Revue numismatique, vols. 8–9 (4th series) — vol. 8–9 — 1890

Florin, Robert Catalog, n* 739.

FL ANDRE, NETHERLANDS, etc. Flanders.

Noble gold of Philip the Bold (1384-1405)

(P> 112, without text.)

Deschamps de Pas, Essaisur Vhist. monetary Counts of Flanders, House of Burgundy, No. 15.

Golden chair of Philippe!e Bon (1419-1467)

(r» 137, without text.)

Deschamps de Pas, House of Burgundy, 39.

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THE BOOKLET OF THE DUHAMEL CHANGER 75

o Noble burgundy pitch of five deniers seven grains gold a a twenty and troys karatz troys quars are worth the price for the “present five hundred and twenty and troys the sum of iiii 1. iii s. t. »

((^ 110.)

Noble (Tor of Philip the Good (1419-1467). Des-

Champs de Pas, M. de Bourgogne^ n* 52.

“Good gifts to Saint Andry forge by Phiilebert due to “burgundy of the pitch of two deniers xii grains gold at eighteen “karactz and demy vault the piece at the gold rate v“ and xx. »

XXX s.t. (r>62.)

Florin Saint-Andre'.

a Treze and mesh forge for thirteen deniers and mesh. »

(f» yi»i.)

Lighter of Charles the Bold, for 1474, Des- fields of Pas, 66.

Patard of Philippe le Beau and Maximilien.

(f^ vi"ii, without text.)

Deschamps de Pas, House of Austria^ n"* 83, R. N.y 1874-77, pi. Ill, 50.

a Piece of pitch of two stars of two grains and of

“loy has five deniers twenty-two grains and are in marc (in “white). (P*vi"li.)

Double patard of Philippe le Beau, Deschamps of Pas, House of Austria, 57, B, N., 1869-70, ft. XVII, 32.

a Good obols forged by phelippes due from flanders a pitch of two deniers twelve grains gold of eighteen karactz and “demy vault the said course piece v*' and xx. » xxx s. t. (C* 48.)

Florin with the revolted lion of Ghent (1488-89) Des- fields of Pas, M, from Austria, 58, B. N., 1869-70, ft. XVII, 33.

aGood. » ((* 95.)

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J. -A. BLANCHET

Demi'/Iorin dc Gand revoltee, variety with 1>VX* GO-FL. Deschamps de Pas, M. (Austria^ n" 59, //.A., 1869-70, pi. XVII, 34 \

Golden Fleece of Philip the Beautiful [^"^ i23, without text.l

Variety with bV-B and ^. IVblCATIS VER.

Deschamps de Pas, M. itAustria, n" 128; R, N., 1874, pi. VII, 79.

Brabant.

Saint Peter of Louvain^ in gold, of Wenceslas and Jeanne (1355-83) 1^0, without text.)

Van der Chijs, Braband^ pi. ix, ii® 2.

“Pieces called lyons du poix de troys den. six grains gold a “twenty el troys karaclz vaull the piece at the price of gold five hundred and twenty XLViii s. t. » (f* 135.)

Golden lion of Philip the Good (1430-67). van der Chijs, Brtiband^ pi. xv, 3.

“Pieces called Riddes of the pitch of two denarii and nineteen “gold grains at twenty and troys kararactz [sic] troy quars vault la “piece taken from gold V xx xmi s. vi d. I. » iP* 135.)

Golden horseman of Philip the Good, Chijs, xv, i.

Half florin Saint-Philippe of Philip the Beautiful

(P* 61, without text.)

Chijs, pi. xxi, no. 7.

1. These pieces can be rightly included in the French feudal series. caise, because they were established following a charter of January 17, 1487 (v. st.) by whom Charles VHI, overlord of the Count of Flanders, granted “to the said” these aldermen and deans of this city of Ghent, leave the authority of his son “the noin key quince of ours says frrcc the conle of Flandrcs, to make the forge at said place d.; G.ind, good and loyal, mints gold and silver. lout “so that they would make their home in this city, and this by reason has dc provision el until & what by iccluy our $lr brother came to icellc city "(otherwise provided for." Deschamps de Pas, MaUond'Aiitriche, p. 31-32; B.N., 1869-70. p. 245-247.

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77

Gri/fon (V silver dc Philip the Beautiful and Maximilian.

(f" CVII.)

Chijs, pi. XIX, 15.

Florin Saint-Philippe from the Charles-minority Quint (1506-15). 61, 8 years text.)

Variety of Chijs, pi. xxi, n'* 1, with * 5PO % TCVRfi TCRGblbVOV t TCVSTRie X bVGV X Bcr

LiSge,

“Florinus.” (P>127.)

Golden angel or double florin by Jean Vlll de Heins- berg, 6bishop (14l9-1456). Chestret de Hanefie, Num. of the Princip. by Lidge, 1888-90, no. 302.

Double gold florin of Louis de Bourbon, bishop (1456-1482). (f' 127, without text.)

Chestret de Hanefle, n**341. Florin of Jean IX de Horn (1482-1505).

(P* 101, without text.)

Chestret, n** 387.

a Philippus a Unqintcs? blacksmiths in |)ays of Liege and in a friends of La Marche dudict poix (2 d. 12 gr.) or a fifteen karaclz “vault lad.” course piece v*' and xx [white cn). » (P* 45.)

Florin de Erard de la Marck (1505-1538). Chestret de llaneffe, n'^ 428.

to Philippus to the friends of Burgundy of the pitch of two deniers at twelve grains or at rpiinze karactz and a half vault of course v<= and “XX. » XXVI century. VI d. t. (1^45.)

Indistinct imprint of a florin with saint Philippe standing.

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Holland.

Golden chair of William V (1346-1389).

(P> 141, without text.)

Van der Chijs, Holland ^ pi. v, n** 4.

Clinckaert shield of Philip the Good (1433-1467).

(P» 145, without text.)

Chijs, pi. XII, no. 2.

Gelderland.

“Muuvaise du poix [in white) or a [in white) and vault xx s. t. »

(P83.)

Florin of the due Arnould d'Egmont (1423-1473). Van der Chijs, Gelderland^ pi. ix, n* 1.

Another mfeme florin. ^57, without text.)

o Another piece called in the niesme sorle [threze el mesh comrae “a piece of Flanders; see. higher) (f* vi"i.)

M, silver of Philip the Beautiful and Maximilian (1482-1494) for Gelderland. Chijs, pi. xiii, n* 5, variety with ffiOR^ARCblbVC^AV-J bcT'^creLRI.

“Nine links with rampan lyons of the pitch of two deniers 0 twelve grains of gold a [in white) validating the said course pieces “\^xx. » XXVI century. t. {P>93.)

Clemmergulden of Charles d'Egmond (1492-1538), Due of Gelderland and Juliers. Chijs, pi. xv, n"* 6.

Utrecht.

Florin of Rodolphe de Diepholt, 6bishop (1433- 1455). (i* 101, without text.)

Van der Chijs, Utrecht^ pi. xv, no. 2.

« ObeUe straight of the pitch of two deniers twelve grains of gold a sezc tt karactz el without more vault the piece at the price of gold five has one hundred and twenty. » (P* 63.)

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Florin of David of Burgundy, 6th bishop (1445-1496). Chijs, pi. XVII, 9. Sanslexte.

Florin of Frederick of Baden, bishop (1496-1517) with * ffiO* RO* flVRe-FRIDIRIGI fiPI VflV Cross fleuroned with four escutcheons.

1^. besmeRIVM - PeGGA* PSRI. Christ sitting; below, ^cu of Baden h the band.

Chijs, Utrecht, p. 229.

Deventer.

“Xefves meshes forged by Ferdinant who was otherwise to emperor of ludles and spains of the pitch of two deniers with twelve grains or a [in white) validating the said course pieces “v” and XX. » XXV century. t. (P» 93.)

Florin in the name of Tenipereur Frederic with JnOR'^ Dfi^DAveRTRIfl*. Chijs, Overyssel, pi. xi, 1.

Nijmegen,

Without text. 97).

Florin at Saint-Etienne with ROVIMflcTR'. Cata- logue Garthe, 8940.

Luxembourg,

“Piece of slabmaigne forged for (in white) ung pitch c estellin 1 feline and de loy a five deniers fifteen grains 3 felines “and are at the mark of six twentyz and huyt. The ounce vault [in white),

(r> cvi.)

Coin of Philip the Beautiful, for Luxembourg, with the date 1502. Thomsen catalog, n** 3669.

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ENGLAND

“Gros d*AngIeterre forge for iroys solz tournaments. »

(f* CIX.)

Half-large of Edward III, minted in London. E. Hawkins, The Silver coins of England, London, 1887, pi. 23, no. 307.

— a Nobles Roze forged by Roy Edouart danglelerre of “pitch of six deniers gold at twenty and troys karactz troy quars vault per piece taking the course v*= and xx, ini I. xns. xid. t. » (0* 109.)

Noble of Edward IV, 2* Issue. R. Lloyd Kenyon, The gold coins of England, London, ISS^i, pi. v, No. 36.

— “Demys nobles Roze forge by ledict Roy edouart cn “englelerre of the pitch of six deniers gold at twenty and troys karactz “troy quarts vault the coin at the rate v* and xx. »

XLvi s. Id. ob. t. (P>109.)

Half Ryal, Kenyon, Ft. v, n® 39.

— Golden Angel of Edward IV. \^ 140, without text.^ Kenyon, Ft. v, no. 38.

— Noble gold of Henry VI. iii, without texie.) Kenyon, Ft. iv, n** 27.

— Golden angel of Henry VI, restored, with the armies quartered from Anglelerre and France. 140, without texie.^

— “Double noble danglelerre of the pitch of deraye once which “vault twelve deniers forged by King Henry or at twenty and « iroys karactz troys quartz vault the piece at the price of « lor \^ and XX. IX l.v. t. (P* 107.)

Ruler of Henry VII, Kenyon, pi. vii, n** 47.

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SCOTLAND

“Ducat shells pitch of two deniers ten grains or “twenty el troys karactz troys quurs vault the coin with gold “and twenty xli s. vi d. t. » (f^ 30.)

Golden Lion of James I" or J. II. Ed. Burns, The coinage of Scotland^ Edinburgh, 1887, n**483.

— “Another shield forged by Jacques Roy descosse du poix a of two deniers fourteen grains or of twenty and two karactz and « demi vault ladicte course piece v« and xx

xxxv s. t. » (f* viii «v.)

Lion (Vor de Jacques 1" or J. II. Burns, n** 456''.

— a Other shields forged by ledict Roy descosse dudict pitch “of two deniers and sixteen grains of gold of twenty-two and a half karactz has vaulted the said course piece v« and xx XL s. t. »

Gold Rider of James III. Burns, No. 602.

— a Demy escuz forge by Jacques roy descosse du poix “by H d. XVI gr. gold has xxii karactz and a half. Vauller took during v« and XX xx s. t. » vni**xvii lns,\

Half Golden Unicorn of James IV, Burns, n** 663.

« Escuz forge de par Jacques roy descosse du poix de deux o denarii sixteen grains gold at twenty-two karactz and a half vault the “piece at the gold rate v*= and xx, xl. s. t. » (f “wine”^.)

*: I7CCOBVS<»t>EI % GRTf

9r. Crown lOH"?? N NIS LB"?? NIE % bVCIS ^

1. We could also see a phoenix or a peacock, symbols of immortality of the Amc (see Memoirea Acad, Inscrip. et Be/les~ Lett res, t. XJII, 1838, p. 207-208; cf. Martigny, Did. of AnL ChrH.).

2. Under ALARVM understanding. The complete text is: Sub umbra alarum loa- rum protege mo {Psai,, XVII, 8). Currency found on the currencies of Ferdinand and Isabelle, on tokens of Louise de Savoic, etc.

3. John of Albany had coins similar to the plates of the queen; Burns, op. laud,^ t. II, p. 202.

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like a currency V The other piece bears the legend: IOHIS*ALBANIA DVC*.ft GVB* NAV & SCO'.

The weight of these large pieces, 16 gr. 90 for the premiere, 20 gr. 40 for the second, brings me k believe that they are not currencies. The weight is different for each of them, moreover, it is not not a multiple of the weight of gold coins of 1 epoch*.

SPAIN

Without text. 138.)

Dobla de la banda de John II, king of Castile and L^on (1406-1454), Al. Heiss, General description of las monedas hispano-cristianas ^ iVIadrid, 1865-69, ft. 11, n*3.

* enRio^s: aSRvvs: Dei: (rRHam: Rex: ♦: .

The king seated.

^. * eRRiavstDenG-RflviscRextcflsveL-

The t, 6cartel6 field of Castile and Leon in

a 6epicycloidc. i42, without lexle.)

Gold. 21 mill. Varia6 of Heiss, pi. 13, no. 6.

1. Hawkins, Franks and Grucbcr, Metallic illustration of the history of Great Britain and Ireland^ 1885, i. I, p. 28. In unc Icttre by Thoinos Wharlton aa Lord Chancellor, Duke of York, December 1, 1546, mention is made of gold coins struck by the order of the due d'Albony ovec de Tor found & Crau- fard Moor, {State Papers, Scot, Henr. VIII, you. V, p. 575).

2. The unicorn weighs 3 grams. 82, the crown, 3 gr. 43, the ducat, 5 gr. 70.

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84 J. -A. BLANCHET

* eRRiavs*Q\ncRYVS*Dei*G'RS[ais*Rex.

Field (icartel6 in an ipicyclolde; below S.

R-. * enRiavs*QV7CR^vs*Dei*6'RSaiSi*Rex.

The king seated in a gothic chair. A^2, without text.) Gold. 21 mill. Heiss Variety, pi. 13, n* 6.

* eRRiaVS:aflRVVS:Dei:6'RflaiSi. In a epicycloid, chalel of Caslillc.

l^-. * XPS:VIRaiY:XPS:Re6'RSV:XPS: In a epicycIoTide, crown lion. i42, without text.)

Gold. 21 mill. Ileiss, pi. 13, n** 4.

« Other gvos of england forge for troys solz tournaments of “pitch of two eslerlins and loy at one denier. And are on the mark “from [in white) el vault ledict marc [cn white)” (P* cix.)

Gros de Ferdinand (1479-1516), avee PeRbinTTRblS, for Barcelona, var. de Heiss, pi. 79, no. 1.

* FfiRblRflRDVS^eV^eLISABeT^Re^'*. ECU 6cartel6 between two S.

I^.* QVS¥DeVS¥aORIVR6'IY*bOa?0¥ROR. Bus- the crowns and aflronts of Ferdinand and Isabella.

(f* 143, without text.) Gold. 21 mill. Variele of Ileiss, pi. 17, n* 3.

“Piece of Castile of pitch of ten deniers twenty grains gold a “twenty el troys karactz troys quars vault the piece at the price of "course of v" and twenty vni 1. vi s. t. » (f» lOG.)

Quadruple (Tor de Ferdinand et Isabelle. Variete dc Ileiss, pi. 20, no. 60, with VRBRA.

“Duacatz autros forge by ferdinant due and lord of “Castile of pitch of two deniers seventeen grains gold at twenty Iroys a karactz troys quars vault the coin at the gold rate v<= and “twenty XLi s. VI d. t. » (P* 40.)

