In 2009, in the village of Wysoczany, Sanok district, Podkarpackie voivodeship, a silver coin was accidentally found. This coin is a tetradrachm. It has irregular oval shape and is plano-convex. It is not well preserved, i.e. it has poorly legible depictions on both sides, which significantly impedes its typological classification, and thus its precise dating. The dimensions of the coin are: 27.5 × 28.5 mm and its weight is: 11.83 g (after conservation works). In the case of the described here coin there are no clear analogies and, therefore, there is no certainty to what type it should be attributed. This paper attempts to analyse a few of the existing possibilities. One of the taken into consideration is the south-eastern direction, i.e. Geto-Dacian mintage or Celtic Geto-Dacian one. Some similarities can be found in the following types: Agriş A — Şilindia, Ramna, and also in the category referred to as “the other types” according to the typology by C. Preda. The other possible direction is the central Celtic mintage associated with Boii. However, none of the examples presented in this paper is a close analogy to the coin from Wysoczany. Therefore, its typological attribution as well as its dating remain to be an open question.

The article describes early medieval (10th–11th c.) coins from the collection of the Ossolinski National Institute. There are about 400 coins from this period, originate from Poland and other countries. Part of them come from hoards or archaeological excavations carried out on settlements or grave fields, other coins come from the old collections of Ossolineum in Lviv, and some from donations or various purchases. In the Ossolineum there are fragments of six early medieval hoards, containing coins, silver ornaments and fragments of silver clumps.

This article presents discoveries of new types of coins that can be assigned to the oldest Polish coinage. In case of the PRINCES POLONIE die-chain, it was possible to identify one new die, in an extremely barbaric style, which once again shows that there is no uniform style to the oldest Polish coins and that there was chaos in Bolesław I the Brave’s coinage. In the case of the second – .VIDV die-chain as many as seven new dies have been revealed. Detailed analysis shows that the coins produced with these dies were not necessarily produced at the same time, and that production could have lasted up to several years. The newly revealed dies do not solve the problem of the attribution of denarii with the .VIDV inscription, but their ascription to the coinage of Bolesław I the Brave or Mieszko II is very likely.

Amongst the early variations of the so-called Otto-Adelheid-pennies are coins with five pellets within the church. They exist in two varieties in respect of the distribution of the four letters ODDO in the cross angles. It can be shown that both are from the same unlocalised mint. The number of dies is rather small and that the variety with O-O-D-D precedes O-D-D-O. Issuing must have started soon after 983/984 and probably was ended before c. 993.

The article is concerned with the finds of four bronze coins of Bithynia unearthed in the territory of the present-day state of Belarus: a coin of Hadrian from Rehispolle (Minsk Voblasts), which belongs to the so-called coins of the Koinon of Bithynia, and coins with the images of Julia Domna (Kopcevichy, Vitebsk Voblasts), Macrinus (Yuzafovа, Vitebsk Voblasts), and Gordian III (Pruzhany, Brest Voblasts), all issued by the mint at Nicaea. The authors argue that the coins may have reached Belarus from the Danubian provinces as well as directly from Nicaea (present-day İznik in Turkey), i.e., from those locations or territories where their participation in monetary circulation was the greatest. It is most likely that those coins may have been seized by the Barbarians during their incursions into the Roman provinces in the course of the Gothic Wars (3rd century CE).

This article focuses on two early medieval imitative coins found in Bohemia (one in the vicinity of Hradec Králové / Königgrätz in 1931; the other in Prague–Klánovice in 2016). The coins were probably struck in 1010–1015, and on the obverse imitate the Saxon denarii of the Otto-Adelheid type with the letters O-D-D-O in the arms of the cross. On the reverse, there is a church with the letters •VIDV, imitating Bavarian or Bohemian denarii from the second half of the 10th century. The location of most of the finds of these denarii in central Europe, including both coins found in Bohemia, indicates their Polish origin. Nevertheless, their issuer remains uncertain.

