Obv. +HLVDOVVICVSIMP, cross with rhombuses

Rev. XPISTIANARELIGIO, templeMG 472 var.; Depeyrot 1179

2. Obv. +HLVDOVVICVSIMP, pelleted crossRev. XPISTIANARELIGIO, temple 1.35 g (chipped). MG 472; Depeyrot 1179

Group M1 was discussed above, giving the reasons for its attribution to Melle and the distribution of the finds. The presence of these two coins of group M1 in a hoard of just four is clearly consistent with that attribution, given the location of the find spot. Neither of the coins is like the coin in the Saint-Seine-lAbbaye hoard, which is probably the earliest type as it most closely resembles Louis Class 2 coinage from Melle. Instead one is of the variety with square pellets instead of round in the angles of the obverse cross, and the other is closer in appearance to certain Christiana religio

48 The hoard and the following two postdate the publication of Coupland, Checklist.49 Coupland, Use of coin (forthcoming).

360 COIN HOARDS

coins of Charles the Bald attributable to Melle, with a taller roof on the temple and the more regular and solid lettering.50

3: Group E (Orlans)?51

3. Obv. +H ... DOV ... VSIMP, pelleted crossRev. XPIS ... NAR ... LIGIO, templeMG 472; Depeyrot 1179

Stylistic similarities to Charles the Balds mint-signed coinage from Orlans permit the attribution of a group of his Christiana religio coins, and consequently a parallel group struck by Louis the Pious, to that mint.52 The most characteristic features are on the reverse: the legends are large and hand-cut, with often sprawling lettering, particularly an exaggerated S, unbarred A, often at angles, and the second I of RELIGIO sometimes sitting in the angle of the L. The temple has short columns which often have capitals, a 90 roof, whose lines may cross in the centre, surmounted by a tall cross, sometimes with a ball at the joint. The bottom step is often shorter than the top, and the roof itself is often narrower than the roof line. There is sometimes an inverted triangle beneath the temple.53 The obverse cross is medium-sized, the legends generally correct, but sometimes reading MIP, and the lines of the M often cross. The fragmentary nature of the Cosne dAllier coin makes it impossible to be certain about its attribution to this group, but the style of the temple in particular is correct, and some of the letter forms are also typical.

Under Charles the Bald Orlans seems to have been the most prolific producer of Christiana religio coinage, but although sizeable, Group E appears to have been less significant under Louis the Pious. 21 were present at Pilligerheck, 19 at Roermond, 18 in the Valle de la Risle hoard, eight at Luzancy, three at Emmen, two at Saint-Pierre-des-Fleurs 1 (pre-2007), one apiece at Freising, Lauzs and Wagenborgen, at least two at Tzummarum 1 and at least one at Zelzate.54 Unusually, one of the Roermond coins which can be attributed to Orlans is an obole; not only are these coins much less common than deniers, but their smaller size makes it much harder to ascribe them to known mints on stylistic grounds.55 Single finds are also known from Havsmarken in Denmark, Domburg, Drenthe, Franekeradeel, Overbetuwe

50 Coupland, Charles the Bald, pp. 1467 (Group E).51 Coupland, Money and coinage under Louis the Pious, p. 42.52 Coupland, Charles the Bald, pp. 1446 (Group D).53 Coupland, Money and coinage under Louis the Pious, pl. 3, no. 4; Coupland and Moesgaard,

Trsors montaires, p. 222, Fig. 2.54 Coupland, Checklist, nos 118, 117, 60, 128, 104, 57, 35, 89, 119, 59, 154. The figures for

Pilligerheck, Roermond, Emmen and Wagenborgen are from my own examinations of the hoards, but see H.E. van Gelder, De karolingische muntvondst Roermond, JMP 72 (1985), pp. 1347, Groups 9c and 10f; Luzancy: Sombart, Catalogue nos 256, 60, 1034, 1213: iNumis (Paris-Drouot) auction 10 October 2008, lots 1011, 24, 367, 578, 62; Saint-Pierre-des-Fleurs: Coupland and Moesgaard, Trsors montaires, Figs 1314; Freising: Emmerig, Freisinger Mnzschatz F27; Lauzs: RN4 10 (1906), pl. 12.3; Tzummarum 1: Haertle, Karolingische Mnzfunde, pl. 7.51, 7.53; Zelzate: Haertle, pl. 46.385 (reverse only).