Gold. 21 mill. Heiss, pi. 20, n^69.

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“Ducatz forge by the due of Castile from the pitch of two

XLi s. VI d. t. » (f» 40.) Gold, 21 mill Ferdinand II (V of Castile), series of Barcelona, Heiss, t. II, pi. 80, n** 16.

« Ducatz aulres forge by frederic due de Millan seigneur in part of the italics of the pitch of two deniers seventeen grains gold at twenty and troys karactz troys quars vault the i)iece of course a v« and XX XLI s. VI d. t. » (f* 35.)

Oi\ 21 mill. Ferdinand, series of Valence, lleiss, ft. 99, no. 3.

Navarre.

((Double ducat of Millan forged by Scfforce gold at twenty and » troys karactz troys quarts of pitch of five deniers ten grains of a course vaulx v<= and xx iiii 1. iii s. t. » (P* 3.)

Double ducat (Tor of Ferdinand the Catholic; A. Heiss, Monedas hispano'cristianas^ pi. 147, n"* 4.

— “Escuz de Navere of the pitch of two deniers and sixteen grains of gold “at nineteen karactz ung grain vault the piece at the price of lour which has a current and xx xxxni s. t. » (f* viii'^xiiii.)

* giobflnessev KflvbRinflSRe^'snflv. Ecu^car-

tele of Bourbon-Navarre between I and K crowns.

9". * 8SiV8Rosnan DosninisBeneDiawm.

Cross pattee in a quatrefoil.

Variety of Poey d'Avant, pi. lxxii, n** 4.

Almohad Dinar. 130, without text).

PORTUGAL

“Let us test from Portugal the said pitch of seven deniers twelve

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grain priced at one denier twelve grains which is at the price of at one pound the marc vault of raise x s. t. » (f* vii^vii.)

Teston of Emmanuel with 1> ^GVINE- Variet<5 of Teixera de Aragao, Descrip^ao geral das moedas... of Portugal, Lisbon, 1874-80, t. I, pi. xiv, 7.

a Ducatz of Portugal of pitch of two deniers seventeen grains “gold at twenty and troys karactz Iroys quars vault the coin at the price 0 of the course of "lor V= etxx XLi s. vi d. t." (f* 22.)

Emmanuel's golden crusade. Teixera, pi. xiii, no. 4.

J.-Adrien Blai^chet.

{To be continued)

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We remember that Mr. Arnold Morel-Fatio, died in Beaure- gard-sous-Lausanne on August 10, 1887, gave shortly before his death, at the Cabinet des Medailles, a very important collection coins from the Merovingian era. The learned and generous donor had himself written the catalog of this collection, and he had already had eight plates engraved on copper representing the main ones of these interesting pieces of silver. But the he lacked time to give his work its final form and the ])publish. According to his wishes formally expressed before his death, Mr. Chabouillet took charge of this posthumous care, ct the catalog was recently published by MM. Rollin and Feuardent, under this title: Catalog raisonnS of the collection of deniers M^rovingians of the 7th and 8th centuries, from the find of Cimiez, given to the Cabinet of Mthlailles of the Bidliot/national idea, by Mr. Arnold Morel-Fatio, written by the donor and public according to his vocals by M, A. Chabouillet. This catalog includes 348 numbers, and it is accompanied by eleven plates. Mr. Chabouillet You precede it with an introduction in which it focuses to highlight all the interest of donation and above all to make bring out the qualities of spirit and heart of the friend, of which he pleased to retrace the career.

Mr. P. Valton has just donated medals to the Cabinet a very interesting piece: it is the French medal cois I*' of Carrara (1355-1392) of which Mr. Guiffrey speaks in the memorandum inserted in this fascicle (above, p. 17) and which is reproduced on the pi. Ill, n** 2. Mr. Valton had acquired this medal is on sale from the Eugene Piol collection, every month of May 1890 (No. 213 of the CaUdogue de vente). Particularity strong curious to point out, the piece purchased by Piot in Italic was

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stored in a clay cylinder, a sort of analogous piggy bank to those that are sold casually for children, and this cylinder was found in the foundations of a church in Padua where it had been placed when the first stone was laid of this church. The nest is therefore a commemorative monument memorial to the construction of Tedifice. On this subject, we will allow us to translate a passage from the book by J. Friedlaen- der on Italian medals; he relates, in Rome, a custom analogous to that which is revealed to us in Padua by the medal of Francis of Carrara. “In 1857, at the time of a reconstruction of the Palace of Venice in Rome, we found, in foundations tions, different medals in cast bronze; they were at number of about twenty, and a Teffigy of Paul 11. Of a side they represented, some, a view of the Palace, others an escutcheon with the inscription has sedcs condidit. Each medal It was enclosed in a small, coarse terracotta bowl, with a slot, so that it was necessary to break the boile to reread the medal. Some were coated with a thin layer of wax to protect them from cold. But the body fat contained in the wax has produced in some places Toxy- dation. My father was indebted for a very fine copy of this find to Professor H. Brunn, of Munich, and the des- description of the method of conservation that had been communicated to him by a sculptor, Professor Schubert. These two people live were in Rome at the time of the find. »

These details make the medal particularly interesting. given to the cabinet by Mr. Vallon, as well as the earthen piggy bank cooked food that accompanies you. As for the historical importance of the piece, Mr. Guiffrey took it upon himself to bring it out with his uncontested jurisdiction.

E.B.

Mr. Isidore Villecroze recently donated to the Cabinet of medals of several currencies in silver I found near from Aleppo, Syria. These coins are ECUs and derai-ECUs

1. J. Friedlaender, Die italimischen Schaumunzen des fSnfzehnten lahr- hunderts, p. 5 of the Introduction.

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89

from Utreclil; a Nijmegen shield, from 1503; two crowns for the Westfrieze, from 1604 and 1608; a quarter of a Liibeck thaler, 1610; a teston of Francois de Lorraine, frapjKi in Badonvilliers, from 1626; pieces of quarre reaux by Philip III and Phi- lippe IV, kings of Spain; a douro from Peru from the 17th century (Ic.

J.-A. Bl.

The find whose description follows has just entered entirely at the Nancy Museum.

In the last days of April 1890, workers carrying out a search at the crossroads formed by rue Saint-Jean and rue des Ponts encountered, at a depth of 1 meter 80, between two stones and in the middle of ashes and coals, 7 gold coins and 3 billon coins.

The gold pieces, of good conservation, belong to all at the end of the 15th century.

Charles the T6niary^ due to Burgundy. l^iGl-l^ill .

l^ — SANCTVS ANDREAS. — Saint Andrew, standing, holding his cross.

9'. — KAROLVS: DEI • GRA: GO: FLAND. — Shield of Burgundy on a cross pattce cutting the legend. (Golden florin.)

20 — SANGTVS ANDREAS. — Saint Andrew standing, holding his cross.

9*. — KAROL. DX: BG: BRAB: Z: LI. — One hand (brand of Tatelier d’Anvers). — Burgundy shield on a crossed cross whose branches intersect the legend. — (Florin gold.)

Sigismund of Luxembourg, Emperor of Germany. ViiO-i'iSS.

3o. — SIGISM'VD • RONORVM • REX. — Imperial globe in a contour shape of 4 arcs.

ly, — MONET • NO • FRAGFOR'D • (Frankfurt). — Saint John the Baptist standing holding the lamb on his left arm.

Fr^dMc III^ Emperor of Germany. Vi^iO^Vi93.

40. _ FRIDRIGVS • ROMANO’ • IMPA. — Imperial globe in a frame in the form of three arches.

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_ MONET • NO • FRANCFD. — Saint John the Baptist standing holding Lamb on his left arm.

On the legs, small escutcheon with 3 escutcheons 2 and 1.

5V — FRIDERIGVS • NOVEL • IMP. — Imperial globe in a contour forra^ of 3 circles 9*. — Same reverse as the previous one.

6^ — FRIDERIGVS • RONOR REX. — Imperial globe as above.

— MONET NOV LVNEB GE (Lüneburg). — Saint Jean-Baptiste, like the previous ones, but, under the feet, we sees a small escutcheon, leaning, charged with a lion.

The coins of Sigismund and Frederick III are florins or goldgulden.

Alfonso F, King of Portugal. VkSS-ikSl.

70. _ GRVZATVS • ALFONSI • QVINTI • REGIS. — Shield of Portugal, crown, in an outline formed of 5 circles.

^-. — ADIVTORIVMNOSTRVM IN NOMINE. — Groix in an ornate outline in the shape of 4 circles.

(Golden coin bears the name Gruzade.)

The three billon coins which accompanied the 7 coins orders above are almost crude.

One is probably by David de Bourgogne, ^veque of Ulrecht.

— ANNO DOMN. MGGGGLXVIII (1469). — Shield of Bour- grumbles on a paw-printed cross whose branches cut off the legend.

^\ — MONETA: NOVA: DEI: DEVENTRIA (Deventer). — Shield charged with an eagle; — below, cutting the legend, small ecu of sable to the head of silver.

The other two were struck by Louis IV, Count Palatine of the Rhine, due of Bavaria, and by Henry, count of Limburg.

L. QuiNTARD.

(Extract from the Journal de la Soc. d’archiologie Lorrainey May 1890.)

Mr. Th. Ducrocq, has just published in the Bulletin de la Soci^t^ from the antique dealers of V Quest (3rd quarter 1890), two thirds of a penny pseudo-Romans, found in the Dordogne department.

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91

One is an imitation, perhaps Visigothic, of a coin of Aniistase; the other, more interesting, is the counterfeiting of a coinage of Justinian; the superior's noru is unrecognizable; on the reverse, the Ugende has no meaning. The reverse guy is Victory standing, facing forward, holding a cloak in her right hand. round in the shape of a loop, and on the left a cross. This piece has the distinctive characteristics of the species mined in the valley of Rhone at the end of the 6th century.

We must also point out the memoir that Mr. Th. Ducrocq, with his dual skills as a jurisconsult and archaeologist, dedicated to the law of 1883 on the conservation of monuments (Paris, Picard, 1889, in-8«).

M.P.

Dr. H. Fritsche, former director of the Russian Observatory of Peking, has published a small treatise on the construction of calendars, mainly from the point of view of Chinese chronology*. Get work is of interest to those of our readers who deal with the numismatics from the Far East, in that it contains a table concordance between the Chinese year and the European year since 1624, date of the advent of the Manchu dynasty currently reigning, and the list of all the Nien^hao, or years of reign of the emperors of the Celestial empire. We know that the Chinese coins are dated using the Nien-hao, of which the oldest mention (the Nien-hao Ta-Youan) dates back to I'an 376 CE.

E.D.

We must also point out an important publication due to a senior official from Constantinople, Ghalib Edhem, who is at the same time an antique dealer and a scholar. It is an attempt to Ottoman numismatics containing the description of the coins el medals from the author's cabinet^. This collection is considered

1. The liter is in Chinese and in English: On chronology and Ike construction of the calender with special regard of the chinese computation, etc., in-8* of 92 p. Leipsig at O. Weigel. The work appeared in 1886, but it did not known only per year a copy sent recently by Mr. Fritsche.

2. The liter is: Taqvim meshdkdt'i osmdnieh, 8*, Constantinople, 1307 of I'Heg. (1890), 510 p., XII, pi. in collotype. The ouyrage is lure.

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maple and as rich in the variety and quantity of the pieces, as the English collection, of which we have the redacted catalog in 1883 by Mr. Poole. I will cite, for example, the currencies of Osman I, the founder of the dynasty, of the TchdUbis princes Soliman, Mohammed, Mousa and Moustafa, the four sons of Bajazet I, the play on the Greek legend of Mohammed II, and a rare the same silver coin of Djem, the famous Zizim. The work, done with a lot of order and method, contains interesting dissertations and a table of monetary workshops. It's the first numismatic catalog that comes from the pen of a Muslim, he (i\u congratulate the author, who had the good spirit to draw inspiration from historical criticism and European studies of the Orient.

E.D.

The French and German scholars, MM. Oppert, Earthling Lacouperie, Epping and Eb. Schrader, are currently in great discussion about the Kres which are referenced alongside- lement in the cuneiform texts of the Arsacids. We know that the coins of the Parthian kings are dated in Greek letters from Father of the Seleucids, Vaillant and the Abbot of Longuerue had believed that these dates must relate to Vcre because they placed in Tan 256 BC It was Freret who, in 1745, demonstrated first that the figures mentioned on the coins in question would refer to Tere of the Seleucids (Oct. 312). Gette opinion has since been recognized as correct by all antiquarians and historians; regarding the fixing of the time of the beginning of the Parthians, it has always remained a problem, which is not close to receive its solution following the amphibological passage of Justin and the divergence between ancient and Armenian authors. Indecision hovered between 256 and 248. But the entire publication recent cuneiform inscriptions mentioning the Arshaka kings and almost always giving two dates for the same event- ment, threw the disturbance into the calculations. We could have believed that the two dates mentioned in the Arsacid texts are related one to the Seleucid era, the second to the Seleucid era

1. The oldest date on Arsacid coins is from Tan 173, rOP> i.e. 139 ay. J.-G.

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Arsacide8, with a difference of 64 years between them (312 and 248); but it seems that the calculations of lunar eclipses which are mentioned in Babylonian inscriptions do not permeate not to adopt these two dates. Consequently, MM. Ojipert and Schrader proposes two new eras, 181 and 117 BC. J.-G. On the other hand, the readings of these two scholars are contested by other Assyriologists. Although the debate is not interesting direct the Arsacid numismatics, we thought it necessary keep our readers updated on this chronologic issue which, in fact, touches the history of the Arsacids and the Seleu- cide

E. Drouin.

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL BULLETIN

Babelon (Ernest). Catalog of Greek coins from the Biblio* theque nadonale, The burps of SyriCy of Armenia and Commagene, Paris, 1800, gr. in-8** by ccxxn and 268 pages, 30 plates in collotype and two plates of monograms.

This first volume of the catalog of Greek coins of the Cabinet de France is divided into two parts: the introduction and the catalog itself. In the catalog, the coins are described and classified in chronological order, at least since The appearance of dates under Antiochus III. This ranking has asked Mr. Babelon to correct a good number of false dates that Saulcy had accredited by his M^/blackc on the dated coins of the SdleucidSy and above all to specify the time of the advent and of the fall of several of the princes after Alexander I** Bala. We know how inextricable this period of history is

1. On this question one can consult the memoir of M. T. de Lacouperie, which has just appeared in the January issue of the Museon (M. de Lacouperie stands for 248), and two memoirs of Mr. Eb. Schrader, Die Daiirung der babt/lonischen togenannten Araacideninschri/ten, which are inserted in the SiUungtbericthe de TAcad. from Berlin. (D^c. 1890 and jany. 189t).

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of the Seleucids: thanks to the efforts of Mr. Babelon, many points dark ones have been enlightened and the succession of reigns is found rigorously specified. I will not undertake to enumerate all the pitTes, of capital interest, that the collection contains of the Cabinet of France; despite some regrettable shortcomings, noted in the Introduction, this series is certainly the most rich that has ever been formed.

