Catalog
Tremissis - Leovigildo
| Issuer | Visigothic Kingdom |
|---|---|
| Year | 575-586 |
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| Value | 1 Tremissis |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Facing bust of King Leovigild in the field, depicted wearing a diademed helmet and draped imperial-style paludamentum, rendered in the schematic late antique manner characteristic of Visigothic coinage. The portrait is struck in relatively high relief with bold, stylized facial features. A Latin legend encircles the design in the border zone, reading the royal name and title. The flan is irregular and pierced at the top, consistent with ancient or period mounting as a pendant or ornament. |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | +LIVVIGIDSRX |
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| Additional information |
Leovigild fundamentally restructured Visigothic coinage, breaking from the practice of striking in the name of the reigning Eastern emperor and issuing coins under his own name and image instead — a sharp political assertion of independent royal authority. This tremissis falls within that transformative early phase of his reign, before his military consolidation of the peninsula was complete. He had not yet conquered the Suevic kingdom of Galicia, which fell in 585.
The CNV and Pliego references place this piece among the earliest documented royal Visigothic emissions, a series notorious for die variation across numerous minting locations whose exact identifications remain disputed.