NUMMI DOCENT !

Mnzen - Schtze - Funde

Festschrift fr Peter Ilisch
zum 65. Geburtstag
am 28. April 2012
Herausgegeben
im Auftrag des Vereins der Mnzfreunde
fr Westfalen und Nachbargebiete e.V.
von
Gerd Dethlefs / Arent Pol / Stefan Wittenbrink

Numismatischer Verlag der Mnzhandlung Fritz Rudolf Knker

Osnabrck 2012
3

Privy marks on the Christiana religio

coinage of Louis the Pious
von Simon Coupland

In 1998 Peter Ilisch published a group of Christiana religio coins of Louis the Pious
(reign 814840) discovered at Balhorn near Paderborn in Saxony.1 This is the most
common Carolingian coinage type, partly because it circulated for over forty years,
partly because it was minted during an economic boom, and partly because the same
type was struck at every mint across the empire.2 Although the coins are all of the
same design, however, they are not identical: some, including Ilischs group, bear
privy marks: additional pellets or other symbols. This article will examine the use of
privy marks on this coinage and consider their significance, in particular the extent
to which they can help to attribute the coins.

Figure 1: Louis the Pious, Christiana religio

(822/3840) Group A: Quentovic (822/3840)
1.06 g (private collection) (scale1,3:1)

Figure 2: Charles the Bald, Christiana religio

(840864) Group A: Quentovic. Pilligerheck
hoard (Rheinland-Pfalz), buried 855864, weight
unknown (Rheinisches Landesmuseum [RLM],
Trier)

Perhaps the earliest and best-known instance of privy marks enabling the attribution
of Christiana religio coins relates to Quentovic. On the mint-signed temple coinage
struck at the port by Charles the Bald (r. 840877), the obverse cross has three
points rather than one in one quadrant, and the temple is flanked by one point
either side, with three points beneath. This makes it possible to attribute Christiana
religio coinage bearing these same privy marks and style to that mint (Figs. 1 and 2).3
1 Peter Ilisch: Schsische Christiana-Religio-Pfennige, in: Jahrbuch fr Numismatik und Geldgeschichte 48/49 (1998/99) pp. 177180.
2 Simon Coupland: Carolingian single finds and the economy of the early ninth century, Numismatic
Chronicle 170 (2010) pp. 287319.
3 Simon Coupland: Money and coinage under Louis the Pious, in: Francia 17/1 (1990) pp. 2354, at
pp. 4041; idem: The early coinage of Charles the Bald, 840864, in: Numismatic Chronicle 151 (1991)
pp. 121158, at p. 143.

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Figure 3: Lothar I, Christiana religio (840855)

Group F: Maastricht. Second hoard from Tzummarum (Friesland), buried 855865, weight unknown (Geldmuseum, Utrecht)

Figure 4: Louis the Pious, Christiana religio

(822/3840) Group C? Weight unknown (Berlin)

Figure 5: Cast of Louis the Pious, Maastricht

(839840). Pilligerheck hoard (Rheinland-Pfalz),
buried 855864, weight and present whereabouts
unknown.

Figure 6: Louis the Pious, Dorestad (816822/3).

Single find from Neder-Betuwe (Gelderland),
weight and present whereabouts unknown
(Photograph: Geldmuseum, Utrecht, NUMIS
1010250).

Figure 7: Louis the Pious, Christiana religio

(822/3840) Group D: Trier. Pilligerheck hoard
(Rheinland-Pfalz), buried 855864, 1.21 g (RLM,
Trier)

Figure 8: Louis the Pious, Christiana religio (822/3

840) Group G: Venice, 1.23 g (private collection)

Figure 9: Louis the Pious, Christiana religio

(822/3840) Group X: unknown mint. Single
find from Havsmarken (r), 1.57 g (Photograph: Den kongelige Mnt- og Medaillesamling,
Copenhagen)

Figure 10: Louis the Pious, Christiana religio

(822/3840) Group X: unknown mint. First
hoard from Tzummarum (Friesland), buried
840845, 1.70 g (Photograph: Geldmuseum, Utrecht, 1991-0069)

