Catalog
Denier - Otbert au nom de Louis le Pieux
| Issuer | Bishopric of Strasbourg |
|---|---|
| Year | 906-911 |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | 1.45 g |
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| Reverse description | Reverse displays a bold cross pattée at center, dividing the inner field into four quarters, set within a prominent beaded inner circle. The Carolingian royal legend HLVDOWICVS PIVS (Louis the Pious) runs in the outer annulus between the beaded inner circle and the outer border, preceded by a cross or crosslet. The border consists of alternating pellets and radial lines forming a decorative outer ring. The design follows the standard Carolingian temple-type denier format, here adapted by Bishop Otbert issuing in the name of the Carolingian emperor. |
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| Reverse lettering | ✠ HLVDOWICVS PIVS |
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| Additional information |
Otbert served as Bishop of Strasbourg from 906 to 913, and this denier was struck invoking the name of Louis the Pious — dead since 840 — as a legitimizing fiction. Carolingian episcopal mints routinely borrowed royal names long after the monarch in question had died, a practice rooted in the legal framework that tied minting rights to royal grants. The name on the coin was the grant, not a statement of who reigned.
Kluge's Karolingische Münzen catalogue places this among a broader cluster of "au nom de" issues that proliferated as central Carolingian authority fragmented after 888.