Denier - Richard I

Richard I of Normandy — "Richard the Fearless" — ruled during a period when the duchy was still consolidating its identity after barely two generations of Scandinavian settlement. His father William Longsword had been assassinated in 942, leaving Richard a child duke surrounded by enemies including the French king Louis IV, who briefly held him captive at Laon. Coinage issued under his name was as much a political assertion of autonomous ducal authority as it was a practical monetary instrument.

The billon alloy reflects the chronic silver shortage affecting northern French minting throughout the tenth century.