55 By contrast, an obole in the Berlin collection does not display the stylistic characteristics of the Orlans mint, despite the museums website making the attribution: www.smb.museum/ikmk/object.php?id=18202822.


and Wijk bij Duurstede in the Netherlands, Geraardsbergen (Fr. Grammont, Oost-Vlaanderen) in Belgium, Loire-Atlantique in France, and Stoke Ferry in Norfolk.56 At least one was also present in a small hoard from Maine-et-Loire, between Angers and Saumur, which was unfortunately dispersed without proper recording or study.57 Remarkably, in a savings hoard from Mercurey-Bourgneuf (Sane-et-Loire), most if not all the 440 or so Christiana religio coins of Louis the Pious seem to belong to Group E.58 Two things are unusual about this: first, that these coins and some 200 Christiana religio coins of Charles the Bald were found with over 1,000 coins from the 870s, when neither type of temple coinage was legal tender, and also that a hoard deposited near Chalon-sur-Sane in Burgundy contained such a preponderance of coins from Orlans, although the coins they were found with are from even more distant Brittany, brought most likely by refugees from the Viking raids. The presence of this coin from Orlans at Cosne dAllier is far less unexpected.

4: Unattributable coin4. Obv. +HLVDOVVIC ..., pelleted cross

Rev. ... IAHARELIGIO, templeMG 472; Depeyrot 1179

The fourth coin cannot be linked with any of the currently established groups.

5. Yonne dpartement (France), 2013

[PLATE 63]

Dep. 82540 4

Disp. In trade

Another hoard consisting of four Christiana religio coins of Louis the Pious was sold on eBay in 2013, and while these were definitely found together as a group, unfortunately I know the find spot only as somewhere in the dpartement of the Yonne. In this case just one of the coins belongs to one of my published groups, but

56 Domburg: C.A. Rethaan Macar, Verhandeling over de bij Domburg gevondene romeinsche, frankische, brittanische, noordsche en andere munten (Middelburg, 1838), pl. 3.63; Drenthe: Haertle, Karolingische Mnzfunde, no. 572; Franekeradeel: NUMIS 1029513; Havsmarken: www.historieinfo.dk/Karolingere.html; Overbetuwe: NUMIS 1024251; Wijk bij Duurstede: NUMIS 1033606 (1991); Geraardsbergen c. 1881: Haertle no. 963; Loire-Atlantique: unpublished, found with a mint-signed coin of Charles the Bald from Melle; Stoke Ferry: EMC 2001.0604.

57 www.detecteur.net/forum/boursee-carolingienne-t3154.html. Nine coins were found in all, of which five were illustrated: there is regrettably no record of the other four. Three were Christiana religio issues of Louis the Pious: one of Group E, Orlans (in the middle on the photo of the obverses; on the right of the reverses), one or two of group P (see below). One was a Christiana religio obole of Charles the Bald, and the fifth a pre-reform denier of Pippin III from Angers (MG 42), which is a very unlikely component in a hoard with the other four, which could have circulated together. It is also in very different condition, and the likelihood is that it represents a single find from the same vicinity.

58 Coupland, Checklist, no. 153. This is evident both from the description and illustration in Gazette numismatique I (1897), pp. 4353 and from the surviving specimens from the hoard in Paris: BnF Prou 10279.

362 COIN HOARDS

another is part of a large group which I have been studying for some years, but am still unable to delimit or attribute with confidence.

1: Group M1 (Melle)1. Obv. +HLVDOVVICVSIMP, pelleted cross

Rev. XPISTINRELICIO, temple1.38 g (chipped). MG 472; Depeyrot 1179

Group M1 was discussed above, giving the reasons for its attribution to Melle and the distribution of the finds. This coin represents another subgroup of M1 on which the temple columns join the roof and upper column to create a rectangle. Not all coins which have this characteristic on the reverse are part of this group (there is another group of coins which are die-linked to a mint in Lothar Is Middle Kingdom and a third, much cruder group which resemble a group of coins struck by Lothar I at the Palace mint after 840).59 The style of the lettering and particularly the obverse of this coin, and others like it, persuade me to attribute it, too, to Group M1.