Mr. Babelon has well understood the importance that a siniblable meeting of documents should have from the historical point of view and archaeological, and, instead of simply giving us a cata- descriptive dialogue, he has done a truly scientific work, just tifying, in a long introduction, the classification adopts by him, by explaining the monetary types as they developed appearance under the different reigns, and often revealing, by The explanation of monograms, the workshops from which the written currencies. The guys especially provided the author Tocca- sion to write a series of short memoirs of the greatest interest rct, and, from this point of view, among the ingenious insights which faith Ring the book of Mr. Babelon, I will point out Tattributlon a Selcucus, satrap of Babylon, coins which bear as type or as symbol Tancre of the Seleucids, and that Your class- knows either among the uncertain Persian currencies, or among those d*Alexandre. A paragraph is devoted to the iconography of Seleucus I**"; he will attract particular attention because of what at the time of the dismemberment of Alexander's empire, the generals of the great conqueror did not immediately ban ment of the currency the figure of the hero to whom they owed their fortune; it is only gradually and almost surreplicement that they arrogate to themselves the royal right of expression. Under Seleucus, we sees the appearance of horned types^ whose explanation is clearly exposed. The bull's horns, emblem of power among the oriental peoples, are given to Seleucus, to elephants, to uu horse which is Bucephalus or perhaps the very horse of Seleucus. There are also curious connections established between the monetary types and certain works of sculpture: we cite Let us, from this particularly archaeological point of view, a tetra- drachma, probably unique, of Antiochus IV Epiphanes (pi. XII, 12), which reproduces the statue of Apollo in the temple of Daphne, whose description Philostorge has preserved for us.

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As Antiochus IV founded a new district in Antioch Next to Daphne, I would be quite inclined to believe that this one noticed quable piece, with the very particular types of the full-length statue and the head of Apollo, on the right, was struck precisely at this occision. Under the reign of Antiochus 1®' Soter appeared the type d^ApoUon on the omphalos which you then find on very numerous currencies; you have to go to Delphi to find its first origin. The numerary of Antiochus III struck in Euro[>e, and that of the usurper Achaeus form the subject of interesting chapters, which can be considered as definitive monographs. The coinage of the cities under Antio- chus IV is particularly worthy of attention: five Antiochs different, two Hierapolises, two Seleucies, two Laodiceas and several cities on the Phoenician coast are represented in a chapter full of new features, where the mon- nais which bear to the right the efgy of the kings of Syria, like others will later wear that of the Roman emperors, while that on the reverse, appears the nora of these cities around local types. A monetary type of Antiochus IX, attribute of Tyche, which we have taken for a torch, a trumpet and a horn, is defined clearly explained: it is nothing other than the bar attached at the rudder and which the skipper held in his hand. Let us point out again The explanation of the types of Zeus Dolichenos, Zeus Ouranios and of Baal Kevan, and the attempt at scientific classification of bronze blades according to their weight. In this respect and in that of the iconography, the coins of this metal, do not bear the most often, no date, and they thus escape rules fixed to establish an indisputable succession and a precise attribution when they are in the names of homogenous princes nymes; but at least Mr. Babelon's effort has this point of view leaves little room for criticism. When I talk about the painting genealogy of the Seleucids, carefully drawn up and reclassifying errors made in previous works, I will still be far from having said everything: I would still have many things of interest interesting to report, not only on the coins of kings of Syria, but also on the currencies, chronology and history tory of the kings of Arraenie and Gommagene; but I'm stupid tried, by the men of a modest report, to stop me after having barely touched on my subject, and to leave to the readers

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of the work of Mr. Babelon the pleasure of discovering themselves all numisniatic questions raised or resolved for the first time.

I must add that Mr. Babelon, after having completed this first volume, began without delay the writing of the second, and it is during this new research that he managed, all recently, to definitively classify the currencies of kings of Sidon: Slraton I", Tennes, Evagoras II (dispossessed of Salamis), and Stralon II, as well as those of Bagoas, in Egv'pte. CVst l\, certainly, a brilliant discovery, and it is without indiscretion that I can share it with the readers of the Eevue, since Mr. Babelon made on this subject, last December deny, a communication to the Academy of Inscriptions and Belles- Letters ^

J.-Adribn Blanchbt.

Imhoof-Blijmer (Fr.). Griechischc Munzen, Neue Beitrage und Untersuchungen, mit 378 Abbildungen auf XIV Lichtdruckta- feln. Munich, 1890, in.4«.

In 1883, Mr. Imhoof-Blumer published his large collection entitled Greek coins^ fruit of thirty years of scholarly research, and a veritable treasure of rectifications and additions to the works earlier on the whole of Greek numismatics. The book new of which we have just reproduced the liter can be considered be used as a Supplement to Greek Coins, with this singular circumstance however, that while the body of ou- The article is written in French, the supplement is written in German. There is also, at least on some of the copies, a double pagination undoubtedly coming from what the work is exlrail of a volume of the Abhandlungcn of the Bavarian Academy. These circumstances are not likely to make the research easier; but little imjiorle, and one wonders how he etc. possible for the author to rocuoillir, in his hermitage of Win-

1. The Catalog of Greek coins of the National Library is undertaken at the expense of the Rollin and Feuardcni house which has not neglected to render material realization of this considerable work, T^ritable- worthy of our great national collection. {JNoU of the R^d.)

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terthur, \es Elements of work so considerable that they constitute kill real revolutions in the field of numisma- Greek tick. Mr. Imhoof-Blumer has one of the finest collections of Greek coins that have ever been formed, but however beautiful and well composed it may be, it would not be enough to it alone supplies the source from which these books come and these scholarly dissertations that each year sees appear; she found complete by notes at length and laboriously compiled, as well as by the imprints of everything that the various European mussels contain important things. In such conditions tions, I find myself regretting that Mr. Imhoof-Blumer, instead of to compose the collections which illustrate his name, did not set out rather to completely recast the Mionnet Corpus, we ridding forever of this book which should have been long out of service.

I cannot express it other than through this retrospective wish the very high esteem in which we must hold the work of Mr. Imhoof, and in particular his latest book. How, in fact, analyze a collection of 817 coins relating to tones the Greek countries, and whose description is, most of the time, accompanied by a dissertation as short as it is precise? L*au- author himself, in his preface, particularly points out to Tat- attention of scholars the following points of his work: the mon- births of Asia Minor which have dates relating to eras urban, autonomous or Tepoque bronze coins imperial, which bear marks of value^ marks so far little known for the most part, the silver coins of the period Imperial Empire struck in different cities of Syria. Out of 250 cities, the vast majority from Asia Minor, whose numismatics are found represented in this work, there are some like Himilion, Termessus near Oinoanda, Gerae in Pisidia, Cibyra ^ (Aixpa, Holmoi, which appear for the first time in numismatics. Important discoveries concern the mon- nays of the Gyclades, on which Mr. Imhoof has written pages of capital importance; likewise, on the currencies of the symmachie of the cities which took the Corinthian Gasus for emblem, on a large number of the towns of Pontus and the Paphlagonia, Pamphylia and Pisidia; on those of Cesarea-Germanice of Bithynia, which has been confused with the city 1891 — 5 5

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of Commagenie of the same name; on those of Apollonia on the Rhyndacus, of Stratonicee-Hadrianopolis, of Pessinus, of An- tioche of Syria, etc. In addition to the names of the cities, the tables of volume, drawn up with great care, contain a list of several hundred names of magistrates, either from Tepoque Greek, or from the Roman period, among which a very large many are new. In short, if Mr. Imhoof's new collection- Blumer contains few royal coins, it abounds in documents precious information on the numismatics of Greek cities since Dyrrachium and Corinth, Thrace, Aegina, Teubee and the islands from Europe, as far as Tyre, Sidon, Emese, Ascalon, Gaza. 11 would be imprudent to write a dissertation on the currencies of a city any included in this geographical area, without consultation ter both Griechische Munzen and Greek Coins.

E.B.

“

Deloche (Maximin). — Numismatic studies m^rovin^ gienne, Paris, Rollin and Feuardent, 1890, in-8<> of 268 p.

Mr. Deloche had the happy idea of bringing together public works by him, during these last years, on Mero numismatics Vingian; it contributed in a large proportion to attracting attention to this series of national currencies; also it was a real service rendered to workers than to put, in a single volume, memoirs and dissertations disseminated in several periodicals.

Readers of the Review have already been able to appreciate the pages devoted to the awarding of several trien such as those of An- gouleme, Moutier-en-Tarentaise, Gagny, Champagne; and on this subject let us recall that he corrects the faulty reading of Dabaicas that Longp^rier had always maintained; of Autun, of Thiviers (Dordogne), Millac, Nontron, Sacierge. 11 leaves A determine the name of Ramelaco, while committing to search in the North-East; I would allow myself to observe that the type of Chrisraee's doubly cross would lead me to seek the place of origin go in another direction.

The numismatics of the reign of Théodebert I" were particularly Mr. Deloche's attention is fixed, and he wanted, in turn,

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determine the linked letters which are engraved on the reverse, at the feet of Victory; after having established that the conjectures of Lenor- mant, de Voillemier, de Robert were very questionable, he pro- poses another system: he finds the initial letters RE» of Remiy already employed under Justinian; CLAVN» CN» Catalauni^ and here it is cheap^ readings which would tend to attribute this monogram be in Verdun, Artie lavoruniy form which has never exists only in an apocryphal document, either in Le Mans, Cenoma" nis; BO which appears to be Bonn rather than Bologna. — In a another paragraph M. Deloche, examining the abundance of currencies in gold in the name of Th^odebert P', coinage which seems to cease with him, think that under his successors the imperial legend ended restored; returning further, ch. XIII, on the reign of Theode- bert, Tauteur proposes on the organization of the manufacture of currencies at that time a complete system. All mon- Theodebert coins would have been struck in a single workshop, Metz, ordinary residence of the kings of Austrasia; geo-brands The graphics they bear will indicate the places of origin of Tor sent by the royal agents to be coined and returned then seen in the form of pennies and thirds of a penny.

Paragraph XII is devoted to a long and very scholarly dissertation in which Mr. Deloche defends against MM. Lori- quet and Maxe-Werly the Provencal origin of a triens that these archaeologists want to give Bourg-Saint-Remi, one of the suburbs of Reims, or in Vieil-Saint-Remi (Ardennes). Mr. Deloche holds for Saint-Remi de Provence. The objection main is in this fact that on triens from Reims we finds acronyms which also appear on triens of Saint- Remi and in which Mr. Deloche finds the mark of Aries or from Avignon; he responds by noting that these acronyms have etc. you of Provence in the second Belgium j that Betto, whose name appears on the coins of Reims and Saint-Remi, pent ^having come to the R^month to exercise his industry while entering Saint-Remi de Reims and Saint-Remi de Provence there were relationships of dependence that he established, subsequently, in a special study. — The discussion that took place ^ TAcad^mie between M. Deloche and Ch. Robert, on the subject of gold coins minted in Provence in the name of Maurice Tibere, is the subject of paragraphs XIV and XV. Mr. Deloche takes up the defended thesis

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formerly by Bonaray, but with a criticism and an erudition which leave behind his learned predecessor. It is about the attempt by Gondovald, at the end of the 6th century, trying to establish sovereignty in the Gauls, with the support and the sides of the Emperor of Byzantium; in exchange for this competition he would have recognized the supremacy of the latter and had mon- births with the imperial name in the towns of the old Province. Ch. Robert contests all these stories which are based on texts rare and concise, have been singularly amplified by deductions more or less conjectural statements; he then seeks to establish that the movement attempted by Gondovald was rather directed towards TAquitaine qu*en Provence and concludes by saying that the pieces in question, bearing imperial names, are the product of autonomous coinage of the M^rovingian kings, from Gontran and Gildebert II. I admit that, despite the very rare plea- quable of Mr. Deloche, I am very inclined to lean towards the cute of Robert. I will, moreover, have to return to this question in personal work.

Let us also point out in the Studies the indication of the value of trians in siliques at Chalon-8ur-Sa6ne, at Besangon, at MAcon and at Moutier-en-Tarentaise, which Mr. Deloche was able to decipher very ingeniousness, and the gold medal of Dagobert I®' which bears the old name and the 7th century name of Limoges: Agustoredo Lemmovijc,

A. OF B.

Ferreira (Luiz-Jose). Catalog of collections of Moedas v'isigodas, Porto, broch. in-S. 1890.

D. Luiz-Jose Ferreira from Porto, distinguished archaeologist, comes to publish the catalog of its rich collection of coins Visigoths. There are sixty-nine of them. Their pro- The priest did not just describe them, he also represented very faithfully in sufficient smears.

Varieties abound, but not being able to list them all, we we limit ourselves to drawing attention to seven of the most remarkable, following the order of the catalog.

NM.— Triens of Liovigilde (573-586), struck at Tarraco.

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Until now, no coins from this prince were known, issued in this city.

5. — Triens of Reccarede (586-601), with the name of an ate- unpublished raonetary link, that of Cepis, town of the diocese of Porto, cited in the ecclesiastical division of Spain, attributed to Wamba (672-680), but which is an apocryphal document from 10th century.

Ge triens, including M. L.-J. Ferreira had sent us an e- written in April 1883, is absolutely new, but it [is not not unique, as the author of the catalog assumes; there are some another copy, of which we also received a very good imprint, of the learned archdeacon of the cathedral of Orense, D. Manuel Sanchez Arteaga, towards the end of October 1888. correlating the two triangles, we recognize two different corners, raais both offering special types of workshops located on the borders of Galicia and Portugal^

N*** 6, 7 and 8. — Letters from the same prince, issued in Salmantica, in Tarraco and Barging, varieties of pieces, published by us in 1872, in our “Visigoth Coins”, pi. Ill, 29, 34 and ft. II, 2.

N®* 14, 15. — Two trien of Sisebut, struck at Eliberris. We did not yet have public currency of Sisebut, issued in this city.

Apart from the seven pieces mentioned above, all those of 1. Our Visigothic Coins. — Proyincial types, pages 30 to 36.

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the Ferreira collection are described and engraved in our study on Visigoth coins.

The nineteen pages entitled “Duas palauras”, placed in tetc of the catalog, and signed with a name dear to Portuguese scholars gays^ will be read with interest and profit by numismatists and archaeologists from all countries.

Aloiss Heiss.

PERIODICALS

Antiuary of the French Numismatic Society ^ t. XIV, 1890.

Ponton d'Am^xourt, The royal coins of the first race of the kings of France. — E. Hucuer, The treasure of Plourhan (raon. of Postume, Aur^lien, Tetricus). — E. Caron, Les mon- naies du Vexin. — Roger Vallentin, Les ecus d’or avignon- born of Pope Paul III (1535). — A. de Belfort, Coins imperial forces not described in Cohen's work. — P.-Ch. Robert, Coins and raedailles of the bishops of Metz (Memoir posthumous continued by M. R. Serrure). — Mr. de Marchbville, The relationship between Tor and Targent in the time of Saint Louis. — W. Fr(£HNER, Legant in Byzantine numismatics. — A. de Belfort, Silver coin of Th^odebert I®'. — E. Zay, Colonial numismatics (Guadeloupe and its dependencies). — V** B. DE JoNGHE, Unpublished third of the shield of Charles II of Gonzaga, prince of Arches. — J. -A. Blanchet, Amputation of the hand in the old monetary laws. — W. Froshner, Varieties numisraatiqucs (Denarius of Q. Cassius and C. Servilius, lead of Antoninus with FISC ALEX> medium bronze of Maximian with reverse borrowed from amulets; middle bronze of EIagabalus; medal of Heraclius). — W. Fr(Ehner, Le nome sur les mon«

1. D. Edunrdo-Augusto Allen, (who owes it, together with D. Henrique Nunez Tcixeira, among other works, a towable study on the mounts Southern-Lusitanian gold coins, published in the Revue numumattjue, new series, t. X, year 1865, pages 235 k 2'i9.