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Unfortunately Quentovic is exceptional, and a moments reflection reveals why. For

such an attribution to be possible, the die-cutter not only had to include some unusual distinguishing feature, but also to live and work sufficiently long to produce dies
for Louis Christiana religio coinage and for mint-signed coins before or after.4
The one mint that might be thought to offer a parallel to Quentovic is Maastricht.
There mint-signed coins of Lothar I (r. 840855) bear a circle instead of a pellet in
one quadrant of the obverse cross, enabling similar Christiana religio coinage to be
attributed to that mint (Fig. 3).5 There is at least one similar coin struck for Louis
the Pious (Fig. 4), and in 1990 I consequently attributed a group of Louis coins to
Maastricht.6 I now question that attribution for several reasons. First, the one known
mint-signed temple coin of Maastricht struck at the end of Louis reign has four pellets, not a circle (Fig. 5). Second, mint-signed coinage with a circle in one quadrant
of the obverse cross is known from Dorestad earlier in Louis reign. Indeed, the Dorestad craftsmen included different numbers of circles, pellets or wedges around the
obverse cross (Fig. 6), while the reverse design might incorporate wedges, a cross,
crescent, trefoil, triangle, or even an anchor.7 The mint also struck regular issues without additional marks. All this indicates that Dorestad is equally likely to have struck
the coin previously attributed to Maastricht, particularly as the latter is not known to
have minted earlier in Louis reign.
This discussion brings out two highly significant points: different mints could use
the same privy marks, and one mint could use a variety of marks. To give one example of the former, some Christiana religio coins of Louis the Pious attributable
to Trier on stylistic grounds include a circle beneath the temple (Fig. 7), but so do
other coins of a completely different style, attributable to Venice (Fig. 8).8 The style
of a coin therefore needs to be considered alongside privy marks before making any
attribution.
As for the inclusion of a range of privy marks, there is a group of Christiana religio
coins of Louis the Pious which displays a marked stylistic unity but includes pellets
in a remarkable variety of locations. The coins are neat, with correct legends in
chunky lettering, a medium-sized obverse cross, and a squarish temple on the reverse
4 The evidence from Orlans suggests that here at least, the same die-cutter produced dies for Christiana religio coinage under Louis the Pious and Charles the Bald, then mint-signed coinage, though in
this case the identification is by style rather than privy marks. Simon Coupland / Jens Christian Moesgaard: Trsors montaires enfouis lors des premiers raids viking dans la valle de la Seine aux annes
840?, in: Bulletin de la Socit franaise de numismatique 67 (2012) (forthcoming).
5 Simon Coupland: The coinage of Lothar I (840855), in: Numismatic Chronicle 161 (2001), pp.
157198, at p. 189.
6 Coupland: Louis the Pious (see note 3), pp. 4142 (Group C).
7 Ernest Gariel: Les monnaies royales de France sous la race carolingienne, Strasbourg 18831884,
vol. 1, pl. IV.1323, VI.24, vol. 2, pl. XVI.5458; NUMIS (www.geldmuseum.nl/museum/content/
zoeken-numis) 1010250 (Neder-Betuwe), 1033716 (Wijk bij Duurstede); Cahn Auction 2.3.1926, lot 18.
8 Coupland: Louis the Pious (see note 3), pp. 4244 (Groups D, G).

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Figure 11: Louis the Pious, Christiana religio

(822/3840) Group X: unknown mint, 1.58 g.
The points on the roofline are not mentioned in
the catalogue (Bibliothque Nationale de France
[BNF], Paris 1015)

Figure 12: Louis the Pious, Christiana religio

(822/3840) Group X: unknown mint. First
hoard from Tzummarum (Friesland), buried
840845, 1.60 g (Photograph: Geldmuseum, Utrecht, 1991-0070)

Figure 13: Louis the Pious, Christiana religio

(822/3840) Group X: unknown mint. Single
find from Louvigny, (Calvados), 1.53 g (private
collection)

Figure 14: Louis the Pious, Christiana religio

(822/3840) Group X: unknown mint. Single
find from Domburg (Zeeland), 1.70 g (Photograph Geldmuseum, Utrecht, de Man 581)

Figure 15: Louis the Pious, Christiana religio

(822/3840) Group P: Paris/ M3: Melle. Emmen
hoard (Drenthe), buried 850855, 1.54 g (Geldmuseum, Utrecht, 1931-289)

Figure 16: Louis the Pious, Christiana religio

(822/3840) Group P: Paris/ M3: Melle, 1.51 g
(BNF, Paris 1008)

Figure 17: Louis the Pious, Christiana religio

(822/3840) Group P: Paris/ M3: Melle, Pilligerheck hoard (Rheinland-Pfalz), buried 855
864, weight unknown. (RLM, Trier)

