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Denier - Pepin the Short Chartres mint, RP

Issuer Unified Carolingian Empire
Year 751-768
Type Standard circulation coin
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Obverse description Royal monogram of Pepin the Short composed of the interlaced letters R and P, surmounted by a horizontal bar, centrally placed in the field. The monogram is rendered in bold relief in the Carolingian style, with the letter K visible at the base of the composition. The entire device is surrounded by a border of large pellets arranged along the coin's periphery.
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Mint Chartres
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Additional information

Pépin III seized the Frankish throne in 751 by deposing the last Merovingian king, Childeric III, with papal backing — a transaction that reshaped the political architecture of Western Europe and demanded immediate coinage reform to legitimize the new dynasty. The Chartres mint, operating under episcopal authority, was among the workshops tasked with producing deniers to that end. Pépin's monetary reforms, consolidating weight and silver content across Frankish minting centers, laid the direct groundwork for Charlemagne's better-documented overhaul of 793–794.

The RP mint signature on this piece — read as a retrograde or abbreviated workshop mark — is catalogued by Gariel but absent from Prou, a gap that reflects how inconsistently these early Carolingian provincial issues were documented in the nineteenth century.