2: Group P (Paris?)2. Obv. +HLVDOVVICVSIMP, pelleted cross

Rev. XPISTI3RELIGIO, temple 1.50 g. MG 472; Depeyrot 1179

In his analysis of the Christiana religio coins of Louis the Pious in the Yde and Roermond hoards, van Gelder identified a group of coins with fine, regular lettering, well-spread points around a large obverse cross, and on the reverse a broad temple. He noted that a number of coins with three points beneath the temple were stylistically similar to those without these extra points, while other coins of the same style in the Emmen hoard also included points in the legends (XPISTIAxNxARELIGIO).60 My own study of many thousands of Louis Christiana religio coins, including the large Pilligerheck hoard, which van Gelder did not have the opportunity to examine, not only reached identical conclusions, but took these a little further, showing that some coins in the group also included two pellets or a star in one quadrant of the obverse cross, while others incorporated an S beneath the temple, or single points either side of or beneath the temple.61 As van Gelder noted, the letters are neatly formed, and the Vs and As (which are often but by no means always barred this one is not) have marked serifs. The temple is large and broad, with a low roof. The steps often extend beyond the columns, and the bottom step is sometimes longer than the top one. The columns generally have obvious capitals, and the central cross is full length.

Coin no. 2 in the Yonne hoard matches this description and is a good example of the group, yet there are real difficulties in determining how many coins definitely belong to this group and the mint to which it can be attributed. Certain coins have less neat inscriptions but the characteristic privy marks; others have the same form of

59 Coupland, Coinage of Lothar I, pp. 165 (Pl. 36.1516), 188 (Pl. 39.656).60 Van Gelder, Trsor carolingien dIde, Group C, pp. 2489; idem, De karolingische muntvondst

Roermond, Groups 9g, 10m and 10n.61 Coupland, Privy marks, pp. 4950, Figs 1518, 20.


lettering but a large, overhanging roof on the temple or a small bar across the central cross giving the appearance of a fifth column: are these to be included in Group P or recognised as distinct groups? Without including these additional coins it is still a sizeable group the Pilligerheck hoard included 34 coins with three points in a triangle beneath the temple and six with a letter S, as well as some 65 coins without; at Roermond there were 19 with the three points, four with an S, and 35 without. The Yde hoard contained eight coins of this group (1 with points), and there were nine at Emmen (2 with points) six at Luzancy (1 with an S), perhaps five at St Julien dAngers (1 with an S), and four at Wagenborgen (1 with points), as well as two at Hljarp and others at Oudwoude, Tzummarum 1 (1987) and Kimswerd-Pingjum 2 (pre-1892).62 One or two were present in the hoard found between Angers and Saumur mentioned earlier,63 and as we shall see below, two more in a small hoard from the banks of the Loire near Angers. Single finds are known from the Carolingian palace at Paderborn, the river Loire (two, one of them with an S), Cher, Cte dOr (2), Domburg (4), Eure-et-Loir, Franekeradeel in Friesland (2), nord-Isre, Noyen-sur-Seine (Seine-et-Marne), near Paris, Quierzy, Sens, Szanne (Marne), Veere and Wijk bij Duurstede.64 These are significant numbers of finds for a group of Christiana religio coins, as is evident from comparison with the other figures cited above.65 There is nonetheless a question mark over whether all these coins really were products of one and the same mint.

This question is highlighted by the fact that there are stylistic links with several different mints, any or all of which could have struck coinage that we have designated as Group P. As I have noted previously, one strong candidate is the Paris mint, since Christiana religio coinage of Charles the Bald which can be attributed there displayed the same general style, including the inclusion on some coins of three pellets arranged in a triangle beneath the temple.66 Another possible mint is Laon, since although it is not known to have minted under Louis the Pious, after 840 it produced a temple coinage of very similar style incorporating a cross beneath the temple, and a mule in the Zelzate hoard bore the mint-name used by Charles the Bald on one face and XPISTINRELIGIO around a temple on the other.67 Furthermore, certain Christiana religio coins minted by Pippin II of Aquitaine and Charles the

62 Coupland, Checklist, nos 118, 117, 120, 104, 128, 82, 119, 36, 95, 59, 88. The figures for Pilligerheck, Roermond, Emmen, Angers and Wagenborgen are from my own examinations of the hoards, cf. Haertle pl. 17.120, 31.296 (no points), 20.1378 (with points); Yde: van Gelder, Trsor carolingien dIde, nos 613; Luzancy: Sombart, Catalogue nos 6, 30, 51, 63, 77, 124: iNumis (Paris-Drouot) auction of 10 October 2008, lots 10, 24, 36; Hljarp: Corpus nummorum saeculorum IXXI 3.4, pl. 5.1, 6.17; Oudwoude: De vrije Fries 20.2 (1903), pp. 6579, no. 1; Tzummarum 1: Haertle, Karolingische Mnzfunde, pl. 7.54 (no points), 60 (with points); Kimswerd-Pingjum 2: Haertle, pl. 25.172.