Figure 18: Louis the Pious, Christiana religio

(822/3840) Group P: Paris/ M3: Melle. Single
find from the Loire near Ancenis (Loire-Atlantique), 1.36 g (private collection)

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with a small, distinct central cross. The small pellets which the die-cutter has added
in varying numbers tend to cluster around the temple: to the right or left (Fig. 9),
between or beneath the steps (Fig. 10), on the roofline (Fig. 11), within the roof
(Fig. 12), or forming a cross beside or beneath the temple. Others include a tiny
point at the end of each arm of the obverse cross (Fig. 13), points between letters of
the legends (Fig. 14), a cross beside the temple, or a crescent or bar beneath.
This is not a large group I know of eleven in the Pilligerheck hoard (including two
die pairs), three at Roermond, four at Tzummarum 1988, two at Wijk bij Duurstede 2002, and one apiece from Emmen and Rijs.9 There are also single finds from
Domburg (Fig. 14), Havsmarken (r) in Denmark (Fig. 9), Louvigny (Calvados)
(Fig. 13), and near Troyes.10 There are in addition a few coins two apiece at Pilligerheck, Roermond and Yde, and a single find from Jylland in Denmark of the
same style as these but without additional privy marks, which may be the work of the
same die-cutter.11 The group cannot unfortunately be linked with any known mint.
It is highly unlikely that there was any significance in the wonderful array of privy
marks: rather, the die-cutter was simply amusing himself, like the earlier die-cutters
at Dorestad. We must consequently beware in ascribing significance to privy marks;
they may simply have been a means of creative expression.
This should be borne in mind when considering another, larger group of Christiana
religio coins which also bear a variety of marks. The coins have fine, regular lettering,
well-spread points around a large obverse cross, and on the reverse a broad temple.
A significant number include three pellets in an inverted triangle beneath the temple:
34 at Pilligerheck, 19 at Roermond, 2 at Emmen (Fig. 15) and 1 at Yde. Although
Frre linked the coins with Huy,12 the style of the coins struck there by Lothar I
is very different and the mint significantly smaller than these figures indicate.13An
obverse die link between one coin of this group with the three pellets and two without14 demonstrates that the mint in question also struck regular Christiana religio
coins. Other privy marks on coins of a similar style include a single pellet either side
of the temple, one below the temple steps, and two points or a star instead of one
pellet in one quadrant of the obverse cross (Figs. 1617). At least thirteen bearing
9 Illustrated examples include Clemens Maria Haertle: Karolingische Mnzfunde aus dem 9. Jahrhundert,
Cologne etc. 1997, pl. 7.59 (from Tzummarum 1), 10.80 (from Rijs); Hendrik Enno van Gelder: Le
trsor carolingien dIde, in: Revue Numismatique VI,7 (1965) pp. 241261, Pl. XXII.g (from Emmen);
idem: De karolingische muntvondst Roermond, in: Jaarboek voor Munt- en Penningkunde 72 (1985)
pp. 1347, groups 10k and 10y.
10 r: Nordisk Numismatisk Unions Medlemsblad 2009 pp. 170171; Domburg: Geldmuseum,
Utrecht, De Man 581; Louvigny and near Troyes: unpublished.
11 Yde: van Gelder: Ide (see note 9), Pl. XXII.46, 54; Jylland: Skalk 6 (2004), p. 16.
12 Hubert Frre: Le denier carolingien, spcialement en Belgique, Louvain-la-Neuve 1977, no. 34.
13 Coupland: Lothar I (see note 5), p. 176.
14 Mnchner Mnzhandlung Karl Kress sale 140 (Munich 78 August 1967), no. 210; Maurice Prou:
Catalogue des monnaies franaises de la Bibliothque Nationale. Les monnaies carolingiennes, Paris
1892, 1008 (Fig. 16), and a coin from Roermond.