Amongst the first imported silver coins from western Europe in hoards in the territories of the western Slavs after the decline of silver import from Central Asia are issues anonymous in both respect of ruler and mint which have been in discussion since the early nineteenth century. In research they have been called by various names such as Sachsenpfennige, Hochrandpfennige, Kreuzpfennige (German) or krzyżówki (Polish) and must originate from mint(s) in Eastern Saxony bordering Slavs. They are of importance for the understanding of the use and chronology of coined silver in Slavic lands, especially in Poland and eastern Germany. The example of the Strandby hoard in Denmark, where these occur in a larger number, are well documented and to a larger part are unfragmented, allows us to show that the hitherto used dating (Kilger 2000) is incorrect. All known varieties must have been struck before 983/984 and not up to c. 1000. There is no continuation to younger series with hammered edge appearing since early eleventh century.

In the Middle Ages, tens of thousands types of uni-faced bracteate coins were struck in the period 1140−1520. The existence of hundreds of small independent currency areas with their own mints in central, eastern, and northern Europe and the strong link between bracteates and periodic re-coinage explain the large number of bracteate types. The classification and dating of coins can provide insight into economic and monetary development when studying coin hoards and cumulative finds. A central problem when classifying bracteates is that most of them are anonymous, i.e., there are seldom any legends or letters. However, bracteates struck in closely located mints almost always have the same regional monetary standard. In this study, I show how monetary standards in combination with social attributes can be used to classify bracteates when both legends and find information are lacking. I also provide an economic explanation why closely related mints voluntary joined a specific monetary standard.

ABSTRACT:

The work is devoted to Polish pennies from the end of the 12th century and the beginning of the 13th century with the image of a bishop with a long cross staff and a knight fighting a lion which occurred in the Głogów II hoard in a significant number. So far the pennies have been classified as the issues of the Silesian duke, Boleslaus I the Tall. The author demonstrates that the coins (Str. 46) present the Archbishop of Gniezno, Henryk Kietlicz (1199–1219) and may have been struck from the spring of 1207 till the end of 1211, probably in the mint of the Silesian duke, Henry the Bearded, in Głogów.

SUMMARY:

Among the two most numerous denar types in the Głogów hoard (1987) there was a denar with a depiction of a bishop with a long cross staff on the obverse and a knight fighting a lion on the reverse (Stronczyński type 46, MA-H in Głogów, at least 5015 specimens. Figs. 1 a, b). This type of denar, previously known only from two nineteenthcentury hoards and several specimens, constitutes about one-fourth of the entire Głogów (1987) hoard. Suchodolski ascribed it to Boleslaw the Tall, duke of Silesia, ruling in the years 1173 to 1185/1190. According to Suchodolski’s interpretation, this type refers to the heritage of the Silesian dukes’ father and the mint of Wrocław, while the letters SA and the figure on the coin should be associated with St Adalbert.

I will try to show that this type of coins presents the Archbishop of Gniezno, Henry Kietlicz (1199–1219) and the denars may have been minted from the spring of 1207 to the end of 1211, probably in Duke Henry I the Bearded of Silesia’s mint in Głogów (if it existed at that time), Legnica or Wrocław.

The church and political activity of Archbishop Henry Kietlicz, his reforming and political initiatives as the leader of the younger dukes faction in the first decade of the 13th century were aimed at winning the independence of the Polish Church from secular power and even securing its domination.

In 1206, a serious conflict broke out between the political party of Vladislas the Spindleshank and the coalition of Leszek the White, Vladislas Odonic and Archbishop Henry Kietlicz. The archbishop’s aim was to increase the importance of the Church in the state and among secular powers. He wanted to transfer the right to elect bishops to cathedral chapters, subordinate Church officials solely to diocesan authorities and guarantee the Church the right to inherit after deceased clergymen. He was also interested in making the ecclesiastical judiciary independent of state authority. In return, the archbishop promised to acknowledge Leszek as the ruler of Cracow after the latter had committed a coup d’état. However, the aims of the ecclesiastical reform clashed with the traditional ius ducale system, executed by the faction of Vladislas Spindleshanks.

