PRINCETON UNIVERSITY
Program in Hellenic Studies

Friday, April 24, 2009

Prototype and Copy in the Coinages of Latin Greece, 13th – 15th Centuries
When the new Latin rulers and settlers started producing their own coinages in Greece in the course of the 13th century, their choices of metals, denominations and iconographies were informed by pre-existing traditions. The mainland Greek coinages of the early period, especially the lower denomination issues, displayed a varied and innovative array of types, some of which may be termed imitative. The standard silver-based tournois coinage was also imitative, but was itself also imitated locally, by identifiable entities (the Catalan Army, perhaps the Serbian invaders), and by the population at large. Mainland Greece largely ceased to be a production centre of official coinages by the mid-14th century, but thereafter our attention shifts to the eastern Aegean, where another new and highly diverse language of images and denominations is developed and maintained until the end of the 15th century. The choice of largely western prototypes for the prolific silver and gold currencies is of great interest, as are the Byzantine and Greek traditions which are maintained for the copper denominations. This paper will cover legal, aesthetic as much as monetary considerations which determined issuers’ choices in producing coinages of specific qualities and designs.

Migration, Segregation or Assimilation: Coinage and Imitation in Outremer, 1099-1291
During the two centuries of its existence the Crusader kingdom of Jerusalem stood at an intersection of East and West. Since its inception in the 19th century, Crusader historiography has been dominated by a heated debate over the nature of the kingdom: was it a society that blended harmoniously Eastern and Western features or a segregated society dominated by a small Frankish elite over large native Christian and Muslim population?
This lecture will contribute to this discussion by presenting a survey of the coinages in use during the almost two hundred years of the kingdom’s existence. The presentation will include new data from more than a decade of excavations of Crusader period sites and look for analogies and comparisons outside the field of numismatics (elements of material culture such as sculpture, pottery, royal burials, linguistics and the observations of contemporary historians).

When Paradise Was Lost: Aspiration and Necessity After the Fourth Crusade
In 1204, the Latin conquest of Constantinople – Paradise itself, according to an orator of the period – had a major political impact on the territories formerly held by the Byzantine Empire, leading to the creation of several successor states. It also had a psychological impact on the Byzantines themselves, since their supremacy over the oikoumene was suddenly lost. However, ambition to regain or to recreate what was gone never ceased to be a driving force for the rulers of these minor states, despite the fact that their aspirations had to be downsized according to their new, lower status.
Coinage had always been an important means of disseminating state ideology and was skillfully used for this purpose after the fall of Constantinople. Direct or indirect imitation of Byzantine prototypes – in terms of iconography, denominational systems and titulature – offered these states a much-desired connection with the imperial past. Similar interests were also evidenced in other forms of public expression, such as panegyrics. Yet the question remains to what extent these new “empires” were able or willing to pursue such a policy given their “small state economics”, as they have adequately been described – especially when for most of them the hope for reinstating the glorious Byzantine empire remained largely unrealized.
Combining the ideological perspective of coins, reflected in their iconography and use, with the economic perspective provided by their monetary value and circulation, this paper investigates the effects of ideological aspirations and economic necessities in the coinages of the states created in the aftermath of the Fourth Crusade.

Give and Take in Byzantine-Seljuk Relations, 12th – 13th Centuries
This paper examines the sharing and borrowing of regalia and other symbols of power in medieval Anatolia. Then, rulers and courts were mobile, regalia traveled with them, and were deployed in easily reproducible display environments. Royalty and royal settings often overlapped with religious symbolism, complicating our attempts to understand them and their cultural weight. Gifts, too, and high-ranking military and other officials also changed hands and sides. In this environment of exchange, the imagery on the tetartera of the Laskarid dynasty took its place alongside rebuses, canting, and other visual punning.

Means of Exchange: Islamic Coinage in Christian Spain, c.1035-1252
In the early 10th century, the Umayyad rulers of al-Andalus declared their independence from the Abbasids of Baghdad by assuming the caliphal title and striking gold dinars.  Despite their proximity to Umayyad Cordoba, the economies of the Latin Iberian states did not initially attract many of these gold pieces.  With the break up of the Cordoban Caliphate c. 1035, however, the Christian kingdoms began to exact tribute payments from Muslim petty lords in al-Andalus.  The establishment of this protection racket turned out to be the opening stage of a successful Christian push against the Muslims of Spain.  By 1252, with the death of Fernando III of Leon-Castile, Islam’s political influence in Iberia was effectively over. 
This paper traces the vital role Islamic gold, and to a lesser extent silver, came to play in the economies of the Spanish Christian kingdoms during this “great leap forward” from c.1035 to 1252.  It focuses first on the nascent Catalan economy in the 11th century before shifting to the growing strength of Castile-Leon in the 12th and 13th.  The death of Fernando III in 1252 coincides with the introduction of the gold florin and genovino into Mediterranean trade and marks the beginning of a new era in which the Genoese helped develop Castile’s window on the Mediterranean at Seville.  While the crown of Castile briefly experimented with a gold dobla, an imitation of the heavy Almohad dinar, the dinar’s importance in western Mediterranean trade would quickly wane from this point onward.

Cosponsored by the Department of History and the Department of Rare Books and Special Collections, Firestone Library

Last updated 4/20/09