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Figure 19: Charles the Bald, Christiana religio

(822/3840) Group E: Melle. Luzancy hoard
(Seine-et-Marne), buried 864865, 1.06 g (private
collection)

Figure 20: Louis the Pious, Christiana religio

(822/3840) Group P: Paris/ M3: Melle. Second
hoard from Angers (Maine-et-Loire), buried
845850, 1.60 g (BNF, Paris 1041f)

Figure 21: Louis the Pious, Christiana religio

(822/3840) Group O: uncertain mint. Pilligerheck hoard (Rheinland-Pfalz), buried 855864,
weight unknown (RLM, Trier)

Figure 22: Louis the Pious, Christiana religio

(822/3840) Group O: uncertain mint. Emmen
hoard (Drenthe), buried 850855, 1.59 g (Geldmuseum, Utrecht, 1872-9a)

Figure 23: Louis the Pious, Christiana religio

(822/3840) Group S: Saxony. Pilligerheck hoard
(Rheinland-Pfalz), buried 855864, weight unknown (RLM, Trier)

Figure 24: Louis the Pious, Christiana religio

(822/3840) Group S: Saxony. Emmen hoard
(Drenthe), buried 850855, 1.28 g (Geldmuseum,
Utrecht, 1872-18)

Figure 25: Louis the Pious, Christiana religio

(822/3840) Group S: Saxony. Pilligerheck hoard
(Rheinland-Pfalz), buried 855864, weight unknown (RLM, Trier)

Figure 26: Louis the Pious, Christiana religio

(822/3840) Group S: Saxony. Pilligerheck hoard
(Rheinland-Pfalz), buried 855864, weight unknown (RLM, Trier)

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the star were present at Pilligerheck, one at Emmen, and there is a recent single find
from Wijk bij Duurstede (Dorestad).15 Some coins of this group also include pellets
in the legends (Figs. 1516), but this feature is also found on coins of Groups B
(Dorestad), D (Trier), F (Milan) and G (Venice), as well as Christiana religio coins of
Lothar I attributable to Verdun, so is not a significant diagnostic element.
More surprising is the fact that certain coins with a letter S below the temple
(Fig. 18) are of the same style, including, on some, the double pellet in one quadrant
of the obverse cross. Although Klaus Petry suggested that these should be attributed to Sens, based on a distribution map of finds and the assumption that the S
indicated the mint name,16 van Gelder had previously noted that there is no reason
to think that the letter denoted the name of the mint.17 What is more, this group is
of a quite different style from the mint-signed temple coinage minted at Sens under
Charles the Bald.18
If these coins are the product of a single mint, where was it? I previously attributed
Christiana religio coins of Charles the Bald with a triangle of points beneath the temple to Paris, on the basis of the similarity of the temple on the mint-signed coinage.19
However, since then the Luzancy hoard contained a coin of Charles the Bald of this
style and three points beneath the temple bearing the title +CARLVSREXFRANC
(Fig. 19), otherwise known only from Melle.20 The large temple is matched on
Pippins Christiana religio coinage from Melle,21 and the Angers hoard, which might
be expected to be dominated by coins from Melle, included predominantly coins of
this group, including one with the S beneath (Fig. 20). Two other significant groups
of Christiana religio coins can be attributed to Melle as well, however,22 so I hesitate to
ascribe all the coins of this style to Melle. Further study, or further finds, might help
to determine how many of these coins were from Melle and how many from Paris.
Complicating the picture further, there are other coins with an S below the temple
which by their obverse and reverse style belong to a quite different group of Louis
Christiana religio coins (Fig. 21). On the coins of this group, the temple is small and
compact, and the legends sometimes shortened, reading IIP or MP on the obverse
and RELCIO, RELICO or RLCIO on the reverse. The obverse O may be parti15 WIJD-07MET084.
16 Klaus Petry: Sens oder Straburg, Numismatisches Nachrichtenblatt 49 (2000) pp. 4750.
17 Van Gelder: Ide (see note 9), p. 248.
18 Eric Vandenbossche / Simon Coupland: Une trouvaille de deniers carolingiens dans la rgion de
Bray-sur-Seine (77480), in: Revue Numismatique 2012 (forthcoming).
19 Coupland: Early coinage (see note 3), p. 147.
20 Coupland: Early coinage (see note 3), pp. 133134, 146.
21 Simon Coupland: The coinages of Pippin I and II of Aquitaine, in Revue Numismatique VI 31
( 1989), pp. 194222, pp. 207209, pl. XX.6.
22 Simon Coupland: Les monnaies de Melle sous Louis le Pieux, in: Mine, mtal, monnaie: autour du
cas de Melle. Les voies de la quantification de lhistoire montaire du haut Moyen ge (forthcoming).