63 Above, n. 57.64 Most of these finds are unpublished. Loire: NC 170 (2010), p. 305 (Fig. 20); Paderborn: C.

Stiegemann and M. Wemhoff (eds), 799Kunst und Kultur der Karolingerzeit (3 vols, Mainz, 1999), vol. 1, p. 390 (VI.99); Franekeradeel: NUMIS 1022118, 1029471; Veere: NUMIS 1008712.

65 Or the table in Coupland, Roermond coins reconsidered, p. 30.66 Coupland, Charles the Bald, p. 147; idem, Privy marks, p. 50, Fig. 19.67 Coupland, Charles the Bald, pp. 1301; Haertle, Karolingische Mnzfunde, 86/313 (no

illustration).

364 COIN HOARDS

Bald which I have attributed to Melle also has a temple stylistically similar to some of these Group P coins, notably a coin of Charles from the Luzancy hoard with three points below the temple.68 There are also numerous finds from Angers, including several new ones described for the first time here. Despite this, Paris still remains to my mind the likeliest candidate because this is, as we have seen, a large group, and in the case of Melle, two other sizeable groups of Louis Christiana religio coins can be attributed to Melle,69 while in the case of Laon, it is not known to have minted any coinage under Louis the Pious and was a relatively minor mint under Charles the Bald. Further study might help to establish precisely which coins should be included in this group, while future finds which can be plotted on a distribution map could enable us to locate the region in which the mint lay with greater confidence.

34: Unattributable coins3. Obv. +HLVDOVVICVSIMP, pelleted cross

Rev. XPISTI3RELIGIO, temple1.55 g. MG 472; Depeyrot 1179

4. Obv. +HIVDOVVICVSIMP, pelleted crossRev. XPISTIIIPEIICIO, temple 1.20 g. MG 472 var.; Depeyrot 1179

Neither of these coins can be linked at this time with any particular group of Christiana religio coins or mint, despite the unusual style of no. 3, with its small, solid, punch-cut letters and the small obverse cross and neat temple columns.

6. Loire river bank, near Angers (Maine-et-Loire, France), 2012

[PLATE 63]

Dep. 82540 4

Disp. In trade

A third hoard of four Christiana religio coins of Louis the Pious turned up at the very beginning of 2013, and I have been told that these were discovered together by a fisherman on the banks of the river Loire near Angers. None of the coins can be attributed with complete certainty, as one or two belong to my difficult Group P, discussed earlier, and the other two do not fit in to any recognised group.

12: Group P (Paris?)1. Obv. +HLVDOVVICVSIMP, pelleted cross

Rev. XPISTIANARELIGIO, temple, three pellets beneath in a triangleMG 496; Depeyrot 1179

2. Obv. +HLVDOVVICVSIMP, pelleted crossRev. XPISTINRELIGIO, temple MG 472; Depeyrot 1179

68 Coupland, Privy marks, pp. 501, Fig. 19.69 Coupland, Monnaies de Melle (forthcoming) (M1 and M2).


The obverse of coin 1 and the reverse of coin 2 both display the typical characteristics of Group P (in the case of coin 1, the triangle of pellets beneath the temple), while the other faces are less diagnostically distinct, but not inconsistent with the features of the group. It is notable that in this hoard from near Angers two of the four coins are of Group P, as are most if not all of the five Christiana religio coins of Louis in the St Julien dAngers hoard, and one or two of the three comparable coins in the small hoard from between Saumur and Angers described above.70 All this naturally raises the question whether Angers should not be added to the list of possible mints, but it is not known to have struck any coinage under Louis the Pious or Charles the Bald before 864, and is therefore highly unlikely to have been the very productive mint responsible for the Group P coinage.