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naies of Egypt. — R. Serrure, Luxembourg op florins of Philip the Good. — Roger Vallentin, Notes on Two new monetary workshops. — A. Duplan, Tiers de sol de Clotiiire 111 struck in Geneva. — C. Jolivot, a third of Monaco penny. — B**" Rene d'Amecourt, A denier of Gui de Chatillon, Count of Blois. — R. Lock, Note on a hole value of Carolingian coins made in Holland. — A. of Belfort, General description of Merovingian coins (note and fragment). — L. Blancard, The report of Tor a Tar- gent under Saint Louis and his successors. — D. Mater, L*atelier of Bourges, under the first Capetians. — Chronicle, Biblio^ graphic^ ProckS'^erhaux of the stances of the French Society of numismatics,

RIVISTA ITALIANA DI NUMISMATIGA

Year III (1890) Fasc. I

Gnecghi (Francesco). Contribution to Roman numismatics. VIIL An Antoninianus of Zenobia. IX. Countermarks on the coins of the Roman Republic and the beginning of r^imperial period. — Gentili di Rovellone (Tarquinio). The coins of Popes Leo VIII and John XIII. — Ambrosoli (Solone). Patacchina of Savona unpublished, by Philippe-Marie Vis- conti. — Sforza (Giovanni). A unique medal of the princes Baciocchi. — I promise (Vincenzo). Unpublished coin of Peter I of Savoy and the primitive currency of the princes of Savoy. — Promise (Vincenzo). Coin of J. Baptiste Falletti, Count of Benevello. — MORSOLiN (Bernardo). Lodovico Ghiericati. — Morsolin (B.). Girolamo Gualdo. — Luppi (C.). Lives of Italian numismatists illustrious: P. Ireneo Affo. — Chronicle. Obituary: Vincenzo Promise. — The Marquis de Molins. — G.-F. -G. Meyer. — G.-W. Wilson. — Bihliography. — Vari^t^s.

Fasc. 11

^ Gnrcchi (Francesco). Xlontribution to Roman numismatics. X. Consideration on the coins of Saint Helena and Fausta. XI. Contribution to the Corpus nuniorum (municipal museum of Milan). — Gavazzi (Giuseppe). Conjectures about attribution

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of a few longobard three-year-olds. — Gapobianchi (Vincenzd). New observations on some currencies struck by popes in the county of Venaissin and Avignon. — Ambrosoli (Solone). Saldino d'Asti, by Charles V, unpublished. —Morsolix (Bernardo). Giacomo Bannissio. — Morsolin (B.). Isabella Sesso. — CoMANDiNi (Alfredo). Italian medals of 1889. — Brambilla (Gamillo). Triens unpublished in the name of Didier, king of Lombards. — Luppi (G.). Lives of Italian numismatists illustrated very. Gian Rinaldo Garli. — Chronicle, — Biblio graphic. — Fa- ri^t^s.

Fasc. ill

Stbttiner (P.). Origin of currency in Italy. —Gnecchi (Francesco). Contribution to Roman numismatics. XII. Ginq unpublished bronzes from the excavations of Rome during Tannec 1887. XIII. To restorers of ancient bronzes. — Jatta (Giulio). About a coin from Rubi to Apulic. — Ta- gliabue (Emilio). Is it true that there was a monetary workshop? Mesoco? — Gastellani (Giuseppe). A picciolo from Astorgio III Manfredi, for Faenza. — Gomanoim (Alfred). ita medals links from 1889. — Sambon (Arturo-G.). The duke's coins from Naples. — Luppi (C.). Lives of illustrious Italian numismatists. Domenico Sestini. Chronicle, — Nicrology: Gaetano Bazzi. — Bibliography, — Vari4t^s,

Fasc. IV

Gnecchi (Francesco). Contribution to ro- numismatics maine. XIV. A medallion of Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus.

— Papadopoli (Nicolo). Henri Dandolo and his coins (1192- 1205). — Ruggero (G.). Genoese numismatic note. XIX. Coins attributed by Gandolfi to Doges X and XI. — XX. Minutes of Governor Philippe de Gleves. — Gnecchi (Ercole). Gontribution It Italian numismatics. I. Three luigini in^ts from Gampi. — Ambrosoli (Solone). Vasto’s demi zecchino.

—Morsolin (Bernard). Medals of Vellano of Padua in honor of Paul II. — Gomandini (Alfredo). Italian medals of 1889. — Luppi (G.). Lives of illustrious Italian numismatists, Ennio Quirino Visconti. Chronicle, — Bibliographic, — Ka- ri^tis,

Le G4rant^ F. Feuardent.

MAcon, Protat fries, printer

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AURELIEN

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WAR OF THE COINERS

Flaubert tells us that Bouvard and P^cuchet decided to write the history of the Duke of Angouleme, only because no historian had ever care of this prince. There is a bit of Bouvard and Pecuchet in Vopiscus Flavins, the biographer of Au- link. One spring day, this author made a car ride with the prefect of Rome, Junius Tiberianus; the conversation falls on This- Roman tory and as no Latin historian had still writing the biography of Aurelien, Vopiscus se proposes to do so. But that only stops there comparison, because if the two types of Flaubert had carried out their project, they could have 6write an impartial history of the hero they had chosen, while Vopiscus was forced not to do only a sort of panegyric. Mr. Duruy accuses This- Roman torian for not having known how to use the rich materials that he had at his disposal and he describes it of a small mind and a poor writer*. This reproach it is only half merited: Vopiscus has neither the talent of Livy, nor the philosophical spirit of Tacitus, and this that he tells us in prose, he would just as well

1. Ilial. des RomaiaSf Paris, 188 J, t. VI, p. 'i57.

1891 — 1 8

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put into verse, if he had believed himself to be a poet. In short, it is rather a rhetorician, a publivisUy than an emulator of Thucydides. It is neither by taste nor by vocation that he written history, it is simply to highlight work of new materials and above all to make pleased a powerful character of whom he is the com- mensal. Vopiseus was not free to write what he wanted; wanted; he was under the moral dependence of the prefect of the City, and Junius Tiberianus, asking him what work, had no other goal than to make known to posterity, the most famous member of his family, Emperor Aurelian “as he was*”.

IJne biography written under these conditions, and almost under the dictation of an interested parent, cannot not present a very great guarantee of impartiality lile. Vopiseus therefore, like all panegyrists, deliberately neglecting to address more than one issue, more than one problem that posterity cannot never resolve.

Our biographer himself admits that he did not heard imitating Teloquence of Tacitus and Trogue- Pompey, but that he took Suetonius as a model. This is an oratorical precaution, an invention for to change us and capture our confidence. Vopiseus, who so strongly rejects the role of historian nothing, don't take on the role of chronicler. If, like Suetonius, he resorts to the Palatine archives, it is not with the same spirit; he does not spread

1. Divum Aurclianiim, clarisiiiiuuni principlem, sercrissimum imperato- rem, per qucm lotus Romano nomini orbis est rcstitutus, posteriori nescient? Deus avertat hniir umentiam. Tu vetim Aurelianum Ua at rst^ qnotés potcs, in litera-i niillas. » Vopisc, Aurel.^ I. •

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Coninie T had made her model and with the same tran- quillity, the same indifference, the good and the bad actions of his hero; he is looking, at the con- milk, to show us that Aurelien is a victim of history; he wants to defend it and prove to us that this slandered imperial, far from being a bloody tyrant guinary, never even 6i6 this brutal soldier, always days in hostility with the Roman Senate. But, at instead of frankly stating the point of fact, even if then to show us Tinanitd of the accusation, or even, simply, that good law (it was of side of the emperor, Vopiscus, finding, perhaps, the task too heavy, use a usual process to certain- some unscrupulous lawyers. Alone, in his cabin clearly, he carefully studies all the facts, it is in master that he investigates the matter; but at the bar, in front the ignorant and curious public, he uses his faculties to confuse everything, to invert the order of facts, addressing only glorious deeds and leaving in Remove anything that could harm his advocacy and prevent us from proclaiming its customer the most calm, gentle and peaceful of men.

This is how between two stories, relative. tune to the son of Zenobia, the other to the (read of Tetricus, he con- dedicated barely a few lines to an important fact. quite considerable tance, “the war of the sinkers”; but what were the causes and consequences? sequences of this internecine war? At what time did it even take place? — Vopiscus is careful not to tell us*.

1, Fuit sub Aureliano ctiain nionclariorum bclluni, Felieissimo rationuli

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“He still fought there under Aurelien the war of the miners caused by Felicissimus, steward of the tax; The emperor repressed it very strongly and very severely, but seven thousand of his soldiers were there annihilated. » This is exactly what Vopiscus tells us to This CPII drama is perhaps one of a kind. Not a word on the causes of this murderous war.

If, as modern historians claim, this struggle had its origin in the alteration of weight or of the liter of the nionnaies, Vopiscus would not have lacked to tell us, because it had a beautiful theme |>our to extol the honesty of his hero and to show it to us be punished for falsehoods, forgers and having no other aim than to bring order everywhere in the affairs of the Republic. Vopiscus has nothing said, not that he knew nothing about the affair, since he had at his disposal the ephemerides or The emperor had ordered to record his acts of every day, but he preferred not to compromise his hero and pass the pen to Aurelien himself in citing to us the letter that this emperor wrote, after Tevenement, to his adoptive father Ulp. Crinitus.

“Aurelian to Ulpius, his father. It looks like a sorle de falalilc gets involved; whatever I do, all troubles increase. Thus, a sedition in our

self; quod acerrime severissimcque coiupescuit, septem tamcn millibus suorum mililum intercomplis ut epistola docet missa ad Ulpium Crinitum tcr consulem qui eum ante adoplavcrat. Aurelianus Ulpio patri: Almost fulalc quiddam incessit, ut omnia quaecumquc g^essero, omnes motas ing^a- vescanl. Ila cnim scditio intra murnna bcllum g^ayissimnm peperit: mone- tarii, autore Felicissimo ultimo servorum, cui proxyem fisci mandavc- ram, rebels spirilus cxtulerunt. Hi compress! sunt, septem millibus Libar- norum, Riparicnsiuni et Castrianorum ct Daciscorum interemptis. Unde upparet nullum mihi a diis immorlalibus sine difficultate victoriam. »

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walls led to a war which was very painful for me. Under the leadership of the last of the slaves, Felicis- simus, to whom I had entrusted the stewardship of the tax, the coin changers have blown the revoke. Here they are reduced, but seven thousand Liburnians, Ripuarians, Castriotes and Dacisques are annihilated. From this, it is clear that the Immortal gods never grant me victory without difficulty. »

In this letter, the Emperor treats Felicissimus and the coiners of revokes, of rebels, that's- say people who, ignoring imperial authority, wanted to escape it; their crime is a crime of lese-majeste and not a common law crime, and However, this Felicissimus is not seen as an insurgent, but like a thief, a forger, a pr^varicator by all the historians who, nowadays, talked about this issue. Felicissimus is noted of infamy and condemned by M™® Dacier, by Saumaise, by Mongez, by Fr. Lenormant, by M. Duruy and by Mr. Mommsen to cite only his main judges. But are all these judgments final? If, at the Palace, one thing is considered true by The only reason that she was judged, it is not even in the court of history or the brocades nc are not recognized as an infallible rule.

I am therefore appealing all these infamous judgments for Felicissimus; I will try to demonstrate that this official has been slandered and unduly accused theft and misrepresentation; but as I must go against masters whose opinion is of great weight, whose stops are always strongly motivated

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ves, I believe that it is necessary, before approaching the discussion of the lexicographic point on which raises the question, to expose and quote in full all the texts, all the testimonies of those who are busy with this matter.

About a century after the death of Aurelien and a few years after Vopiscus cut published his work *, two historians talk about this war coiners and the immediate causes which make gives birth.

Eutropius tells us in his Roman history dedicated to Emperor Valens: Hoc imperante ^ etiam monetarii^ in Urbe, rebellaverunl ^ vitiatis pecuniis, the Felivissinw raiionali interfecto^ quos Aurelianus victos ultima vvudelitate compescuit^ ,

a Under the reign of this emperor, the coiners also revolted in the City, after having altered currency (?); but, after the death of Felicissimus, intendant of the tax, Aurclien defeated and crushed them with the latest cruelty. » This tenioignage which, in in short, is quite vague since it does not tell us in what this alteration consisted of, was translated textually tually by Suidas who made Fablatif absolute a viliatis pecuniis” by an expression non nioins precise Sie^Oeipav to v6[xi(j[xa'.

The presumed author of De Ceesaribus^ Aurelius Vic- tor, who was prefect of Rome under the reign of Theo-

1. Vopiscus was of a generation later than that of Diocletian: “a patre meo, audiui Diocletianum dixisae. o Aurel., XLIII; “Diocfdianus, Constontiui et cxteri quoa patres nostri mirati sunt. » Prob., XXII.

2. IX, 14.

3. To the word Movitaptoi

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dose, that is to say approximately one century after the event lies, is the only one whose testimony gives us some indication: Neque secus intra Urbem monetoi led opifices; qui cum auctore Felirissimo numma- laughing notam corrosisseai^ pvene melu^ bellum fecerant usque adeo grave, ui per delium Montem congressi^ septem fere millia bellatorum confecerint^. a The mint workers who, under the direction of Felicissimus, intendant of the tax, had altered nummariam nolam, did, for fear of punishment ment, a war so considerable that they killed on Mount Celius, where they were gathered, nearly seven a thousand warriors. » It is on purpose that I neglected to rendered in French the nummariam notam because, in remaining, and given the lack of importance and precision from other testimonies, it is about the meaning of this expression that the whole discussion will revolve around. But, let us see again by what reasonings the authors modern people have come to conclude that Felicissimus was a prevaricator.

Saumaise, Mongez and Mr. Momnisen are the only ones who, to my knowledge, have discussed the texts. Cohen* takes his material from Mongez and Tamplifie without worrying about the sources. The seven thousand soldiers d'Aur^Iien become under his pen "seven thousand monetary" and this undoubtedly, because Mongez had written: “Seven thousand soldiers killed suggest The existence of at least seven thousand monetaries; because, before the invention of artillery, etc.*. » Mr. Duruy

1. De Caesaribus, XXXV, 6.

2. Description. moas. of the Roman Empire, t. V, p. 121.

3. Mim. of CAcaditnie des Inacripl., IX, 215.

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refers to Mongez whose work he cites*. As for Fr. Lenormant, he had to discuss this question in detail in g 2 of chapter IV of book VII of the Monnait in antiquity^ ^ but, as this learned scholar has expresses his opinion in several passages of his works and even in several chapters of the three first volumes of La coinage^ we know that it avail completely adopted the ideas of Mongez and by Mr. Mommsen*.

