Catalog
Tremissis - Recaredo I Contempo
| Issuer | Visigothic Kingdom |
|---|---|
| Year | 586-601 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 1 Tremissis |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Facing bust of King Recaredo I rendered in the highly stylized Visigothic manner, with schematic facial features and radiate or diademed head. The effigy is surrounded by a border of pellets or a beaded inner circle, with letters of the royal legend distributed around the periphery in a characteristically degenerate late antique style. A cross or cruciform element appears above the bust, reflecting the king's Catholic faith following his conversion in 589. The overall design derives from late Roman and Byzantine prototypes but exhibits the distinctive abstracted treatment typical of Visigothic gold coinage. |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | ++ RECCAREDVS RE |
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| Additional information |
Recaredo I's conversion from Arianism to Nicene Christianity at the Third Council of Toledo in 589 was one of the most consequential religious-political acts of early medieval Iberia, and the coinage issued across his reign reflects the administrative consolidation that followed. The Visigothic tremissis was directly modeled on late Roman imperial gold — a deliberate claim to Roman continuity by a dynasty that needed the Church's legitimacy as much as it needed military control.
Pliego 136 places this emission among the better-documented Recaredo types, though attribution of individual Visigothic tremisses to specific mints remains contested across much of the corpus.