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Italy (Venice): silver grosso of Antonio Venier, ca. 1382-1400lordmarcovan
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Andrea Dandolo (1343 - 1354 A.D.)Italy, Venice
AR Soldino di nuovo tipo
O: +•ANDR•DAN-"DVLO•DVX•, Doge kneeling left, holding banner.
R: +•S MARCVS VENETI•, nimbate rampant lion left, holding banner; S to left.
Secondo Aventurado, mintmaster.Struck 1353-1354.
15mm
.58g
Cf. CNI VII 23; Papadopoli 5 var. (obv. legend); cf. Paolucci 5. Mat
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Anonymous, Gazetta, VENETVS + SANCTVS MARCVSBI Gazetta (2 Soldi)
Anonymous
Republic of Venice
Decree of September 12, 1565
No Date
17.5mm 0.60gr 3h
O: DILIGITR IVSTITIA; Justice seated, crowned, holding sword in left hand, scepter, orb and scales in right hand, seated on two lions, facing.
R: VENETVS + SANCTVS MARCVS; Lion of St. Mark, nimble, walking left, with outstretched wings, looking down at open book of gospels to left.
Venice Mint
Paolucci II 715; Papadopoli 156; MB 175; Coprus Nummorum Italicorum 340.
JDP Coins Orland Park, IL/Mid-America Coin & Currency Show
2/14/20 2/24/20
Nicholas Z
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Aquileia AQSAquileia
A former city of the Roman Empire, situated at the head of the Adriatic, on what is now the Austrian sea-coast, in the country of Goerz, at the confluence of the Anse an the Torre. It was for many centuries the seat of a famous Western patriarchate, and as such plays and important part in ecclesiastical history, particularly in that of the Holy See and Northern Italy.
The site is now known as Aglar, a village of 1500 inhabitants. The city arose (180 B.C.) on the narrow strip between the mountains and the lagoons, during the Illyrian wars, as a means of checking the advance of that warlike people. Its commerce grew rapidly, and when Marcus Aurelius made it (168) the principal fortress of the empire against the barbarians of the North and East, it rose to the acme of its greatness and soon had a population of 100,000. It was pillaged in 238 by the Emperor Maximinus, and it was so utterly destroyed in 452 by Attila, that it was afterwards hard to recognize its original site. The Roman inhabitants, together with those of smaller towns in the neighbourhood, fled to the lagoons, and so laid the foundations of the city of Venice. Aquileia arose again, but much diminished, and was once more destroyed (590) by the Lombards; after which it came under the Dukes of Friuli, was again a city of the Empire under Charlemagne, and in the eleventh century became a feudal possesion of its patriarch, whose temporal authority, however, was constantly disputed and assailed by the territorial nobility.
002. CONSTANTINOPOLIS Aquileia
RIC VII Aquileia 129 R4
Ex-Varangianecoli
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ARMATA ET MOREA -- Under VeniceARMATA ET MOREA -- Under Venice - Copper Gazetta da 2 Soldi, 1688-1691. Obv.: S.MARC.VEN. Venetian Lion or St. Mark facing, in exergue: * II * Rev.: ARMATA /E.T/ MOREA [Between 2 Rosettes]. ARMATA = Navy; Morea is the name for Peloponnisus. Because the first Venetian newspapers cost 2 Soldi, the coin acquired the name GAZETTA. Reference: Paolucci 816.dpaul7
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Byzantine Empire: Bulgaria, Second Empire, George Terter I, Silver Imitation of a Giovanni Dandolo Grosso.Unknown Mint 1280-1289 .02g - 19mm, Axis 12h.
Obv: IC-XC - Christ Pantokrator enthroned facing.
Rev: + ONVBHBT IODAHDVL / DV+ - Dux and St. Mark standing facing, holding banner of Venice between them.
Ref: Dochev, Katalog -; Raduchev & Zhekov Type 1.17.1; Youroukova & Penchev 160.
Provenance: Ex Plamen Rusev. Chris Scarlioli Collection.Christian Scarlioli
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CALABRIA, Taras. Circa 272-240 BC. AR Nomos6.59g, 19mm, 8h.
Philemenos, magistrate.
Youth on horse to right; ΦI before, [ΦIΛHMENOΣ] below.
Taras astride dolphin to left, holding tripod and trident; filleted bukranion in right field, ΤΑΡΑΣ below.
Vlasto 884; HN Italy 1035; SNG Copenhagen 926.
Very Fine; old cabinet tone and some encrustations on obv.
