12th century coins in County of Barcelona?

[silvernut]

Hello,

My brother's brother-in-law, for some research of his, has asked me (knowing of my interest in numismatics) what the denominations and equivalences were of coinage in the 12th century in the Catalan counties, obviously without realizing that I no nothing (zero!!) about Medieval coins... He is mainly interested in trans-Pyrenaic trade between the County of Barcelona and the major trade centers in modern-day France (Carcassonne, Foix, Montpellier, etc...). I was wondering if someone could give me a rough answer here, or at least a hint as to where I can find anything about it. Thank you very much.

Regards,
Ignasi

[Manzikert]

Hi Ignasi

There is a book 'Conservation of Coinage: Monetary exploitation and its restraint in France, Catalonia and Aragon c.1000-1225 AD' by Thomas N. Bisson, Oxford University Press 1979, which may answer some of his questions.

It is mainly concerned with the extraction of profit from coinage by the various issuing authorities, and the way in which they began to charge for a charter guaranteeing to maintain the standard of the coinage rather than going to the effort of actually manipulating the coins, but it does discuss the varying silver contents and equivalences.

27 representative issues are illustrated, incuding one gold and three silver from Barcelona.

Best wishes

Alan

[silvernut]

Thank you, Alan. I'll look for this book... and give the reference to Manu, of course! Sounds like a difficult-to-find-and-expensive reference!  

I've read a while ago that about every little count minted their own currency, so I'm guessing that the count of Barcelona, being one of the most powerful, minted plenty. I've found coins of that epoch and they are called denarii or double denarii (really "diner", the actual modern Catalan word for money), but weighing less than 1 gram I'm guessing their silver content was slim... But I guess we'll have to get the book to see what their equivalents and denominations were.

Regards,
Ignasi

[Trencavel]

Hi Ignasi,

The catalan coins of this period are "diners" and "òbols" (half "diner"). The best book I now of medieval coins from Catalan countries is:

- Acuñaciones de la Corona Catalano-Aragonesa y de los reinos de Aragón y Navarra.
Autor: Miquel Crusafont i Sabater
Edited by Vico-Segarra, 1992.


I think you can find more informations in a catalan numismatich forum:

http://numiscat.foroactivo.com/

Best regards,

Albert.

[silvernut]

Thank you, Albert. Very useful information.

Regards,
Ignasi

[Trencavel]

Hi Ignasi,

I can't send mp, I don't now why?   

You can find this book in a lot of bookshops. I recommend www.arqueocat.com .

Regards, 

Albert.

[jimm1909]

Hello,

My brother's brother-in-law, for some research of his, has asked me (knowing of my interest in numismatics) what the denominations and equivalences were of coinage in the 12th century in the Catalan counties, obviously without realizing that I no nothing (zero!!) about Medieval coins... He is mainly interested in trans-Pyrenaic trade between the County of Barcelona and the major trade centers in modern-day France (Carcassonne, Foix, Montpellier, etc...). I was wondering if someone could give me a rough answer here, or at least a hint as to where I can find anything about it. Thank you very much.

Regards,
Ignasi

I'd check the bookshops that people have listed.