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Denier - Charlemagne Dorestad
| Issuer | Unified Carolingian Empire |
|---|---|
| Year | 793-812 |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Orientation | Variable alignment ↺ |
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| Obverse description | Central plain cross within a beaded inner circle, with a pellet visible in one angle of the cross. The surrounding field bears the royal legend in retrograde or irregular Latin capitals, arranged around the inner circle. The outer border consists of a continuous beaded ring following the coin's irregular flan edge. The overall design is characteristic of the Carolingian monetary reform coinage struck in the name of Charlemagne as King of the Franks. |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | CΛRLVS REX FR (Translation: Charles, King of the Franks.) |
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| Additional information |
Dorestad, on the Rhine delta near modern Wijk bij Duurstede, was the most commercially active port in the Carolingian world — a hub through which Frisian traders moved English wool, Rhenish wine, and Scandinavian furs. Charlemagne's monetary reform of 793–794 abolished the older lightweight denier and mandated a heavier silver standard, and Dorestad's mint was among those immediately pressed into producing the new coinage precisely because of its volume of cross-channel trade.
The site was repeatedly sacked by Viking raiders from 834 onward, effectively ending its role as a mint town within a generation of these issues.