34: Unattributable coins3. Obv. +HLVDOVVICVSIMP, pelleted cross

Rev. XIISTI3RELIGIO, templeMG 472; Depeyrot 1179

4. Obv. +HLVDOVVICVSIMP, pelleted crossRev. XPISTIANARELIGO, temple MG 472; Depeyrot 1179

The obverse of coin 4 is in almost every respect comparable to Group P (compare the obverse of coin 2, including the seriffed letters V and C and the extended M; only the S is significantly different), but the temple on the reverse is utterly unlike those on Group P. This could mean that both were produced at the same mint, from obverses engraved by the same die-cutter, but reverses cut by different craftsman, that a single die-cutter provided dies for more than one mint, or decided to vary his style of temple one day, or that craftsmen in two different mints adopted a very similar style. The question cannot be decided with our present state of knowledge, and the coin cannot be included in Group P.

7. Saint-Mme-le-Tenu (Loire-Atlantique), 2009

SIMON COUPLAND

[PLATE 63]

Dep. 8405 100 or more

Disp. In trade

In 2010, I published a group of eleven coins of Melle of the immobilised type with +CARLVSREXFR around a cross on the obverse and the mint name +METVLLO around the monogram of Karolus on the reverse.71 My information was that ten of these had been purchased as a lot in a garage sale in Bourgneuf-en-Retz (Loire-Atlantique), and given the similarity in their condition (a number were damaged), I

70 Above, n. 57.71 S. Coupland, Le trsor de Bourgneuf-en-Retz et les monnaies de Melle au monogramme dun roi

Charles, BSFN 65.6 (2010), pp. 1903.

366 COIN HOARDS

judged it highly likely that they formed a small hoard, and that an eleventh coin sold on eBay at a similar time came from the same find. The group was of particular interest because although these coins are extremely common in public collections and coin auctions, I knew of no other intact hoards available for study. The principal problem with this type is that identical coinages were produced at Melle by Charlemagne, between 793/4 and 813, and his grandson Charles the Bald, between 840 and at least 864, without any visible distinction. Some coins can definitely be attributed to the later period because of the inclusion of a cross in the reverse legend (+MET+VLLO) but none of these specimens displayed such a cross. In the short article discussing the hoard I suggested that this deposit could nonetheless be attributed to Charles the Bald rather than Charlemagne on the basis of its composition: hoards from around 800 generally include coins from a range of mints, while the Aquitanian hoards from the reign of Charles the Bald tend to consist exclusively or almost exclusively of coins from the local mint.

In 2010 I became aware of another, even smaller hoard consisting solely of coins of Melle reading +CARLVSREXFR / +METVLLO, this time just four coins, reportedly found in the commune of Machecoul, also in the dpartement of Loire-Atlantique. Both hoards were listed in the checklist of Carolingian coin hoards published in NC 2011, Bourgneuf-en-Retz as no. 76 and Machecoul as no. 78, and one of the Machecoul coins was illustrated.72 Both deposits were dated to between 840 and 864 on the basis that they contained only coins of Melle without the additional cross in the reverse legend, a feature which hoard evidence suggested must have been introduced in the mid-860s, possibly even at the time that other West Frankish mints began striking the GDR type, in 864. A more precise dating was not possible.

Guillaume Sarah subsequently analysed ten coins or fragments of coins from the hoard which was published as from Bourgneuf-en-Retz and found a very high silver content: between 93.5% and 98.4%, with an average of 95.5% (see Pl. 63 and Table). Following the conclusions reached in his earlier analyses, this would mean that all the coins dated from after 864, since between 840 and 864 Charless coinage was consistently characterised by low silver content.73 The analyses and those conclusions will be discussed in more detail below.

Ag % Cu % Pb ppm Au ppm Bi ppm Zn ppm Sn ppmSilver Copper Lead Gold Bismuth Zinc Tin

Coin 1 93.8% 5.2% 10474 101 129 13 6.9Coin 2 93.5% 4.9% 15000 81 398 17 185Coin 3 94.0% 4.7% 12420 21 126 148 11Coin 4 93.9% 4.8% 11785 580 346 53 97

72 S. Coupland, A checklist of Carolingian coin hoards 751987, NC 171 (2011), pp. 20356; the coin is on pl. 27, no. 8.

73 See G. Sarah, Analyses lmentaires de monnaies de Charlemagne et de Louis le Pieux du Cabinet des Mdailles : le cas de Melle, in A. Clairand and D. Hollard (eds), Numismatique et archologie en Poitou-Charentes, Actes du colloque de Niort 78 dcembre 2007, Muse Bernard dAgesci (Paris, 2009), pp. 6383; G. Sarah, Charlemagne, Charles the Bald and the Karolus monogram coinage. A multi-disciplinary study, NC 170 (2010), pp. 22786. The analysis of the Bourgneuf-en-Retz coins was undertaken after the publication of these articles but before the coins were recognised as part of a dispersed, undeclared hoard.


