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Denier - John XIII and emperor Otton I
| Issuer | Papal States |
|---|---|
| Year | 965-972 |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Technique | Hammered |
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| Obverse description | Three-line Latin inscription arranged horizontally within a beaded inner circle, reading IOHS PAPA / OTTO across the field, jointly commemorating Pope John XIII and Emperor Otto I. The legend is set in a plain field with no figurative imagery, reflecting the austere epigraphic style characteristic of early medieval Papal coinage. The lettering is rendered in a rustic Roman majuscule typical of the period. The coin is of irregular flan with some surface porosity consistent with its hammered manufacture and age. |
|---|---|
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| Reverse script | Latin |
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| Additional information |
This denier is one of the earliest surviving coinages struck in the name of a reigning pope, issued under the exceptional political arrangement that followed Otton I's second intervention in Italian affairs. John XIII owed his papacy directly to Otton — he had been expelled from Rome by a factional revolt within months of his election in 965, and it was imperial military force that restored him the following year. The joint authority expressed by this coin was not diplomatic courtesy but a frank acknowledgment of who actually held power in central Italy.
Otton received the imperial crown from John's predecessor in 962, but it was this pontificate that produced coinage formalizing the arrangement.