Lombard coinage of Benevento

The coins of the Lombard dukes of Benevento have their own characters that distinguish them from those of the Lombards settled in northern Italy (Langobardia Maior): in the north the coinage was directed almost exclusively to tremisses, in Benevento solidi were also minted, and inspiration was drawn from Byzantine models even when in Langobardia Maior, towards the end of the seventh century from the reign of Cunipert, royal titles were inserted on the coins and new types adopted.For coins minted by the Lombards in Benevento, the most recent text is the one published by Philip Grierson and Mark Blackburn, the first volume of the Medieval European Coinage series.Another cataloging source, equally used, is the Catalogue of the coins of the Vandals, Ostrogoths and Lombards, and of the empires of Thessalonica, Nicaea and Trebizond in the British museum edited by Warwick William Wroth and published in London in 1911.[3] Less internationally used but more detailed are the studies published in Italy by Giulio Sambon in 1912, by Memmo Cagiati in 1916-17 and those contained in vol.In particular, Cagiati's text lists all the specimens then known with their descriptions, using drawings by Andrea Russo, a 19th-century Neapolitan illustrator, for representation.More recent is Enrico Catemario di Quadri's 1953 work analyzing Benevento coins belonging to a private collection and published in the Bollettino del Circolo numismatico Napoletano.[4] Also published in Numismatic Chronicle in 1974 was an analysis by W. Andrew Oddy of the gold coinage of Benevento, again based on the collection of the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge.In the first half of the 8th century coins minted in Benevento had legends with the names of emperors of the Eastern Roman Empire.The Lombards conquered southern Italy (Langobardia Minor) after 570 and in time formed a state extending over most of the peninsular south of Italy, with the exceptions of present-day Calabria, part of Apulia (almost the entire Salentine peninsula) and the city of Naples with its hinterland, territories that remained under the control of the Eastern Roman Empire.[8] The prevailing type featured on the obverse a bust in front and on the reverse a cross potent resting on a base (simple for the tremissis, of three or four steps for the solidus).The first to affix his own name was Grimoald III (787-806), already in the period when the duchy had been elevated to a principality; the types, however, were still imitations of those of imperial coins.Under Sicard the minting of gold ended for good, and the Duchy of Benevento, like much of coeval Western Europe, also used denier as its main currency.The coins were imitations of those issued by the Eastern Roman Empire under the names of Constans II and Constantine IV.Beginning with the rise of Romuald II a third type was introduced, with the bust of the emperor holding the globus cruciger on the obverse.According to Grierson and Blackburn,[9] the type imitates the solidi of Leo III (717-741),[22] although it had been introduced earlier by Anastasius II (713-715).The theme returned that of the bust with the globus cruciger, but the obverse no longer had the pseudo-imperial legend, instead reading DNS VICTORIA.At this time, Grimoald thus had to give up the title of prince and use only that of duke, with the exergue VIC (or VICΔ) in the position usually occupied by CONOB.Grimoald allied himself with the Eastern Emperor and married his niece; the principality suffered attacks from Frankish armies but the prince was able to cope.[36][34][37] The types also changed in the deniers after 792: on the obverse was placed the name of Grimoald, with a new monogram, and on the reverse the cross potent on steps flanked by the letters "A" and "ω.[40] The deniers of Grimoald IV presented quite distinctive types: on the obverse the legend - GRIMOALD FILIVS ERMENRIH[I] surrounds an ear of wheat, which could be presented between recumbent stems or between leaves; on the reverse the legend - ARCHANGELVS MICHAEL surrounded a cross, with arms of equal length, juxtaposed by four lozenges.[43] The coin is described as follows by Cagiati: "Figure of the archangel Michael in prospect; holding in his right hand a crosier, in his left a cross, a small triangle below.Louis II then sought to reassert imperial control over the principality by quartering troops in the Benevento fortresses.A third type had in the field the letters P ADL R (Prince Adelchi) arranged on three lines to form a cross, with the legend + SANCTA MARIA around it, while yet another one had the "Carolingian temple" already used in the tornesels by Louis the Pious.In other coins appeared the name of Louis' wife, Engelberga, in the form of ANGILBERGA accompanied by titles such as DMA ("domina"), IMP ("imperatrix") or AGVSTA, with various spellings.The clash between the two pretenders lasted over ten years, and during this period Siconulf moved the capital of the Benevento principality to Salerno.