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10 - The novi denarii and forgery in the ninth century

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 May 2010

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Summary

Legislative texts governing the issue and circulation of coin during the first two centuries of Carolingian rule in Gaul and Italy are relatively numerous. A recurrent feature of them is the use of the expressions novi denarii or denarii de novae monetae. These occur in the text of the Frankfurt Synod of 794, in a capitulary of 819 addressed to the missi, in a capitulary of Louis II given at Mantua in 856, and in the edict promulgated at Pîtres in 864. The question of new deniers thus comes up on four occasions, three times in Gaul and once in Italy. Although the term novus denarius is not used, a second instance from Italy is provided by a capitulary given at Mantua in 781; in a brilliant study by Philip Grierson this text was correctly interpreted as referring to the inauguration of Carolingian coinage in Italy. It had previously been regarded as providing for the creation of Charlemagne's new heavy coin and Grierson's re-interpretation has led to a considerable advance in our understanding of Carolingian coinage.

The novi denarii mentioned by the Frankfurt Synod of 794 were shown by Gariel, followed by Grierson, to refer to the heavy deniers of Charlemagne's reform, a move which led to the withdrawal from circulation of the Merovingian-type deniers that had been struck since the middle of the eighth century.

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Studies in Numismatic Method
Presented to Philip Grierson
, pp. 137 - 146
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 1983

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