Obol - Robert II and bishop Adalbero

Laon's episcopal mint operated under a formal duality of authority — the bishop held minting rights, but royal association was made explicit on the coinage itself, a political arrangement that reflected the tight dependency of French ecclesiastical lords on Capetian kingship in the decades immediately following Hugh Capet's contested accession in 987. Robert II's inclusion here was not ceremonial; it was a territorial claim dressed in metal. Adalbero of Laon, the bishop named on this coin, is the same figure who delivered the critical speech at Senlis in 987 that swung the election toward the Capetians over the Carolingian claimant Charles of Lorraine.