Ag % Cu % Pb ppm Au ppm Bi ppm Zn ppm Sn ppmSilver Copper Lead Gold Bismuth Zinc Tin

Coin 5 98.4% 1.3% 2396 4.2 43 29 19Coin 6 96.6% 2.5% 5751 2623 12 49 5Coin 7 96.4% 2.3% 12168 131 137 64 16Coin 8 96.8% 2.2% 5872 2501 50 89 1522Coin 9 94.9% 3.9% 9739 1500 415 109 310Coin 10 96.6% 2.7% 4089 2555 88 85 217

Ni ppm As ppm Pd ppm Sb ppm Te ppm Pt ppmNickel Arsenic Palladium Antimony Tellurium Platinum

Coin 1 6.9 29 1.5 19 1.2 0.09Coin 2 15 8 1.8 3 1.4 0.09Coin 3 15 18 2.1 37 2.2 0.11Coin 4 13 22 1.5 17 1.4 0.19Coin 5 8.5 7.2 1.5 10 1.5 0.08Coin 6 21 208 1.5 3 1.6 0.33Coin 7 33 185 3.6 31 3.6 0.15Coin 8 20 56 1.5 7 1.3 0.35Coin 9 8.9 51 1.5 29 1.2 0.25Coin 10 13 16 1.4 14 1.5 0.39

Table: Metal content of ten coins in the Bourgneuf-en-Retz hoard

Reliable information has now reached me that both of these small hoards were in fact parcels of a much larger deposit, recovered over a period of time by a number of different detectorists from the same site, in the commune of Saint-Mme-le-Tenu, which borders Machecoul commune and is just a few kilometres from Bourgneuf-en-Retz (see the map in the discussion of the four Christiana religio hoards of Louis the Pious). The exact number of coins discovered cannot unfortunately now be established, but it was probably in the region of ninety coins of Charles from Melle, all of the same type (MG 1063), some ten Christiana religio coins of Louis the Pious, of which I have seen images of six (MG 472), and two or three Class 2 oboles of Louis the Pious from Melle (MG 394).

The coins of Charles the Bald are all of the same style and general appearance: on all of them the cross of the reverse legend +METVLLO begins at around 1 oclock (35) if the monogram is upright (that is, with the K at the left). The six Christiana religio coins of which I have seen images are from a variety of mints: one is of my Group B, from Dorestad, one fragmentary coin of Group E (Orlans), one of Group K (Auxerre), one perhaps of Group M2 (Melle), and one possibly attributable to Reims.74 The sixth cannot be attributed to any particular mint. This is a not untypical

74 Dorestad and Orlans: S. Coupland, Money and coinage under Louis the Pious, Francia 17/1 (1990), pp. 2354, reprinted in S. Coupland, Carolingian Coinage and the Vikings: Studies on Power and Trade in the 9th Century (Aldershot, 2007); Auxerre: E. Vandenbossche and S. Coupland, Une trouvaille de deniers carolingiens dans la rgion de Bray-sur-Seine, NC 172 (2012), pp. 30721; Melle: S. Coupland, Les monnaies de Melle sous Louis le Pieux, in Mine, mtal, monnaie : autour du cas de Melle. Les voies de la quantification de lhistoire montaire du haut Moyen ge (Paris, forthcoming); Reims: not yet published.

368 COIN HOARDS

mixture of coins for this date and region. I have not seen pictures of the oboles of Louis the Pious, but I understand that they were of the type with the title LVDO-VVIC on the obverse and the mint name +METALLVM encircling a cross on the reverse. None of these coins is particularly rare, nor is their combination unusual or unexpected, yet this new information substantially alters our understanding of the hoard and significantly enhances its importance.

First, the hoard can now be dated with some confidence to the early 840s. The proportion of Christiana religio coins in a hoard is not always reliable dating evidence,75 but in a hoard from this region, where the coins of Melle are so predominant at this period, the fact that some 10% of the deposit consists of coins of Louis the Pious is significant. It is certainly highly unlikely that it postdates 864. The absence of coins of Pippin II of Aquitaine, who was minting in Melle between 845 and 848,76 is also noteworthy in a hoard from this location containing so many coins of Melle. Given a choice between dating the deposit to the early 840s, before the coins of Pippin were minted, and the latter part of the 850s, when they would have started to disappear from circulation, the presence of a dozen coins of Louis the Pious but no other coins of Charles the Bald, Pippin or Lothar I means that the earlier dating is to be preferred.

