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Obol anonymous L cruciform
| Issuer | Archbishopric of Lyon |
|---|---|
| Year | 1200-1260 |
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| Currency | Livre |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | Central field features a plain Greek cross with equal arms, contained within a beaded inner circle. Four wedge-shaped interstitial sections, formed by the cross arms and the inner circle, appear between the arms. A circular Latin legend surrounds the inner circle, reading partially GALLIAR V, referring to the primacy of the Gauls. The overall style is characteristic of anonymous episcopal coinage of the early 13th century, struck on a roughly circular but irregular hammered flan. |
| Reverse script | Latin |
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| Additional information |
The anonymous obols of Lyon occupy an odd constitutional corner of medieval French coinage. The archbishops of Lyon held temporal authority over the city — minting rights included — but repeated conflicts with both the French crown and the burghers of Lyon kept that authority contested throughout the thirteenth century. Louis IX's eventual absorption of the city's secular governance in 1271 effectively ended the archiepiscopal mint's independent operation, making the entire anonymous series a product of that shrinking window of ecclesiastical autonomy.
The cruciform type is attributed by Poey d'Avant to the period straddling several archbishops, none of whom placed their name on the coin — a deliberate choice that remains unexplained in the documentary record.