Vladislas Spindleshanks, being at the time the duke of Greater Poland, entered Gniezno, the then archbishop’s see, seized the cathedral treasury and confiscated the land estates of the archbishop and his supporters, whom he later locked up in the cathedral, turning it into a prison. By doing so, he has bereft the bishop of his funds and prevented him from taking any further actions. Kietlicz, who was effectively banished from Gniezno, headed to Silesia to get financial support from Duke Henry the Bearded, and later went to Rome, as the head of the “juniors” party delegation.

Between 4 and 13 January 1207, the papal chancery issued 27 documents concerning Poland. This proves the great engagement of Pope Innocent III in Polish matters and particularly in the ecclesiastical reforms implemented by Archbishop Kietlicz. The Pope granted the Archbishop decisive support, both in the church-political dispute with Vladislas Spindleshanks and in the conducted reform. This helped to consolidate the archbishop’s faction.

Some of the issued documents concerned financial matters, such as the collection of Peter’s Pence and the tithe, which were of interest not so much to Kietlicz but to the Holy See. In the bulla dated 5 January and addressed to the Polish dukes, the Pope indicated the fraud that the addressees of the document had committed. This is the very document that contains the words known so well to Polish numismatists: moneta per annum apud vos tertio renovetur, referring to the fact that the tributes paid to the Pope at the end of the year were paid with a coin that had undergone three recoinages, thus of lower value.

From that point, instead of the duke it was the Archbishop of Gniezno who was given the responsibility to oversee the quality of the inflows of fees for the Holy See, as well as the tithe in Poland.

In another bulla, the Pope appealed to the Polish bishops and clergy, urging them to give the Archbishop the greatest possible help and financial support. Kietlicz, who had been expelled and deprived of any church-related income, was forced to cover all his expenses from his hereditary assets and to borrow money. His debts must have been high, since the Pope, in a separate document, granted their repayment. They had been incurred not only to cover the costs of the mission to Rome but mainly to finance the military efforts of Vladislas Odonic. It is believed that the loan was given by Henry the Bearded, against the deposit of Kietlicz’s family estate in Silesia.

A papal document from the 12 January 1207 was of special importance for Archbishop Henry Kietlicz. It was addressed directly to him and granted him the right to use the processional cross staff (crux gestatoria). This honour, usually given to the papal legates81, raised the authority and prestige as well as was considered a clear sign of the Pope’s support for the reforms. Such a figure of a bishop holding a processional cross is depicted on the obverse of the coins from the Głogów treasury (Fig. 1 a, b). None of the Polish priests of this age, other than the Archbishop of Gniezno, Henry Kietlicz, could and had the right to be presented this way.

No later than in the summer of 1207, Kietlicz in collaboration with Henry the Bearded, supported his candidate Lawrence in the election for the position of Bishop of Wrocław. He stayed in Głogów, from where he could effectively oversee Vladislas Odonic’s actions in his fight against Spindleshank as well as the church-related matters. He possibly received the permit from Henry the Bearded to produce denars from the silver collected by his subordinate clergy, which were partially directed to Henry’s treasury to repay the debt. The production of these coins could have taken place in the mint in Głogów or Legnica, even though Wroclaw cannot be excluded as a possibility. The production started in the middle of 1207 and lasted until 1211 — that is until the final resolution of the conflict was eventually achieved during the assembly in Borzykowa and the arrival of the Pope’s legates who came to solve the issue.

The presented denars with the bishop and the processional cross are the realization of this intention. The letters on the coin, accompanying the figure, reading S[anctvs] A[dalbertvs] mean that the Archbishop of Gniezno, although in exile, does not cease to be the shepherd of the whole Polish metropolis under the patronage of St Adalbert the Martyr. Fig. 8 depicts Kietlicz’s coins compared to other double-sided coins, minted at that time by Mieszko Tanglefoot and Henry the Bearded, pointing to their slightly higher value. Kietlicz had to ensure that the coin he introduced to the money market was of good quality and value, so that it could be accepted without reservation.

