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Denaro - Frederick II Brindisi
| Issuer | Sicily, Kingdom of |
|---|---|
| Year | 1242 |
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| Currency | Tari (1060-1754) |
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| Obverse description | Central field displays the letters AVG in large characters beneath a stylised imperial eagle or crowned monogram device, all enclosed within a plain inner circle. The surrounding outer legend, rendered in Latin majuscules with pellet stops, reads F · ROM · IP · SEMP · AVG, abbreviating Frederick's imperial titulature as Emperor of the Romans. The lettering is bold and well-spaced despite the irregular flan typical of hammered billon coinage of the Hohenstaufen period. The overall design reflects the Italo-Norman tradition adapted to imperial iconography under Frederick II. |
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| Mintage | 1242: ND (1242) |
| Additional information |
Frederick II struck these denari at Brindisi during a period of intense conflict with Pope Gregory IX and his successor Innocent IV — the emperor was excommunicated multiple times and spent much of the 1240s managing a papacy that had declared open war on his authority. Brindisi served as a critical Adriatic port and staging ground for Frederick's ambitions in the eastern Mediterranean, which partly explains its sustained mint activity even as the empire fractured politically.
The billon content here is notably debased even by mid-thirteenth-century southern Italian standards, reflecting fiscal strain rather than any deliberate monetary reform.