Saumaise is the first among the moderns who spoke of prevarication. His argument is very simple: in the text of Aurelius Victor, it sup- prime the word noted that it looks like a figure of rhetoric, a simple m^tonymy, a nummariam vel nummorum notam dixit pro nummis. » As for verb cor rode re ^ it gives it the meaning of exteriorem circulum arrodere^ and he concludes that the coiners and their leader Felicissimus flew on the weight of coins by trimming them*.

Mongez, who was administrator of the Mints of 1804 to 1827, examines the question again in a memoir that he read at the Academy of Inscriptions and Belles-Lettres, May 4, 1821. The main sentence of Aurel. Victor, nummariam notam corrosisent^ he translates it thus: ((they feared being punished because that they had altered the currency. » And he adds,

1. Hist, des Rom., YI, 496.

2. Cf. the plan of the work printed in part of the 1st volume.

3. Cf. The danafanL currency, HI, 206. “In the story of Vopiscus, it is rationalis Felicissimus who is represented as the main author of frauds..." and further: to obtain criminal benefit. » See Tart* Aureus in the Did. dea aniiq,, of Daremberg and Saglio, I, 567.

4. Uiil, AugMt., Paris, 1620; p. 380 et seq.

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as an explanation: “Nummaria nota would designate here, according to my conjecture^ the legal liter of currency. I cannot provide any example that will help me of authority^^. » Which does not prevent us from concluding that Felieissiinus was a thief who made profits illicit tricks by altering the liter of currencies.

This conclusion of Mongez was taken up and adopted tee by M. Mommsen: cc We attribute the great altera- tion of Targent, under Claudius the Gothic and Aurelian, a The steward of the coins Felicissimus; we want probably say that this agent reduced the quantity of fine metal, then added a larger proportion of tin and lead in the ingots. The abuse had become such that, when Aurelien wanted to put order there, the extortionists excited, in the streets of Rome, a mob in which perished, they say, seven thousand men. » These lines from Teminent epigraphist, extracted from the French translation of his History of Roman currency*^ are accompanied Generated by a long note as follows:

“Vopisc. ^wre/m/^. XXXVIII; Aurel. Victor, of Cwsaribus,XXXy,6; Eutrop. IX, 14. Cf. Victor, Epitom. XXXV, 14; Suidas, sub verb. MoviTapioi. Eutrope designates this crime by the expression vitiare pecunias^ Victor par nummaria m notam cor rode re, Mongez recognized, and the exact explanation of these

1.Mint. $ur Vart of coinage among the anc. el lea mod., in the Mem. of tAc. of Inscriptions IX, p. 223.

2. T. HI, pp. 95%.

3. Having been unable to reach Constantinople where, in short, I have no other resources that my particular library, obtain the original German edition, I cannot say whether this note 3 on page 95 is from Mr. Mommsen or whether was added by the due de Blacas, the author of the French translation.

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expressions confirm it, that it is about the alteration of the liter. rZ/fW/e in technical term means alloy; vitium (Ovid., Fast., IV, 785;Z>/^e5/., XLVIII, I0,9)is then the vile metal which must be separated^. The passage of Flo- rus (I, 32, ed. Jahn) where Corinthian copper is called leris nota pretiosior proves that nota means the title, a technical term which undoubtedly derives from the mark noted that we traced with the metal on the stone fishy. »

Is Vitiare a technical term and does it, in these cited texts, the meaning given to it by the Latinist modern?

I can say nothing about the sentence in the Digest which is I borrow from Ulpien because I don't understand it not; it is not very clear and to explain it, the learned jurisconsult and commentator, D. GodefFroy, uses two different hypotheses *.

The verse of the Pastes is easier to understand, but why did you cite it since it clearly shows ment that vitium does not designate an alloy in the sense proper to the word.

Omnia purgat edax ignis, vitiumque raetallis Excoquite.

In this passage, Ovid speaks of Toperation metal- lurgy of fusion, by which we bring the metals in a metallic state by separating them from gangues; this meaning is precise in an indisputable way by the verb excoquere found in Pliny every time this naturalist indicates the treatment

1. Corp. Juris Civil,, Aureliop., 1603. I 1780, i.

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mining ores to extract metals*. If vilium has never been a technical term among But now he designed it, not the base metal. which enters the alloy, but rather the metalioid which, combining with a metal, makes it lose its shine and gives it an earthy or glassy appearance. Thus Pliny never uses vitium in connection with these many alloys for which he gives the formula, but he uses this word in his theory of the formation of certain oxides and certain silver salts*.

As for the word nota^ the passage from Florus does not indicate naturally that the Romans made an end of it technique for designing the liter. So that the reason- ment of our modern author was right, it would be necessary that the dipper's stone {lapis lydius coticula) had used by the ancients to recognize the liter of copper, gold this, being impossible, never happened; the stone of ladle could only ever be used for the gold alloys. Therefore, in the sentence of Florus, noted is not a technical term, it's a simple trope to design the quality of the metal, and that's why Mr. Nisard, Iraduisanl this sentence of the Epitome, has ecril: “The despair of such an opulent city produced uh a type of brass of superior quality*. » The proof that the word nota has no relation to the

1. Is cnim et ipse in argentum excoquitur. XXXIH, 40; Tbeopbrastus tra- dii inTentum minium a Gallia, initio sperante'^aurum posse excoqui arens rubenti., XXXUI, 37; ex lapide pyrite cremalo in caminis, donee excoqaatur in pubricam., XXXIV, 37; quum excoqaatur vena, aquae moda liquari ferrum, XXXIV, 41; Chal'.'itin vocant lapidcm, ex quo et ipso aes coquitur, XXXIV, 29.

2. Alteram purgantis se materiae, alteram purgatae vitium est. XXXIII, 35.

3. Floras, Nisard, II, 16,

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ladle stone and the liter of precious melaux, this is what we find in Columella: primese noted acevrimum acetum^^ of vinegar Ires fori of first quality; secundse notse me/*, honey from second quality; caseus gallicus vel cujuscumque notie*^ Gallic cheese or some other qua- lite.

The history of the word nota is very simple to do and it nVsl not difficult to show how this noun came to designate the quality of a thing. You- Speaking of a delicious wine, Horace tells us in one of his odes:

reclinatum bearis

Inter lore noted Falerni.

He still uses this same word in one of his satires:

ut Chio noted si commixfa Falerni est.

And all the classic book reviewers are very careful to write: a was put on the vases which con- held the wine, a Label {note) indicating the name consuls, that is to say the year in which he had been harvest; » which leads some Aleves to believe that falernus is a consular name. That these labels (or better these amphora stamps) have been some age certificates or certificates of origin, there are no results no less than the word note a first means a label, a brand. This last word did not

1. Extr,, 12, 17.

2. Id., 9, 15.

3. Id., 67.

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not for the rest, in French, all the meanings that noiaa in Latin. In commerce, the brand of a is not the commodity an index of its quality, and Didn't Bossuet use this word, figuratively, to designate the moral value of an individual? cc We pent barely count two or three men of note who have persevered in Tob^issance” (Var. 10); and in the pan^gyric of Saint Thomas of Canter- bury: “Not thinking that a good Christian brand could become masterful. »

Now, to come back to our question, what is the mark of a currency? Is it the liter of the metal or is it not rather the type which is represented on this currency? The same goes for the word nota. Let's take the first Latin-French dictionary: a Quicherat, for example; we will see that note literally means: “a sign, characters of writing, an inscription,” and, speaking of a currency: “lecoin, Tempreinle. » Forcellini, in his Lexicon says exactly the same thing: liem^ of signis quibus caduntur numi, “Nota designates again the types that are on the coins; » and the scholar Paduan ecclesiastic quotes these two sentences from Sue- tone: Positual staluas suas citharoedico habitu: qua nota etiam nummos percussit (Ner, 25). “11 placed there also statues in zither costume, and he made still mint coins on which he was represents it in the same way. » Numos omnis notie etiam veteres regios ac peregrinos {Aug. 75). “II distributed coins bearing all kinds of types; there were foreign ones and others who came back

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so much to the ancient kings. » From these examples we can yet add another sentence from Suetone that I have already cited in this Review and from which I then drew too general consequences that discoveries more recent ones have partly invalidated Tantam mox fiduciam fati Augustus habuit ut ihema suum seen/gaverii nummumque argenteum nota sideris capricorni quo natus est percusserit {Aug, 94). “Auguste soon had such confidence in his destiny that he published his horoscope and had a silver coin bearing the image of a capricorn, constellation under which he was born. »

Pliny, so curious about science and so knowledgeable about technical terms used in metallurgy and assembly nayage, gives the word nota the same meaning as Suetonius: Nota seris fut ex altera parte Janus ge mi- nus, e.r alterd rostrum navis; in three words and four drante rats (XXXIII, 13). Signatum est nota pecu- dum: unde et pecunia appellata {id, id,), This same word nota is still used by Pliny for the mon- naie d'argent: Notie argenti fuere bigse atque qua- drigfP: and india bigati quadrigatic dicti, has The corners of Silver (it was a biga or a quadriga from which the names of bigats and quadrigats given to the pieces. »

From all these quotations does it not result that the word note used as a technical term about a currency designates the type minted<5 on one or the other face and not, as they told you without any proof, the quality of the fine metal. If this were not so, how could we explain these verses from Tepitre aux Pisons:

1. Bef. num., 1888, p. 4.

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Licuit semperque Ucebit Signatum praesente notu producere nomen,

and what would this note mean that Mr. Aubertin has hashed Horace's page for instruction college students: Presently noted at the corner of Tannee, of present time. In Rome, the triumi>iri monetales^ annual magisterials, could change at their discretion, not the liter and the weight, but the imprint of the mon- naies*. »

By this note, of which it is useless to seek the provenance and origin, but which, very probably, is borrowed from the renowned scholar of Zurich, we let us see that the monetary triumvirs could, without be accused of crime, change the note of currency. Where does Aurelien's anger and despair come from? of Felicissimus and his coiners? It's that they had done more than change the corner. Victor uses, to designate their crime, the verb corro* dere which has a very precise meaning, but which we must explain since this word has been misinterpreted by the modern authors. Before giving birth to French words corroder, corrosive, etc., this verb had in Latin two meanings. Initially, he meant fie gnaw and it is in this sense that Cicero uses it telling us about the mice that ate him a work of Plato *; it is still with this meaning that the authors of the Vulgate use it when speaking grasshoppers*. But corrodere^ as noted

1. Oral. opera, dc collection, latius classics published by the bookstore, Belin; page 375, note 13.

2. Of Divine,, 27.

3. EtoJ., X, 5.

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Forcellini, is synonymous with rodo and e,redo which designate the action of attacking, slandering, calora- deny. This is not a forced synonymy since, in the lower Latinite, corrosor has arrived at desi- annoy a slanderer. Du Cange defines this word thus in his lexicon: Qui aliorum bona corrodere el irwadere nitiiur; and he quotes this sentence which shows that this word has a moral meaning rather than material. o Concession lali\ siquidem condilione ^ ul deinceps contra omnes corrosores sive quoslibtl cnlumniatoves terram illam monachis turetur. »

After this long discussion, we arrive at therefore translated the sentence of Wurelius Victor as follows: They changed the corner badly, the guy from the currency. » It’s time to see, now, if this translation tion does not disagree with Absolute Tablative of Eutrope: vitiatis pecuniis.

Vitium is a name with abstract meaning comrae odium, prwsagium^ mendacium\ In the most ancient texts of Latin literature, it is used to design an abstraction. In Cato, he means- fie a bad omen {id mihi non vitium facit) and, in Plautus, it has the meaning of insult [vitium alicui dicerey. We find this word again with these two meanings in Cicero, and by an inscription we see that the people continued for a long time call one day nefaste vitiosus dies. The verb vitiart

1. Cf. M. Breal, Iraduct. Frank, from the Gramm. compar. by Bopp. Paris, 1878, IV, 213; I 888 and 889. On the? abstract names in Sanskrit, Latin and gret?, formed by the suffix Ya.

2. Cf. this judgment of Mr. Al. Pierron [Uiit. of the liU, romanc): “Plaate pure Latin; that is to say that the terms, for him, are taken in the or the clearest and simplest disappointment, v

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means to insult, outrage, dishonor, defile, pro- fade. We therefore have two ways of translating Eutropius' sentence. According to Plautus and Cicdron, we let's say that the coiners had struck a offensive currency; according to Cato and Cicero, we translate that the coiners had desecrated the currency. These two meanings, attributed to Fabla- absolute tif, only confirm our interpretation from the text of Aurelius Victor

Issuing offensive currency or desecrating currency has, in short, the same significance for a Roman. Among the ancients, currency had, in itself, a religious character; in Rome, she was deified and The Mint House (was one of the temples of the Capi- sheet metal. This intrinsic character was, under the Empire, con- f\vm6 and increases by the presence of Teffigie imp6- ray hit on the right. Mr. Lenormant showed that “when any countermark has been affixed has an imperial currency, we took care to place it on the reverse side, respecting the side reserved for Teffigie; or when we have punched one on the right, we arranged to prevent her from obliterating the sacred representation of the features of Augustus *”. Being admitted this doubly sacred character of the currency, we understand that Eutrope could have said that the coiners had profaned the currency, to design an action that Aurelius Victor indicates in saying that they had badly changed the type, that is to say the legend or Teffigie engraved on this currency.

1. Monn. in rantiq., II, 3.9.

1891 — 2 9

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This explanation that I am giving is found in some a sort confirmed by the very expression of Eutrope. What kind of currency did this change involve? lying? Eutrope says it expressly: it is on the mon- bronze naie, pecunia, This term was used. in the third century, i.e. in the Period of Aurelian, has the special name extra currency as opposed to cash gold and silver*. » A contemporary of Eutrope and of Aurelius Victor, Lampride, says while praising Tecono- friend of Alexandre Severe: Scem'cis nunquam aurum, nunquam argentuni, vix pecuniam donavit. However, I do not don't see what profit a civil servant, of such a rank considerable as Felicissimus was, could have drawn by stealing either on the weight or on the title of the mounts bronze plates struck in the only workshop of Rome. If vitiare meant “to combine”, it would be a no meaning about bronze since the least expensive metal which enters into the composition of this alloy is the dominant metal, copper. In Europe, Tetain has always days had a value greater than that of copper: so today's classes (September 6) are London of 2453 fr. for the ton of tin and only ment of 1493 fr. for the ton of copper. At Home, The gap between the price of these two metals was still more considerable; At the time of Pliny Tetain coquitted ten pence per pound*, and the copper was not to return has more than two denarii, since then thirty-six aces in red copper (without alloy), weighing one pound weight, were commonly exchanged for two denarii and

1. Fr. Lenormunt, La Monn. in faniiq., I, 78.

2. Hist. /ifl/.,XXXIV,XLVni.

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quarter. The Romans used yet another copper alloy for coins, Torichalcum or yellow copper, the brass that we obtained by a mixture of copper and zinc. Like these pieces in orichalcum had, at equal weight, a com- double the price of pure copper parts, we can easily conclude that zinc, contrary to what we see today, cost more dear in Rome as copper. The lead remains, but I believe that the authors who looked at the presence of lead in bronze coins like a fraudulent alteration committed an anachronism, because, in Rome, lead cost at least three times more expensive than copper since Pliny tells us that, of At his time, lead was worth seven pence per pound. He is true that at the time of Aurelien the price of lead could will have dropped considerably and, in support of this, we could quote this passage from Vopiscus: Cavit ut siquis ivri plumbum misruisset^.