The Pope’s bulla from 1210 as well as the claim of Henry the Bearded resulting from his rights of primogeniture in the Silesian line reignited political unrest. The agreement was reached at the assembly in Borzykowa, at which Henry the Bearded renounced his rights to the Cracow throne in favor of the aged Duke of Racibórz-Opole, Mieszko Tanglefood, who died the following year. Archbishop Kietlicz returned to the Gniezno cathedral only after Leszek the White took over the Kraków throne after Mieszko’s death and after the papal judges arrived in mid-1211 to resolve the conflict that had been going on for five years. I am concluding that minting of coins for Kietlicz in the Silesian mint lasted at least until then.

*

Strong arguments supporting the hypothesis that it is Archbishop Kietlicz who is depicted on the presented denars result from the discovery of his tomb in Tum near Łęczyca during archaeological research conducted there. At the remains of the clergyman who was buried there, a silver crucifix with a figure of Christ attached and a spike to be placed on a spar (Fig. 3) was found. Such a cross was used only by eminent priests, who received the right of the processional cross from the Pope as a reward for exceptional merits or by legates sent by the Pope to settle local conflicts. As mentioned, such a right was granted by Innocent III to Archbishop Henry Kietlicz in 1207, and only he could be buried in this tomb. A similar right, given to the Archbishops of Gniezno, was granted only at the Council in Constance debating in 1414–1418, together with the title of the Primate of Poland to Archbishop Nicholas Trąba.

The Fbg 70 Silesian bracteate bears an unusual depiction that – in the authors’ opinion – has not yet been satisfactorily explained. They thereby present here a completely new interpretation of this imagery, tracing it back to, on one hand, the traditions of earlier Silesian issues and on the other to the earliest, openwork pilgrim badges from the Amiens sanctuary, which depict the reliquary of the head of St. John the Baptist. They also suggest that some features of this depiction might be inspired directly by the said reliquary without the pilgrim badges as an intermediary. The Fbg 70 bracteate would therefore constitute only the second known example of a Polish coin depicting a reliquary – the first being the type 1 deniers of Bolesław IV the Curly. The authors suggest that the Amiens reliquary might also be depicted on other Silesian coins, for example on the Fbg 74 bracteate.

ABSTRACT:

The main objective of the article is to organise our knowledge about the coinage of the last years of Boleslaus IV the Curly’s reing, based on the coins from the medieval Głogów hoard and the hoard from Dąbrowa Górnicza-Łosień. A very rare penny of the Stronczyński 54 type with the image of a rider on its obverse and the reverse with the name BOLЄZLAV/BOLЄZLVS, inscribed into three arches will be described in detail. The text will present the latest results of the study of the coin (including the traces of overstrikes), weight analysis and the types of dies and their combinations.

SUMMARY:

The article was created based on a paper of the same title, presented at the International Numismatic Conference, „Numismatica Centroeuropea III” in Bystrzyca Kłodzka. In the recent years, owing to the discovery of the Dąbrowa Górnicza-Łosień hoard, the studies on Boleslaus IV the Curly’s coinage have gained momentum. Its analysis provided an impulse for conducting similar studies on the ruler’s coins from the medieval Głogów hoard, discovered in 1987. Four types of pennies, occurring in small numbers, have been published so far and the time has come to publish the fifth penny, classified as type 54 according to Kazimierz Stronczyński. 220 pennies were analysed for the purpose of this article.

The initial objects of the analysis were the obverse and reverse images, categorised into variants and variations. Seven obverse and three reverse variants were distinguished. Additionally, within each variant a few to several variations, differing in small details, were also identified. Each variant has been described in a table. The coins were then examined in terms of their dies combination, and the results have been presented in the form of a diagram.