This ties in well with what we know of conditions in the area at the time. At the end of December 845 Charles the Bald recognised that the monks of the community of St Philibert, who had fled the insecurity of their island monastery of Noirmoutier for what they thought would be the safe haven of Saint-Philibert-de-Grand-Lieu, were no longer safe there because of the very frequent and unforeseeable persecution by barbarians, namely the Northmen and the Bretons.77 Saint-Mme-le-Tenu lies just 11.5 kilometres west of Saint-Philibert-de-Grand-Lieu, and derives its name from the river Tenu, on which salt from the coastal salt pans was transported directly to the towns along the Loire.78 Unfortunately, if a river gave easy access for goods to be transported to or from the sea, it also gave easy access for a Viking fleet, and the devastating raid on Nantes and its neighbouring communities along the Loire in 843 sent shock waves across the Frankish world, undoubtedly causing fear and uncertainty among the inhabitants of Saint-Mme-le-Tenu.79 What was more, the charter granting the monks of St Philibert their new refuge at Cunault (Maine-et-Loire) also mentioned the threat posed by the Bretons, and their defeat of Charles the Balds army at Ballon only a month before was undoubtedly also fresh in the memory.80 It is consequently

75 S. Coupland, The Roermond coins reconsidered, Medieval and Modern Matters 2 (2011), pp. 2550, at p. 43.

76 S. Coupland, The coinages of Pippin I and II of Aquitaine, RN6 31 (1989), pp. 194222, reprinted in Coupland, Carolingian Coinage and the Vikings.

77 G. Tessier (ed.), Recueil des actes de Charles II le Chauve roi de France (3 vols, Paris, 194355), no. 81: vol. 1, pp. 2279.

78 O. Bruand, Voyageurs et marchandises aux temps carolingiens. Les rseaux de communication entre Loire et Meuse aux VIIIe et IX sicles (Brussels, 2002), p. 187.

79 S. Coupland, The Vikings on the Continent in myth and history, History 88 (2003), pp. 187203, at 1914.

80 See F. Lot and L. Halphen, Le Rgne de Charles le Chauve, Bibliothque de lcole des hautes tudes, sciences historiques et philologiques, vol. 175 (Paris, 1909), pp. 1517.


easy to see why a prosperous inhabitant of Saint-Mme-le-Tenu (the ownership of a hundred or so deniers in coin putting them in this category) would have felt the need to conceal their capital and in turn why they might have been unable to recover it. For by February 847 the monks of St Philibert had already fled to Cunault;81 on the 15th of that month Charles the Bald gave them additional lands because they cannot remain in their monastery on account of the oppression of the cruel Northmen,82 and on 29th March 847 the Vikings set fire to the monastery buildings at Saint-Philibert-de-Grand-Lieu.83 This hoard cannot be linked to that raid the absence of coins of Pippin II suggests the coins were accumulated before 847 but the circumstances of the time make it easy to understand why it was deposited and to imagine possible reasons for its non-recovery.

Finally, the dating of the coins to the 840s demonstrates securely that the coins being struck by Charles the Bald in the Melle mint at this time were of a far higher quality than those being produced elsewhere in the kingdom, which had an average silver content of just 66.7%.84 Although Sarah tentatively concluded that coins of Melle bearing the legends +CARLVSREXFR and +METVLLO and containing high levels of silver must either date from Charlemagnes reign or postdate 864,85 this hoard shows that not to be the case. The ten Bourgneuf-en-Retz coins which have been analysed contained over 93% silver, and half of them over 96%, even though they can now confidently be dated to the 840s (Table). Comparison of the gold and zinc levels with those in the coins analysed by Sarah in his 2010 study was also significant, in that six of the coins fell in the ellipse associated with Charlemagnes Class III monogram coinage, two were comparable to the fineness of the post-864 coinage, and none matched the other coins of Charles the Balds first period. All this indicates that the presence of the silver mines at Melle enabled the mint to retain the high standard of its coinage, at least in the early part of Charless reign, even if elsewhere the coinage was rapidly becoming debased.

