Denier - Charles II as emperor, Arles mint

Charles II — "the Bald" — was crowned Holy Roman Emperor in Rome on Christmas Day 875, inheriting the imperial title after the death of his nephew Louis II. This issue from the Arles mint belongs to the narrow two-year window between that coronation and Charles's death in October 877, making it one of the few Carolingian types to explicitly reflect his imperial rather than royal status. Arles held particular strategic weight in this period, sitting astride the Rhône corridor that connected the Italian and Frankish halves of his newly unified authority.