Catalog
Denier - Charlemagne Holy Cross Abbey
| Issuer | Unified Carolingian Empire |
|---|---|
| Year | 768-771 |
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| Composition | Silver |
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| Obverse description | Two lines of Latin legend arranged horizontally across the field, separated by a horizontal bar above. The royal monogram or abbreviated inscription reads KA Rx F, denoting Carolus Rex Francorum (Charles, King of the Franks). The lettering is rendered in a bold, angular Carolingian style characteristic of early hammered silver coinage. The flan is irregular and slightly ragged at the edges, as is typical of hand-struck deniers of this period. |
|---|---|
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| Obverse lettering | KA Rx F (Translation: Charles, king of the Franks.) |
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| Additional information |
This denier dates to the opening years of Charlemagne's reign, before the death of his brother Carloman in 771 unified Frankish rule under a single hand. The Holy Cross Abbey at Meaux held minting rights during this period, one of dozens of ecclesiastical mints operating under Carolingian authority — a deliberate policy of distributing coinage production across loyal church institutions rather than concentrating it at royal centers.
The absence of a Prou reference is telling; Prou's corpus, for all its authority, left measurable gaps in ecclesiastical Carolingian issues.