81 Ermentarius, De translationibus et miraculis sancti Filiberti, second preface: R. Poupardin (ed.), Monuments de lhistoire des abbayes de Saint-Philibert (Paris, 1905), p. 61.

82 Tessier no. 91: Recueil des actes de Charles II le Chauve, vol. 1, p. 246.83 Annales Engolismenses 847: MGH, SS XVI, p. 486.84 Sarah, Charlemagne, Charles the Bald and the Karolus monogram coinage, pp. 2323.85 Sarah, Analyses lmentaires, pp. 734; Charlemagne, Charles the Bald and the Karolus

monogram coinage, pp. 2624.

PLATE 62

COUPLAND, FOUR CHRISTIANA RELIGIO HOARDS OF LOUIS THE PIOUS (81440) (1)

F.1 F.2 F.3 F.4

F.5 G.6 M1.7 N.8

N.9 10 11 12

M1.1 M1.2 E.3 4

3. Saint-Seine-lAbbaye (Cte-dOr, France), 2011

4. Cosne dAllier (Allier, France), 2011

PLATE 63

COUPLAND, FOUR CHRISTIANA RELIGIO HOARDS OF LOUIS THE PIOUS (81440) (2)SAINT-MME-LE-TENU (LOIRE-ATLANTIQUE), 2009

P.1 P.2 3 4

1 2 3 4 5

6 7 8 9 10

M1.1 P.2 3 4

5. Yonne dpartement (France), 2013

6. Loire river bank, near Angers (Maine-et-Loire, France), 2012

7. Saint-Mme-le-Tenu (Loire-Atlantique, France), 2009

/ColorImageDict > /JPEG2000ColorACSImageDict > /JPEG2000ColorImageDict > /AntiAliasGrayImages false /CropGrayImages true /GrayImageMinResolution 300 /GrayImageMinResolutionPolicy /OK /DownsampleGrayImages false /GrayImageDownsampleType /Bicubic /GrayImageResolution 300 /GrayImageDepth -1 /GrayImageMinDownsampleDepth 2 /GrayImageDownsampleThreshold 1.50000 /EncodeGrayImages true /GrayImageFilter /DCTEncode /AutoFilterGrayImages true /GrayImageAutoFilterStrategy /JPEG /GrayACSImageDict > /GrayImageDict > /JPEG2000GrayACSImageDict > /JPEG2000GrayImageDict > /AntiAliasMonoImages false /CropMonoImages true /MonoImageMinResolution 1200 /MonoImageMinResolutionPolicy /OK /DownsampleMonoImages false /MonoImageDownsampleType /Bicubic /MonoImageResolution 1200 /MonoImageDepth -1 /MonoImageDownsampleThreshold 1.50000 /EncodeMonoImages true /MonoImageFilter /CCITTFaxEncode /MonoImageDict > /AllowPSXObjects false /CheckCompliance [ /None ] /PDFX1aCheck false /PDFX3Check false /PDFXCompliantPDFOnly false /PDFXNoTrimBoxError true /PDFXTrimBoxToMediaBoxOffset [ 0.00000 0.00000 0.00000 0.00000 ] /PDFXSetBleedBoxToMediaBox true /PDFXBleedBoxToTrimBoxOffset [ 0.00000 0.00000 0.00000 0.00000 ] /PDFXOutputIntentProfile (None) /PDFXOutputConditionIdentifier () /PDFXOutputCondition () /PDFXRegistryName () /PDFXTrapped /False

/Description > /Namespace [ (Adobe) (Common) (1.0) ] /OtherNamespaces [ > /FormElements false /GenerateStructure false /IncludeBookmarks false /IncludeHyperlinks false /IncludeInteractive false /IncludeLayers false /IncludeProfiles false /MultimediaHandling /UseObjectSettings /Namespace [ (Adobe) (CreativeSuite) (2.0) ] /PDFXOutputIntentProfileSelector /DocumentCMYK /PreserveEditing true /UntaggedCMYKHandling /LeaveUntagged /UntaggedRGBHandling /UseDocumentProfile /UseDocumentBleed false >> ]>> setdistillerparams> setpagedevice

nc 173 - 2013 coin hoards reduced

Documents

carolingian coinage

i c s o c i e t y2

christiana religio coins

coins of louis preceding

carolingian empire

previous type

west frankish coinage

succeeding coinage types