The next stage involved the comparison of the data obtained for the Str. 54 penny with that of its predecessors, published in the monograph of the Dąbrowa Górnicza-Łosień hoard. While comparing the weights, the data provided by Professor Suchodolski in his book “Mennictwo polskie w XI i XIII wieku/Polish coinage in the 11th and 12th century” was also referred to. The weights of all five types were presented in the form of a histogram. Another interpretation of the overstrikes, observed on coins from the medieval Głogów hoard, was also published. The Str. 54 penny opened a series of subsequently overstruck pennies. A hypothesis was proposed that some of the coins ascribed previously to Boleslaus IV the Curly might have been struck by Boleslaus I the Tall, son of Vladislaus II the Exile. The verification of the hypothesis requires further studies on the coins from the medieval Głogów hoard which participated in this unusual sequence of overstrikes. Unfortunately, there are still over several thousand of such coins to be examined. Finally, 17 type Str. 54 pennies discovered outside the medieval Głogów hoard were published. They come from the hoards from Anusin and Golice, single finds from Masłowice and Wilkowice and from private collections. The coins were examined in the same manner and included in the catalogue of die variants and varieties and the diagram of die combinations.

ABSTRACT:

The purpose of this article is to determine the origins of the enigmatic image appearing on a Silesian bracteate of the Rataje type (Fbg 70). The image has recently been interpreted as radiating circles of light and its symbols associated with St John the Baptist, whose figure appears on Silesian coins relatively often. While analysing the numismatic material, the author focuses on two types of coins which may have served as the model for the Silesian bracteate: half-bracteate from Hedeby, issued in all probability during the reign of Harald Bluetooth (958–987) and the Celtic stater, struck in Lesser Poland (or in Silesia) in the first third of the 1st century BC.

SUMMARY:

One Silesian bracteate from the Rataje group (the issue from 1220–1240) features an image which should be interpreted as radiating circles of light (fig. 1). A closer analysis allows the conclusion that such an interpretation might be based on the Prologue to John’s Gospel, where John the Baptist is associated with the symbolism of light (J 1, 4–9). In the text, Christ’s predecessor is presented as the witness to the Light, heralding the arrival of the Saviour.

While looking for the model, the creator of the die of the Rataje bracteate may have relied on, one might arrive at two alternative solutions. The first one may be related to the half-bracteates struck in Hedeby, associated with the first half of the 10th century and sometimes with the times of Harald Bluetooth’s rule (958–987) (fig. 3), which were, in turn, modelled on Charles the Great’s pennies, struck in Dorestad approximately until the year 790 (fig. 2). Younger half-bracteates from Hedeby, coined in the second half of the 10th century appear both in Pomeranian (such as Gralewo II, Rybice or Świnoujście–Przytór) and Silesian finds (Bystrzyca, Gębice, Kotowice II and Radzików II). Hence, it is possible that they served as the model for the Silesian bracteate in the era of advanced renewal, necessitating frequent changes in the appearance of the dies.

The other solution would identify Celtic staters of the Cracow type as the model for the Rataje bracteate. The coins minted in Lesser Poland from around 100 BC to around 30 AD were described by Marcin Rudnicki in 2012. On some specimens, classified by the scholar as group I, representing “the earliest, prototype variants of the Cracow type” and dated by him to the period from around 100 to around 70 BC, the elements of the die form a composition significantly similar to the image on the Rataje bracteate. Although the Cracow type staters have not been recorded in Silesia, there is no doubt that the coins reached the region, a fact confirmed by their occurrence in Central Poland as well as in Bohemia, Slovakia and as far as in the Zagreb area.

Using the Celtic stater as the iconographic model for the Silesian bracteate might have been connected with the so-called “heads” or “St John pennies”. The name, appearing in sources from 1445 onwards, although certainly used in Poland much earlier, was given to Roman coins, found mainly in Polish lands, whose obverse featured the emperor’s head (identified with the severed head of John the Baptist). It is possible that the notion of “St John’s pennies” designated also other ancient coins. This fact, as well as original iconography, may have influenced the use of the transformed motif from the Celtic coin obverse on the die of the Silesian bracteate. Owing to the rays, the composition may have been associated with the symbolism of light, closely connected with the patron of Silesia and emphasised by the liturgy at the time.