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Denier - Henry of France
| Issuer | Beauvais, Bishopric of |
|---|---|
| Year | 1149-1162 |
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| Currency | Livre |
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| Obverse description | A large cross pattée occupies the central field, its four expanded arms nearly reaching the inner beaded circle. Pellets are placed in the lower two cantons of the cross, a characteristic feature of this episcopal issue. The surrounding legend, rendered in Romanesque majuscule Latin letters, reads HENRICVS EPS, identifying the issuer as Henry, Bishop of Beauvais. The legend is introduced by a Latin cross and runs between the inner beaded border and the irregular coin edge. The overall style is consistent with mid-twelfth-century French feudal billon coinage. |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | ✠ HENRICVS EPS (Translation: Henry, Bishop.) |
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| Additional information |
Henry of France, Bishop of Beauvais from 1149 to 1162, was the younger brother of Louis VII — a dynastic placement that made the Beauvais episcopate politically charged even by twelfth-century standards. Episcopal minting rights in the Oise region were perpetually contested between the bishop and the Capetian crown, and Henry's tenure sat precisely at that friction point. His coins circulated in a diocese that served as a buffer between royal domain and the powerful counts of Flanders.
The billon alloy used here reflects the broader debasement creeping through northern French ecclesiastical issues by mid-century.