Let us admit that the gain produced by this fraud was caused not, as I believe, by the difference density difference of lead and copper, but by a continual depreciation of lead; let's admit even though the price of this metal was then, as it Test today, more than four times lower than that of copper. This objection, which only rests on a hypothesis, does not have much value, and by a example taken in the present, we will show that this fraud which, even committed on a small

1. Hello. nat., ib.

2. Tacitus, tmper.f IX.

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6 scale, could provide a profit of a few sesterces has a poor devil of a counterfeiter, was never able to provide Felicissimus with a sufficient profit considerable to bring him to foment a revoke and to stand at the head of a considerable army of seditious. The mint of Rome did not exist extra currency only for local needs, since a large number of provincial towns had their own workshops. We don't have no data on the production of this workshop Rome, but certainly he should not have issued annually a quantity of bronze equal to that which, nowadays, is issued every year by THdel these coins of Paris for the circulation of the entire France. However, for a period of five years, period equal to the duration of the reign of Aurélien, it was issued in France for a million francs of coins bronze* which, under the legal title, required 95,000 kilos of copper. Not having the accounts at my disposal of the French administration, I will take, as the price means of this copper, the London rate that I quoted just now, 1,493 fr. per ton. That same day, the lead cost in London 331 fr. per ton. If, think- During this five-year period, we had, at the Mint of Paris, replaces, in all the sub-issues, the nine tenths of copper by lead, we would have achieved for this five-year period a benefit total profit of 99,331 fr. Do we believe that a favorite, a steward of the imperial treasury, part of

1. From December 31, 1878 to December 31, 1883. Cf. Directory of the office of longil.y 1880, p. 198. and 1885, p. 320.

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Equestrian Fordre, risked his life, caused a most murderous civil war, massacred seven a thousand soldiers of the Emperor, to preserve annual- illicit profit which, at most, cannot will not reach fifteen or twenty thousand francs and which he still had to share with all his accomplices, and this in a town where you had seen a philosopher like Seneque cramming into four years of favor Three hundred million sesterces*?

The proof that the text of Eutrope must be taken at face value the letter and that these are only base currencies. point and not pieces of gold or silver, it is that Au- Relien, as Ta demonstrates Eckhel', withdrew from the Senate its ancient privilege of controlling emissions of bronzes and, so far, we can only cite one bronze of Aurelien bearing the acronyms S. C M. Momm- he even says that the S. C. letters are never seen on the coins of Aurelien; if it were so, it would not would not be Aurelien, but his predecessor who would have withdraw this right from the Senate*.

A revolution as serious as this war of coin changers who challenged thousands of people, was certainly not caused by the theft of a few tons of copper. It is true that Au- Link has left in history a reputation for severity. excessive rite, even cruelty; but I believe that a less superficial examination of the life of this emperor, would show that this defect has something to do with

1. Tacil. Ann. XIU, 42.

2. Doc. num., I, 79.

3. Cohen, Deacript. dea monn. of Vemp. rom., V, p. 130, n* 47.

4. Uiat. of the monn. rom. Ul, pp. 12 and 13.

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little discussed by his biographers. Aurelien, hand of iron^ ultimately has a well-known character and that we often found in armies. He's brutal, a lively man who shouts, loses his temper, gets carried away. He is ferox in the Latin sense of the word and this epithet con- comes even better when applied to horses carried away - Who does not know the end of these great angers when they smell usual in a man? The tenipete calmed, calm returned, we always regret days the orders we gave, the wishes we have fails. When the inhabitants of Tyana close their doors to him doors, Aurelien swears that he will not leave a dog living in the city: e C anem in hoc oppido non relin^ quam”. When the city is taken and the soldiers while denying the pillaging, Aurelien only authorizes slaughter of dogs: “Canem negavi in hoc urbe me re/ic/uram, canes omnes occidite, » Much more, he was sent by the Pythagorean Apollonius this prayer in Latin to be better understood his Pannonian soldiers: Aure/iane ^ if vis impe- rare, a cruore innocentium abstine! Aureliane ^ clement the age, if vis vincere^. The one who made acquit Zenobie by court martial, despite the insults that this queen had addressed to him; the one who forgave the people of Antioch; who, in pairs once, spared the Palmyrcnians, would have known how to avoid the massacres of Mount Celius if it had only been a question of punish a miserable prevaricator in love with illicit gains cites. Since, in short, it was only necessary to prevent the annual theft of around fifteen thousand copper francs,

1. Vopisc. Aur, XXII, XXIII, XXIV.

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I believe that Aurelien, rather than having him massacred seven thousand of his Pannonian compatriots, would have prefer to make an annuity for this Felicissimus, or even to give him the capital, after which he will disappear silently betray this unfaithful and confiscated official query his property. This policy, entirely oriental, was quite in the character of Aurélien who never showed very austere morals. When leaving for Syria, he vows to distribute crowns of two pounds if he comes back victorious. He takes Palmyra, seizes Z^nobia and its treasures, and, to act leave his imprudent vow, distributes gifts rings of white bread to the people who were waiting for golden rings *. We know the way in which he ended the reign of his competitor Tetricus: at Chalons-sur- Marne he uses this tactic which will succeed so well later to the winners of Tell-el-Kebir. If done, Aurelien acted with so much violence, if his adversaries ers have lost all hope of forgiveness is that the revoke of Felicissimus, the war of the coiners had a purely political character. As for the financial reforms, they only came later, they were the consequence and not the cause of this war, and nothing prevents us from believing that it is only to buy back, by means of the agio, all these insulting jokes, that he subsequently with the treasures taken from Palmyra, struck currencies of better quality than those which, for a long time For a long time, were at the disposal of the Roman people. Here is our conclusion: during the reign

1. Vopisc. Aur.. XXXV.

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AL. SORLIN DORICNT

of Aur6iien, the coiners, under the leadership of Felicissimus, provoked a war in Rome civil after having issued a seditious currency of same liter and same weight as all the others current currencies.

If, now, we want to go beyond this conclusion, if we are not satisfied, to use Pascal's expression, to con- basically conclude that this was, and if we try to know the springs, the motives of this revolution tion, it is less to launch us on the path of hypotheses that to show that a revoke caused by remission of a seditious currency it is not a inexplicable and irrational fact in the history of reign of Aurelian.

Already, under Gallienus, an aureus had appeared with the legend GALLIENAE AVGVSTAE'; but it is not very professional bable that such a thing was repeated under the reign of Aur^Iien, because this emperor did not have the effeminate character of his predecessor whose heart was stupefied by volupt^s, obstupefacto voluptatibus rope^. Moreover, the coins and satirical legends are, like certain pamphlets, intended to circulate under the coat and not to immediately bring a change in the government regime; these are most often anonymous works made for initiated and, if, by chance, one of these pieces falls knowledge of power, it is very difficult to understand find the Author all the more if necessary, this one

1. Cohen, Dcscr. monn. emp. rom. 2* id. Paris 1885, V, n* 1111,

2. Treb. PolUo. Gallieni duo, IX.

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here, if he is a powerful official, will always find way to blame it on some poor person subordinate.

Our fact has, without a doubt, a more significant general that remission of a currency purely satirical, since the Senate found itself involved and saw the secular control of radio emissions removed bronzes'.

In his History of the Romans, M. Duruy recounts in detail the wars that Aurlien had to endure hold against Tetricus, against Zenobia, etc. ; but he tells us nothing about the tense relationships that existed always between this prince and the Senate. The members of this assembly did not decide to designate Au- r^linkby Tepithete of (( escarpin”, carpisculus, and the thing was so little hidden that this emperor had acquaintance during his campaign in Syria and that he thought it necessary in a first movement of anger, send a message to the Senate beginning with these words: Superest ^ Patres Conscripti^ ut me etiam Carpisculuni vocetis. What were the consequences of imperial anger? Vopiscus does not say it, and we we do not know if, on this occasion, Aurelien deserved once again his popular nickname of Pceda- gogus senatorum^.

The emperor was not always satisfied, as the Roman people believed, to act as a pawn vis-a-vis senators; he was too often its executioner, and this man whom we saw clement enough to

1. Eckhel, Doct. num. I, 79; Mommsen, Uiat. monn. rom. Ill, 12 and 13.

2. Vopisc. Aur. XXXVU; XXX.

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AL. SORLIN DORIGNY

forgive the people of Antioch and Tyana, to have Z6nobie acquitted and then install her in a villa of Tibur, had the majority of

part of the senators: plerisk senatoribus ^ quo

facilius eos posset occidere *.

Between the Senate and the Emperor, there was always a dull but continuous struggle, and it is about this struggle that Vopiscus is the most obscure, the more enigmatic, and that he especially tries to to defend his hero, or even to reproach us feel like a necessary evil, necessarius magis as for bonus; it is about this struggle that while tdt the companion of J. Tiberianus tells us that Au- Relien was the gentlest of all men, sometimes that he tries to plead the mitigating circumstances by showing us that he was angry with his nature and that, without reasonable cause, he had killed his niece, that he had a soldier sentenced to death for having seduced his hostess, and a girl from the palace to having loved a slave too much. But what Vopiscus does doesn't tell us about Aurelien, he leaves it to us understand in the following by his biographies of Tacitus and Probus. In the margins of chapter XIII of the life of Probus, M. Naudet wrote this note on his copy of VHistoire Auguste: a Revolution in a republican sense. A similar movement during the advent of Emperor Tacitus. » And, in fact, we are witnessing, at this end of the century, a rebirth session of republican ideas. On the death of Aurelien, when Tacitus was proclaimed emperor, it was no longer

1. Vopisc. Aur. XXXIX.

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a master that the Senate gives itself is a delegate that he names, and he makes it clear in the letters official documents that he sends to the main cities: a We we regained the right to defer to the Empire, by name wed the prince. »

This awakening of the republican spirit had already began during the reign of the voluptuous and peaceful Gallienus. Later, when Claude died on the banks of the Danube, the Senate tried to make an emperor. In agreement with the people of Rome, he acclaimed Quin- tillus, hoping that this Augustus could curb the barbaric soldiery, but this prince could not oppose to be at the will of Tarme who had chosen Aurélien for emperor, and, after a reign of twenty days*, could even be seventeen*, he opened his veins. and the Senate had to bow before Telu of the legions of Pannonia. It is from this period that this bronze dates unique from Aur^lien bearing the acronyms S. C.

After the death of Quintillus, Aurelian came forward towards his capital, but, on the way, he was stopped by the Marcomanni who ravaged northern Italy. During the concentration of Roman troops, the barbarians rushed on the imperial army and he inflicted a defeat which almost annihilated the Empire Roman: Tanta apud Placentiam eludes accepta est ut Romanum pene solveretur imperium^.

At the news of this disaster, there was great panic. in Rome and the people rose up. During the reign

1. Vopisc. Aur. XXXVII.

2. Treb. Pollio, Diu, Claud, XII.

3. Vopisc. Aur, XXI,

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AL. 80RLIN DORIGNT

of Gallien, in a similar circumstance, the Senate had prescribed levies and armed the citizens. Under Aurélien, he perhaps did more, and who knows if he did not appoint an imperator to lead Ten- nemi enrolls citizens. This is a hypothesis, but we know what we can do in a capitate threatened when we learn of annihilation- ment of the army commanded by the emperor.

Vopiscus does not give us any details on this Fourth of September aborts; he does not tell us if this was then that this insulting currency was minted to Aurelian, nor if F^licissiraus, forgetting his appointment that he owed to the Pannonian emperor, formed a leaders of this popular movement; he tells us simply that the fear of the Marcomannis caused serious seditions in Rome: In illo aulem timorCy quo Marcomanni cuncta mstabant, ingentes Romse seditiones motes sunt. But, further, the Aurelien's panegyrist is forced to add that a Once the Marcomanni War was over, the Emperor who was naturally carried away, surrendered Rome mad with anger and eager to take revenge on these 6riots. After the leaders had been massacred created, the seditions were cruelly suppressed and some senators were put to death*

It should be noted that regarding these seditions which broke out during this first year of the reign

1. Yop. lb, — Fioito prselio Marcomannico, Aurelianus, at erat natara fcrocior, plenus irarum Romam petit, yindicts cupidas, qaam seditionum asperitas suggestebat: inciyilius denique usus imperio, yir alias optimus, seditionom autoribus interemptis, cruentius ea que mollius faerani curanda compescnit. Inter fecti sant enim nonnuli etiam nobiles senatores. .

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of Aur^lien, Vopiscus always uses the form plu- real and that he uses the same expressions, same turns of phrase that we encountered in the story of the war of the coiners, which most modern historians baselessly place in the third or fourth year of the reign of this emperor.

Al. Sorlin Dorigny.

Constantinople.

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D MONEY

FINDINGS IN THE MEROVINGIAN CEMETERY DHERPES,

PI. v.

The M^rovingian cemetery discovered by M. Phi- lippe Delaniain on the territory of the commune of Courbillac (Charente), at a place called Herpes, and which has book so many remarkable jewels, had until now brings to numismatics no new documents veal*. But Mr. Ph. Delamain, who had not undertaken these excavations only in the hope of discovering mon- naies antiques has just received the prize for his perseverance rancid. He found in the hand of a dead man eleven small silver coins soldered to each other by Toxidation, united in the shape of a roll and which, despite being very barbaric, are no less interested health.

These eleven small pieces escape a description detailed tion (^e. The most salient character is Textreme slimming of the flan. The legends are reduced

1. See a letter from Mr. Ph. Delamain to Mr. Alexandre Bertrand, in the Het^ue archiologiqite^ July-August, 1889, p. 162. See also: Ph. Delamain, The Medrovingian cemetery of Herpes, in Revue de Saintonge et d'Attnit, 1890, p. 373.

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has a series of vertical lines; on several of they can be distinguished one or two 0s in the exergue (pi. V, n*** 12 and 14), on another, two M in the legend on the reverse (pi. V, n*" 14). On the right, a diademed bust occupies the field; the imperial type is quite good preserves; however, the currency listed under No. 13 presents a diademed bust whose drapery affects a trapezoidal shape specific to the busts of mon- Merovingian lands; on another (pi. V, n® 15), The shoulder is decorated with a cross. Nine of these mon- naies have as type on the reverse a character turned- turning the head to the left, approached by two vertical lines perils, broken halfway up by a ring projecting from the exterior (pi. V, n® 12). Two more pieces (pi. V, n"** 14 and 15) offer a variety of this type; the character on the reverse appears to turn his head right; moreover, we notice above T^shoulder right a small horizontal line with two pendants. These coins weigh: 0 gr. 380; 0.290; 0.277; 0.270; 0.260; 0.250; 0.225; 0.210, 2 copies; 0.200. Parisian numismatists will have to freedom of M. Ph. Delamain to be able to study them at your leisure, the two pieces shown under numbers 12 and 14 having been given by him to the Bible. national.