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cularly small and the VVs may lean backwards. Certain coins of this group have
other privy marks: three points in a triangle beside the temple (Fig. 22), four or five
points in the shape of a cross beside or below the temple, or a cross beneath the
temple.23 It is thus again possible that the S below the temple was just another decorative mark. This group cannot currently be attributed to a particular mint: further
study and ideally further finds are needed.
Turning finally to the group discussed by Ilisch, this is considerably larger than he
was aware. As well as the coins he listed (the Balhorn coins, one in Berlin and a stray
find from Erwitte-Bad Westernkotten24), 26 were present at Pilligerheck (Fig. 23),
five at Emmen (Fig. 24), two apiece at Roermond and Wagenborgen, one at Yde and
at least one at Tzummarum II 1991.25
In this group the obverse cross is straight and slender, often patte, the legends often barbarous and sometimes retrograde. The Vs and As are sometimes written
as two Is, and the Ds as a bar and a crescent, sometimes with a pellet between
them: I). On the reverse the squat temple generally has pronounced capitals on
the columns and marked gable ends. The bottom step is usually shorter than the top
step, and a number have capitals, as if they were columns. Some coins include two
or three points in a line beneath the temple.
Two coins in the Pilligerheck hoard reveal a surprising link to another group of
Christiana religio coins with quite different privy marks: a crescent below the temple,
and, in some cases, pellets flanking both the roof cross and the cross beginning the
obverse legend. The reverses of these coins do not at first glance resemble those
found at Balhorn, but there are similarities in the forms of the letters, and the hand
of the same die-cutter is unmistakeable on the obverse, including the unusual D
(Figs. 2526).26 At least eighteen coins with the crescent were present at Pilligerheck,
six at Roermond, four each at Emmen and Wagenborgen, three at Yde and one at
Assen, some displaying an evident degeneration in execution. There are also single
finds from Wulfsen in Saxony and Wijk bij Duurstede.27
The fact that three coins of this group were found together near Paderborn, without
any die-links, suggests, as Ilisch concluded, that the mint was located in the east of
the empire. The sizeable number of finds in a variety of hoards implies that it was a
significant mint, and at this date these are rare in the east, where coin was evidently
23 See for example Roermond (see note 9) group 10w.
24 The other coin mentioned, from Wnnenberg-Frstenberg, is of my Group F (Milan): Coupland:
Louis the Pious (see note 3), p. 43.
25 The figures from Pilligerheck, Emmen, Roermond and Wagenborgen are from my own study of
the hoards. Yde (see note 9), no. 40, Tzummarum II: De Beeldenaar 1992-2, p. 67.
26 See also Haertle: Karolingische Mnzfunde (see note 9), pl. 21.146 (Emmen).
27 Illustrated coins include Kress sale 140 (see note 14), lots 179180, 180a, 181186, 196 (Pilligerheck); Haertle: Karolingische Mnzfunde (see note 9), pl. 21.146147 (Emmen), and pl. 32.298 (Wagenborgen); van Gelder: Ide (see note 9), 3032 (Yde), f (Assen).

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not produced on a large scale. Among the mints striking Louis second coinage type,
the as yet unidentified mints of Alaboteshain, Aldunheim and Stottenburg are all thought
to have been located in the east, but all were small, as were Chur and Regensburg.28
Minting rights were granted to Corvey in 833,29 but again it is unlikely that the abbey
was as prolific as this atelier seems to have been. The unknown mint which produced the largest group of Lothar Is Christiana religio coinage also included pellets either side of the temple cross, but the style is quite different.30 This leaves two possible
candidates: Mainz or Strasbourg, both of which were productive earlier in Louis
reign. Coins of Louis the German (r. 840876) from Mainz are of a very different
style, with a monogram on one face and the mint-name around a cross on the other;
Strasbourg is not known to have been active in the 840s. The absence of any finds
of this group among the single finds of Louis Christiana religio coins from Mainz31
makes Strasbourg slightly more likely, but this remains no more than a hypothesis.
KEY TO PLATES
All coins are silver deniers. Uncredited photographs: Simon Coupland.

28 There are no reported finds from Alaboteshain; just two of Aldunheim from Apremont-Veuillin; one
from Chur at Belvzet; single finds of Regensburg have turned up at Regensburg itself and Wijk-bijDuurstede, and one coin of Stottenburg was present at Roermond.
29 The text is reproduced in both Prou (see note 14), p. LVIII and Frre (see note 12), p. 94.
30 Coupland: Lothar I (see note 5), pp. 185186 (Group A).
31 Christian Stoess: Die Mnzen, in: Egon Wamers: Die frhmittelalterliche Lesefunde aus der Lhrstrasse (Baustelle Hilton II) in Mainz, Mainz 1994, pp. 177181, 187188.

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