It is impossible not to be struck by the analogy which exists between these currencies and those which have it6 found in the cemeteries of Eprave (province of Namur) and to which Mr. Cumont recently devoted ment a study in the Revue Belge\ But, while

1. G. Cumont, Frankish coins found in Frankish cemeteries tTEprafe, in Re fue beige de numismalique, 1890, p. 212.

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Mr. PROU

that, on the pieces of Eprave, we can find the meaning of the alter^es legends, and that on Tune of them the noni of Valentitiianus is readable, on the pieces of Herpes, on the contrary, the legends are simply simulations. Additionally, the reverse type is not not the same.

Mr. Cumont has perfectly established that the barbarians which struck^ the coins of Eprave imitated a reverse analogous to that which presents itself common- ment on Roman coins of the 5th century: Rome helmet, seated on a breastplate, holding hands right a globe surmounted by a victory, and the left hand an inverted spear. The currencies d'Eprave show us Rome sitting not on a breastplate but on a folding seat, holding a cross long shaft instead of a spear. Assign these modifications to barbarian artists would be too much to their imagination. It is obvious that they had under the eyes, as your remarkMr. Cumont, a prototype which has not been found until now.

The prototype of the reverse of the Herpes coins is different. It's Rome in helmet, seated on a throne backrest, turning the head to the left, holding in the right hand a globe, and in the left a pole. This personification of Rome appears at the end of the 4th century on the miliar ease of Gratien, with the legend Virtus Romanorum; the amounts of the throne feel perils; two globules or two ringlets mark the attachment points of the seat to the uprights. This guy is still serious on the silver coins of Valenti- nien, by Theodosius, with the legends Concordia Augustorum et Virtus Romanorum^ of Maximus, of

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137

Flavius Victor, from Honorius, with the legend Gloria Ronianorum (pi. V, n** 9), and finally of S^bastien.

Mr. Cuniont presented a small piece of silver, this type, preserved in the Cabinet of Medals of Mar- saddle; we read the name of Honorius, the legend Gloria Romanorum, slightly altered, and the mark of Ravenna tatter; the rather mediocre style and the very low weight, 0.400, must make it considered like a barbaric imitation; it is appropriate to rap- close to the coins found in Herpes. However the figure on the reverse is still close to the prototype; she moves away from it on a silver coin that has been made meet Mr. Esperandieu. 11 is a piece with name of Anthemius, found in Poitiers by the R. P. of the Cross, described and figured in the Hei^ue nuniisma- tick^^ but so inaccurately that it is essential to give a new drawing (pi. V, n" 10). The weight is 0 gr. 48. We will notice Texergue on the reverse CONOB registration which has no meaning on a part of money and which clearly shows that we are not not in the presence of an imperial workshop product.

In the same style as Anthemius's piece is that that Mr. Baron de Baye found in the cemetery from Bergeres-les-Veitus (Marne)*, and from which we not the drawing under n** 11 of the pi. V. 11 seems that the legend of law is a distortion of the name by Valentinian. On the reverse we read GLORIA ROMA-

1. Year 1888, p. 474.

2. Baron J. de Baye, Cemetery of Bergires-lea-Verius [Marne), Arcis-sur- Dawn, 1890, in-8*. (Eztrait from the Revue de Champagne et de Brie.) I address my most sincere thanks to Mr. Baron de Baye, who kindly m*aulorize ix. publish this piece.

1891 — 3 10

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138 M. PROU

NORVM and, in Texergue, CONOB. This piece is 0 gr. 27.

Mr. Cumont has rightly brought currencies together d'Eprave some barbaric silver coins, on the thin, some found in Merio cemeteries Vingians and published in different works, the others preserved in the British Museum and the Cabi- net from France, but whose provenance is unknown. I can add other currencies of the same type.

Those which are shown under numbers 2 to 7 of the ft. They were found in the Villedo cemetery. ate, near Reims ^ Nos. 2 to 6 are quite in the same style as the Eprave pieces. Numbers 2 and 5 weigh 0.350; No. 4, 0.320; No. 6, 0.250; I don't know the weight of n** 3. As for the coin n** 7, which made part of the Amecourt collection, it is today today at the Cabinet of France*. The reverse comes from a currency where Rome was represented, no longer with a Victory, but with a cruciger globe in the right hand.

It is again seated Rome which adorns the reverse of a coin in the name of Anastasius, weighing 0 gr. 450, (ft. V, n** 8), given by Mr. Benjamin Fillon to the Cabinet of France, in 1879, with two other currencies, the n*"* 17 and 18 of our plate, and several jewels Merovingians, all objects coming from the same find.

1. I owe the knowledge of this to Mr. Moxe Wcrly, who, thanks to his liberality, he gave me the exact drawings he had failed. Jc addresses mea to him most sincere thanks.

2. Prou, Summary inventory of mirov coins, of the eoU. d^Amdeourt, No. 1086.

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139

The name of Emperor Anastasius also occurs without any alteration on room no. 16 of pi. V, found in Villedomange, but the type on the reverse is different. It's a Victory in profile, standing, tower- cee to the right, holding a palm in the left hand, and on the right a crown.

We find the same type, more coarse- ment drawn, on the two coins n*"* 17 and 18 the origin of which we indicated above. Nos. 16, 17, and 18 weigh 0.300 respectively, 0.251 and 0.110. These last two weighings did not no importance since they apply to heavily cankered pieces.

Finally the two currencies designed under the n*** 19 and 20 belong to the Villedomange find. •It seems that the name of the emperor is written on the right, soil, at least on n"* 19, a deformation of D N VALENTINIANVS P F. On the reverse, a Victory, standing, in profile, left, holding a cross long shaft. This guy doesn't have etc., as far as I know, reported so far on Roman silver coins; it is specific to Tor. The currency n*^ 19 weighs 0.250, and the last, 0.270.

To what period should we refer the manufacture of the species that we have described. First of all, he should be distinguished between those or the name of The Emperor is very readable and easy to understand where he is misunderstood. birthable. The first, in the names of Honorius, of Theodosius, Valentinian, Anthemius and Anastasius, came out of barbarian workshops. The incorrectness of figures and legends leave no room on this point

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k no doubt. But are they contemporary with emperors whose names they bear, or, at the very least, less later? In other words, it appears do they relate to the century and the first years of 6th century, or during the Merovingian period? He is difficult to answer this question with complete certainty. study. If your ad says that they are pseudo-Romans, their attribution to the century is not necessary. In effect, the coins of the century and even those of the Haut- Empire still existed in the 6th and 7th centuries; at least, the burials of this period have some provided a very large number; they were therefore able to used as models in the Merovin workshops- giens. In favor of this opinion, one could invoke about two pieces of silver discovered in a Merovingian tomb, in Arcy Sainte-Restitue, by M. Frederic Moreau and studied by M. A. de Barthe- lemy*. They present to the law the name of Honorius very clearly serious; however the shape of the cross anchor which adorns the reverse must make them carry forward more early towards the (in the Merovingian period that in the beginning. On the other hand, silver coins, of which we seek to determine the date, have, in despite the alterations of the legends and the barbaric figures, a very Roman appearance. They are not very far from their prototypes. Also we are All are inclined to consider them as dating back to the end of the 5th century or at the beginning of the 6th century. If your consider that all of these currencies

1. Notice in the Bulletin de la SocUli des Antiquaires de France^ 1878, p. 151.

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whose origin can be seen were found in Gaul, we will not hesitate to give them to one of the barbarian peoples established in Gaul at the end of the 5th century, the Franks, the Burgundians or the Visigoths, and rather to the first than to the other two. The reason is which must certainly be brought into the world M^rovingian watering, as we will see later, the coins found at Herpes and which are the degen- n^rescence of coins where the name of the emperor is still legible, like those of Honorius and Anthe- more cited above. All these pieces therefore form a continuous series, belonging to periods various of the same art. This is not to say that the Burgundians and the Visigoths were unable to issue pieces of the kind we are studying, but they have ten to have the particular character that these peoples gave their imitations currency Roman. Here, for example, is the drawing of a piece silver (pi. V, n® 1), in the name of Honorius, on flan thin, which we regard as Visigothic. EUe belongs to the Cabinet of France.

The eleven coins of Herpes, whose legends are simulated, are easier to date. On one of them (pi. V, n** 15), in fact, the imperial bust is decorated with a cross; however, the cross thus placed appears for the first first time on Anastasius's thirds of a penny (491-513); this piece cannot therefore be earlier than the 6th century. Although there are between the eleven pieces that we study- let's say some differences in style, their factory is k approximately the same, and those which are the least bar- These bars cannot be much earlier than those

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Mr. PROC

who are the most. If we compare these currencies to the play of Anthemius (pI. V, n* 10), which itself can (later at the earliest of 467 and which presents to the reverer the same type of seated Rome, we will see that they are much more barbaric than the figure on the reverse is almost unrecognizable, and we will be led to bring down its manufacturing at least to middle of the 6th century*, consequently we see a product of the franc coinage in Gaul, in a word, to classify them among Merovingian coins. They also have their stylistic analogies with the pieces of this series. This is how the head of one of the pieces drawn nees on the pi. V, under n** 13, presents the puff- sure which characterizes the heads engraved on the thirds of penny of Besancon.

It remains for us to determine the nature of these pieces. The fact that all those whose origin we know nance were discovered in burials, for- would bring to mind essentially funerary pieces- rare, manufactured expressly to be locked up in the tombs, something like the Greek danaches. We will not stop at this hypothesis, because the currencies that we encounter more often with corpses from the 6th and 7th centuries are Roman coins of good quality and especially bronzes. They are often placed in a leather purse, or in the mouth of the dead, rare- lies in his hand*. Other times they are pierced

1. I will add that the most recent Roman coinage is found in burials of Herpes was a coin of Justinian. (Delamain, Revue it Sauk* tonge, p. 380.)

2. On the coins troar^es in the hands of the dead, Toyez Cochet, Le tom- beau de Chiid^ric, p. 428. In one of the tombs of the cemetery of ToorTille-Ia*

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143

and serve as amulets or eloquence. Thepseudo- Roman arches of the type provided by the Tiers of Eprave and Herpes are very exceptional. The list of finds which were made would not be not long to prepare. Of six hundred tombs explored by Mr. Delamain, only one provided him with the parts that we publish. It would be quite different if we were dealing with funeral barks. This does not nor are they ornaments in the hand of one dead. Could these be talismans, like M. A. of Barth^lemy thought so of the pieces of Arcy Sainte-Res- titue? This is a point on which it would be difficult to pronounce.

For my part, I prefer to see real monetary species. Don't object Textreme thinning of the blanks which means that the pressure of the fingers would be enough to break them. Parts not eaten away by Oxidation resists quite well. Furthermore, Mr. Cumont has already answered that quantity of funds of the means age are neither thicker nor more solid.

Rather than looking for divisions of a denier imaginary frank like Tont does Thomas* and Petit- gny*, for similar pieces, it seems more rational nel to link them to the Roman monetary system adopted by the barbarians after their establishment on the territory of the Empire. However, it is enough to browse

Riviere, a dead man held in his hand three coins of Gailien, of Claude the Gothic and Constantine the Younger. See Cochet, Arch6oL Directory of d^p, from Seine'Infirieure^ p. 331.

1. Thomas, Description of five French coins found in the cintetiire merov. d’Envermeu.

2. P6tigiiy, Report of Thomas's memoir, in Revue numisma' tick, 1855, p. 65.

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laugh at the boxes of a somewhat rich medalist for find a series of roniaine silver coins from \^ century of the same module as the pseudo-coins Roman works of Honorius, Theodosius, Valentinian, of Anth^mius and Anastasius. We will cite as example the coin of llonorius figur^e pi. V, n** 9. These Roman coins, it is true, have a heavier weight high, between I gr. 04 and 1 gr. 25, while the heaviest of the coins published by M. Cumont, that in the name of Theodosius preserved in the British Museum tannic, weighs only 0.907. The lightest among the barbaric pieces where the name of the emperor is not still disfigured^ is that of Anastasius found in Ville- domange and whose weight drops to 0.30. Get away quite considerable between the pseudo-Romans and the silver roman coins of the same module must not stop us in our assimilation. The bar parts- bars are always of less weight than the Romans. Furthermore, in the fifth and sixth centuries, we notice very large differences in weight between the various copies of the same piece, also well con- both served and left impervious workshops rials. Also, for most of the payments we had recourse to the scales, the imperial effigy engraved on the silver coins guaranteeing only the title of the metal and not weight. As for determining the name that the Romans gave to the silver coin of which we have had an example drawn (pi. V, n* 9), This is what we have not been able to achieve. It's a fraction of the miliarense^ but which one? We don't know let's laugh and say it.

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The style of the coins found at Herpes made us place remission in the middle of the 6th century. This hypothesis finds confirmation in the module and the weight of these pieces. We know a pretty big number of silver coins of the same minted module pees under Justinian; they are siliques. Pinder and Friedlander cite one* which weighs 0.90, and it is whose weight drops to 0.68*. Like the weight of Herpes coins is between 0.380 and 0.200, it is likely that these are half siliques.

The study of the eleven coins discovered by M. Ph. Delamain in a grave in the Herpes cemetery therefore leads us to this conclusion that there were the 6th century, in countries subject to domination Merovingian, a silver coinage, which had as a starting point, just like the coinage of Goths and Vandals, counterfeiting of coins contemporary Romans.

Maurice Prou.

1. Pinder and Friedlender, Die Munzen Jittiiniana, p. 27.

2. Mommsen, History of Roman Coinage, trans. Blacas, t. IV, p. 108^ n* 9.

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SUB

THE CURRENCY OF

SUEVES

PI. VI and VIL

The lack of historical documents and the very small number of Swedish coins known until present, can hardly allow more than a simple overview of the numismatics of the Su^ves: it is not otherwise than we present this study*.

The triens we are going to take care of have all

1. The coins of the Sueyes of Spain have never ceased to occupy the numismatists from both sides of the Pyrenees. From 1759, Dom Luis Joseph Velaxquez published his Congeiuras tobre lut medaltat de los Reyes Suepo$, "Interesting study" but which does not reveal any currency capable of attribute with certainty k One of these princes. Eckhel and Lelewel described both, later, the first, in his Doctrina numorum t^terum, the second, in his Numiamatics of the Middle Ages, a unique urgent piece of Ricchiairc, acquired at the Gossclin yente by the Cabinet of medals of the National Library. MM. Allen and Teizeira, from Oporto, enrolled, in 1865, in the French Numismatic Review, a notice which made known, poor For the first time, the golden spies of the Su6yes. The Count of Salis, in 1867 and 1868, prepared on the same subject, an in-depth study that Tern death failed to buy, but traces of which exist, in the classification of mon> births of barbarian peoples, at the British Museum. Dr. Pedro Augusto Dius, in the catalog of coins by D. Eduardo Luix Ferreira, who r^i- gea in 1877. describes seven trien sueyes, five of which offer independent legends^ quantifiable. The following year, Mr. C.-F. Keary appeared in the Ntimismaiic chronicle, under the title of The Coinage of Western Europe, a series of articles be4 noticed. The author's incontestable competence makes us regret that it is not due to any damage to the coinage of the Sneves,

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147

was collected in Portugal; we do not encounter any similar in no other part of the Peninsula Iberian, nor on this side of the Pyrenees. they cannot therefore having been issued only by one of the German nations* potholders who occupied Galicia and Lusitania at or at the end of our century, that is to say by the Sufeves, by the Alans, by the Vandals or by the Visigoths*. But these last three peoples must be eliminated.

In fact, the Alans disappeared in 418 before the reign of Valentinian 111, and our three are in the name and has the effigy of this emperor*. The Vandals abandoned gave Spain in 429 when Valentinian III

1. After crossing the Pyrenees, in October 409 (Idace, October 13, 409, Isidore of Seville): (Aera 409 AD, Suevorum Historia, Migne, g 85) and damaged Spain for two consecutive years, rolling back had the Roman garrisons as far as the Tarraconaise, the Sueves included mandds by Hermanric, the Alans by Respandial and the Vandals by Gode- gisclc, sc carried the other provinces of Spain. The Sueves and the Vandals established themselves in Galicia; Ics Silinges, a branch of the Vandals, settled in Betica and the Alans in Lusitania and Carthaginian. (Galliciam enim Vandali and Snevi occupying. Alani, Lusitaniani el Carthag^- niensem proyinciam Vandali, cog^omine selingui. id., ibid., 73.)

2. In 418, the Alans and the Silinges, definitively deposed by Walia, king of the Visigoths, stipendiary of the Romans, took refuge in Galicia after of Gonderic who had succeeded his father Godegisele seven years ago. The Alans had lost their kingdom and seen Alax, their second and last, perish. king, in a bloody battle where most of the Silinges had been killed, (Wandalos Selingos in Betica omnes beautiful exslinsit. Alanos, who Vandalis and Suevis potantabentur, adeo cocidité, ut exlincto Atace rcge ipsorum, pauci qui snperfnerant, oblito regni nomine, Guinderici regis Vandalorum qui in Gal- liciam rcsederat, de regimini subjugarent. Id,, ibid. 22.)

3. In 419, after the death of Walia, Gonderic, driven out of Galicia by the Snhyes (Cf. Gr^goire de Tours, Hisl. Fr., II, 2; Idace, ^d. Sirmond, p. 22; Isidore of Seville, § 73, and Marcus, History of the Vandals, p. 110 and 111), abandons this province, and, sniviing all its Vandals and what remained of the Alans, made a second irruption into B^tique, seized it, and during ten years, without the Roman armies being able to prevent it, ravaged the three quarters of Spain, the neighboring islands as well as the coasts of Mauritania. (Isidore of Seville, § 73; following Idace, p. 22, they plundered the coasts of the

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had barely reached his tenth year, while, on several of our currencies including a typical luSme particular shows the same origin, the emperor is represent^ much older. As for the Visigoths, it does not seem that they struck any three Spain before the disappearance of the Sufeves kingdom and, in any case, as we have demonstrated in a previous work*, not before the reign of Justinian I•^

It is therefore beyond doubt that the thirds of a penny that we are going to describe and study, cannot belong than to the Suevi established in Spain.

The chronological and geographical classification of Swedish currencies present serious difficulties. The entire series of Swedish kings is not known; he there is a gap of 82 years, if not more*, on the 175 years that the domination of the Sueves lasted in Spain; moreover, ancient authors, even

Maurilania, landing in the Balearic Islands and returning until then Corsica.) In 427, Gonderic was assassinated by his brother Gensric; the latter, year month of king 429 (in 428, following Isid. de S^Tille; Idace who lived in Spain and was a witness to these events Lear assigns Tannic 429. Cf. Marcus, p. 24, chap. IV. For the number of emigrants, see Victor, of Vita, 1, I; and Procopius, Vandal., I, 5), leaves Spain for forever, bringing with him 80,000 barbarians, with whom he passed to Africa.

1. A. Heiss, General description of witigolhet currencies, p. 24. Paris, print nat. 1872.

2. Although Sidoine ApoUinaire, Idace, Procopius, Cassiodorus, JeandeBidara, Saint Gregory of Tours, Isidore of Seyille, and many others have taught us valuable information on the invasions of the barbarians in the West of Europe, there is nonetheless a gap of 82 years, if not more, out the 175 years of the Sueyes monarchy in Spain. The chronicle of Idace ends in 468, at the death of the king Su^ye Remismond; Isidore of Seville passes without transition from Remismond to King Th^odemir, of whom he places the accession in 559. (From 458 & 559, following Isidore de Stfyille, who passes under silence Carriaric; the latter, according to Gr^g. of Tours, would reign over the Sn^yes of 550 h 559.)

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149

coDtemporaries, do not all agree on the dates of the events nor on the duration of the reigns of which they speak*. Finally, the Sufeves, comnie all the other barbarians only uttered monstrances naies copied from those of the emperors, the kings bar- Bares only wrote their names on the species of silver, only Tore received the imperial effigy; this was not only a sign of subordination to imperial power that they acted like this, but still with the aim of facilitating the circulation of their numbers raire: the trade of the whole world does not accept for several centuries since Tor struck at the 6ler- new figures of the C6sars*”.

The first surviving broadcasts were modeled on triens of Honorius. Under the reign of his successor cessor, the Su^ves modified the type of reverses imperial; they transformed it, on their species, into another very characteristic type, which can be call their national type, they hit their pre- mines and their last coins in Bracara, in Galicia, which they conquered in 409' and which they per- said with their nationality in 584 *. After having

1. Idace places in 441 the dick* of the first king of Salves; Isidore nine years old plus 161. {Suevorum kUloria,^ 90*91-92.) Isidore had a king killed in 449 SQ^ye that he shows us losing a battle in 453. (Idatius, v. 17. Isid. of S^r., Suiv., 231, 12, ^d. Yulcanus. but correct. ^d. Mignc.) Jornandes aert, to repel the Vandals in 427, of a Visigoth king who had since died 419. (Is. Suiv, 232, 12, ^d. Yulcanus, but rectif, ^d. Migne.) (a Nam duode- cimo anno regni Yalise... eo tempore, quo Hierius et Ardaburius consules czistissent (they were consuls in 527 and Yalia had succeeded Sigcric in 416), but Walia... « anno imperii Honori xxv Rege Walia defunclo, etc. » (Is. of S4v., HUt, of Beg. Goth., § 23), the 25th year of the reign of Honorius ascends the throne in 395, is 419 or 420.

2. Cf. Procopc, Beil. Goth., Ill, 33.

3. Yoir p. 147 note 1.

4. See p. 161 note 1.

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annexed Lusitania to the Kingdom of the Sweden, their second king, Ricchila, transported around 430, the siege of the government at Em6rita * and founded a workshop there money. Lusitania having been taken back from the Sufeves, towards the end of 456, by the Visigoths, and the kingdom of the Suvs reduced again to Galicia and the Asturias, the making of coins in this province had to resume its former activity.

Based on the above, we propose to classify the following currencies in three sequences:

First Galician broadcasts, from 411:456; Lusitanian emissions, from 430 to 457; Last Galician issues, from 457 to 484.

I. FIRST GVLICIAN EMISSIONS

1. (DNi HNORIVS P F AVG. Bust diadem6, right. Equilateral cross in a double crown;

in Texergue, between the lemniscus: CON-

Now, triens. (Communicated by the Count of Salis.)

2. DN PLA VALENTINIANVS PC Tiara bust Valentinian III young, on the right.

Equilateral cross in a double crown

1. The mass migration of the Vandals (see p. 143, note 1) did not make For the Romans, the provinces abandoned by these barbarics. The Sueves s*cm- parent of the entire Detinue and part of the Carthaginian; their king Ricchila, son of Hermanric, then annexed Lusitania and, from then on, even of his father, transferred the seat of government to Emerita where he died in 4'i8. (Hcrmericus... morbo oppressus... Recchilianem filium suum in regnum subslittiit qui cum magna parte exercitus missus, Andevotum Romanae mili- tieduccm cum multis copiis ad singilum Beticse provincis fluvium {Le Jenifj, inito bello, prostavit, magnis ejus auri argcntique copiis occupatio. Indc Emcritam obsessam inercditur, atque obtainlam propria regno associat... atque ind6 Emerita... vitam finivit Isidore of Seville, g 85.)

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with lemniscus at the top and bottom; in Texergue: CONOB.

Now, triens. (Communicated by the Count of Salis.)

3. DN PLA VALENTIANV. Same bust.

I)f. Equilateral cross in a double crown, the upper and lower lemniscus are united by two beaded arcs of a circle; a Texergue: OD-

Now, triens. (Communicated by the Count of Salis.)

4. Dl N VINTIVITANVS AVG Same bust.

9'. Like the previous one, but the lemniscus are transform^s into a straight line; k the exergue: CONOB. Now, triens. (Communicated by the Count of Salis.)

5. D VALENTIINV AVG. Same bust. ^f. Like the previous one.

Now, triens. (Communicated by the Count of Salis.)

6. D VALENTANYNVS PC. Same bust. ^T. Like the previous one.

Now, triens. (Communicated by the Count of Salis.)

To the Galician suite belong the trieps n*' 1, with the effigy and in the name of Honorius, and the trians n"' 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, a Teffigy of Valentinian III.

The type of reverses n*** 4, 5 and 6 is the one that we let us call the national type of the Sueves; it indicates their autonomic: it comes from n** 3, modification of n" 2 whose prototype is len" 1.

Of these six triens the emperor is represented very young; this is why we believe we can attract buer remission to the first king of the Sueves of Spain, Hermanric, who died in 441, when Valenti- Nien 111 was 22 years old.

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7. DN VALENTINANVS VIC. Tiara bust of Valeu- tinicn III, on the right, holding the map,

^i'. Like that of No. 6; in Texergue: 80N03- Now, triens. (Communicated by the Count of Salis.)

8. Type and legend of No. 7.

^\ Same type as the previous one, but with a double lemniscus at the top, and at the exergue: CONOB-

Now, triens. (Communicated by D. Jos6 Alves Car- neiro.

9. DM VALENTINANVS PC. Same bust.

!>'. Similar to the previous one; on the right, the A mark; in Fexergue, CONOB-

Now, triens. (Communicated by D. Eduardo Luis Ferreira Carmo.)

10. DN VALENTINANVS (P) C. Same bust.

ly. Similar to the previous one, without the A mark; has Texergue: CONOB.

Now, triens. (Communicated by D. Jose Alves Car- neiro.)

Triens 7, 8, 9 and 10 are distinguished from the preceding teeth by the map that the emperor holds in his hand right, and by the older appearance of the impregnated figures riales, from which we conclude that, without moving away much of the truth, we can attribute these latter ni^r coins, obvious copy of the gold pennies of Valcntinien 111 of Roman corner, grave on the board under the letters A-A, to Hermanric's son, Ricchila, who first governed the Sufeves for seven years, from 434 to 441, under the name of his sick father, then as king, from 441 ^ 448.

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H. DN HONORIVS PF AVG. Diad^ra^ bust of Hono- rius, h right.

J^. IVSSV RICHIARI REGES {sic). In a double crown, a long cross flanked by the letters B-R; i Texergue, between the lemniscus, a palmette *.

Ar. (National Library, Cabinet of medals.)

It is also in the first series of broadcasts Galician that it is necessary to put away number 11, the only mon- there is no more silver than you know. Getle pifece, unique until now, and whose authenticity has not never been contested, was issued approximately thirty years ago after the death of Emperor Honorius, in the name from which it was struck by order of King Ricchiaire who succeeded his father Ricchila in 448 and died in 457. Despite the correction of the legend on the reverse, the design, style and craftsmanship of this rare coin have a truly Italian character *, that one is forced to admit that it is the work of a coiner who came from Italy; and in any case, the letters B-R which dock the cross on the reverse prove in an irrecoverable manner sand that the Bracara workshop was in activity at this time era.

II. LUSITANIAN EMISSIONS

12. LATINA EMERIMVNITA. Imperial bust, k right. IJ. The sueve national type; a Texergue: lOMIOD. Now, triens. (Communicated by D. Luiz Jose Ferreira.)

I. The palmette is often associated with the monetary indices of Rome, cf. /. and L, Sabatiefy production of gold, silver and copper among the ancients and Monetary hotels of the Roman and Byzantine Empire (Saint Petersburg, 1850).

2. Eckhcl thought that this silver currency could have been issued by a chief bearing the name of Ricchiaire and who, prior to the domination of 1891. — 4 11

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13. UTINA MVNITA BENE. Imperial bust, & right. 9'. Like the previous one; a Texergue: OINO.

Now, triens. (Communicated by the Count of Salis.)

14. UTINA MTl NIV. Same bust.

]^. Same type; at the top, four globules; in the field, right: I; Fexergue: OHIO- Now, triens. (Communicated by the Count of Salis.)

15. (L) ATINAEMERI ftNITA. Same bust.

]^*. Same type, top, IMV; i Fexergue, INV (?) Or, triens (Communicated by D. Eduardo Luiz Ferreira Carmo.)

16. (rude legend). Same bust.

Same type; in field one, L reversed^; has Fexergue OHO.

Now, triens. (Communicated by D. Luiz Jose Ferreira.)

17. LATINAIMERI MVNITA. Same bust.

9^. Same type; at the top, a star; in the field, a Rreverse; Fexergue, OHO-

Now, triens. (Communicated by D. Eduardo Luiz Ferreira Carmo.)

18. UTIIA IMERI MIONIT. Same bust.

^f. Same type; at the top, an A or rather a Vren- pours; a Fexergue, DNIC.

Now, triens. (Communicated by D. Jose Alves Cor- neiro.)

19. LATINA MVNITA 90TII. Same bust.

Su^TCS in Spain, aare.he obtained during the time of Honorias the command of a part, if not of an entire country occupied by the barbarians" but this hypotb^se nc actually rests on no historical fact, it nevertheless proves while the J^suite scholar had been struck by anomalies which seemed to him It is necessary to exclude this piece of Galician coinage.

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J^. Same type; a Fexergue: lOMIOD. Now, triens. (Communicated by D. Jos6 Alves Car- neiro.)

The serious triens under n"** 12 to 19 are part Lusitanian Broadcasts. The horn and the titles of the emperor were replaced by one of the three Following captions: LATINA EMERI MVNITA. LATINA MVNITA BENE. LATINA MVNITA GOTII.

The first of these 16 captions should read: “Latina Emerita moneta, » Munita for Moneta can be seen on a large number of Merovingian coins. As for the use of TE in place of Tl, we see it against also on the Visigothic Trians; we read there: EMERITA> EMERETA; IMINIO. EMINIO. etc.

The triens n** 13 with the 16 legend: Latina munita BENE for Latina moneta bene, does not bear the name of Emerita, but its style and its workmanship indicate enough that it leaves the nth monetary workshop than n** 12.

The first two words of the legend of triens n" 19 should read LATINA MONETA. The letter that begins the last word is a Gsueve, identical ^u G de tf Reges” which is read on the reverse of n* 11; the G su^ve is also one of the quite numerous forms from G Merovingian. According to M. Deloche, who examined mine with us this triens, the letter which comes after the G is an O and the next group is a T followed by dc two Hs or one H, so that the legend of n** 19 ^ would explain by Inline currency of the Goths \ what would prove that after the defeat and tragic death of Ricchiaire, the Visigoths, become masters 4 Ejiie-