From a private US collection;
Purchased privately from Degani Filatelia e Numismatica, Venice.Leo
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Crusader . Greece under Republic of Venice, Doge Antonio Venier, 21 October 1382 - 23 November 1400Billon tornesello, Stahl tornesello 14 - 17
O : + ANTO VENERIO DUX, cross pattée
R : + VEXELIFER VENETIA, winged lion of San Marco, seated facing, holding a book
Ex FORUM ; Ex Chalkis Hoard ; Ex Alex G. Malloy
The tornesello was minted in Venice but was specifically designated for use by the administrators of colonies of Coron and Modon, Negroponte and Crete. Struck in an alloy of 1/9 silver, they were intended as a replacement for the Frankish denier tournois, last minted in 1350 .Vladislav D
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Crusader . Greece under Republic of Venice, Doge Giovanni Dolfin, 1356 - 1361Crusader . Greece under Republic of Venice, Doge Giovanni Dolfin, 1356 - 1361
Billon tornesello . 0.584g, 16.5mm.
Obverse + IO : DELPhYNO DVX, cross pattée
Reverse + : VEXELIFER : VENETIA, winged lion of San Marco, seated facing, holding a book .
Stahl tornesello 4
ex Chalkis Hoard, ex Alex G. Malloy
Very rare .
The tornesello was minted in Venice but was specifically designated for use by the administrators of colonies of Coron and Modon, Negroponte and Crete. Struck in an alloy of 1/9 silver, they were intended as a replacement for the Frankish denier tournois, last minted in 1350 .
Vladislav D
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Crusader States, Normans of Sicily, William II, AD 1166-1189, AE Trifollaro, Spahr 117.Crusader States, Sicily, William II, AD 1166-1189, AE Trifollaro (24-25 mm), 8,82 g.
Obv.: Facing head of lioness within circle of dots.
Re.: Palm tree with five branches and two bunches of dates, within circle of dots.
Biaggi 1231, Spahr 117 ; Grie 210 (Roger II); Thom 2480 .
William II of Sicily (1153-1189), called the Good, was king of Sicily and Naples from 1166 to 1189.
William was only thirteen years old at the death of his father William I, when he was placed under the regency of his mother, Margaret of Navarre.
Until the king came of age in 1171 the government was controlled first by the chancellor Stephen du Perche, cousin of Margaret (1166-1168), and then by Walter Ophamil, archbishop of Palermo, and Matthew of Ajello, the vice-chancellor.
William's character is very indistinct. Lacking in military enterprise, secluded and pleasure-loving, he seldom emerged from his palace life at Palermo. Yet his reign is marked by an ambitious foreign policy and a vigorous diplomacy. Champion of the papacy and in secret league with the Lombard cities he was able to defy the common enemy, Frederick I Barbarossa. In 1174 and 1175 he made treaties with Genoa and Venice and his marriage in February 1177 with Joan, daughter of Henry II of England and Eleanor of Aquitaine, marks his high position in European politics.
In July 1177, he sent a delegation of Archbishop Romuald of Salerno and Count Roger of Andria to sign the Treaty of Venice with the emperor. To secure the peace, he sanctioned the marriage of his aunt Constance, daughter of Roger II, with Frederick's son Henry, afterwards the emperor Henry VI, causing a general oath to be taken to her as his successor in case of his death without heirs. This step, fatal to the Norman kingdom, was possibly taken that William might devote himself to foreign conquests.
Unable to revive the African dominion, William directed his attack on Egypt, from which Saladin threatened the Latin kingdom of Jerusalem. In July 1174, 50,000 men were landed before Alexandria, but Saladin's arrival forced the Sicilians to re-embark in disorder. A better prospect opened in the confusion in Byzantine affairs which followed the death of Manuel Comnenus (1180), and William took up the old design and feud against Constantinople. Durazzo was captured (June 11, 1185). Afterwards while the army marched upon Thessalonica, the fleet sailed towards the same target capturing on their way the Ionian islands of Corfu, Cephalonia,Ithaca and Zakynthos. In August Thessalonica surrendered to the joint attack of the Sicilian fleet and army.
The troops then marched upon the capital, but the troop of the emperor Isaac Angelus overthrew the invaders on the banks of the Strymon (September 7, 1185). Thessalonica was at once abandoned and in 1189 William made peace with Isaac, abandoning all the conquests. He was now planning to induce the crusading armies of the West to pass through his territories, and seemed about to play a leading part in the Third Crusade. His admiral Margarito, a naval genius equal to George of Antioch, with 60 vessels kept the eastern Mediterranean open for the Franks, and forced the all-victorious Saladin to retire from before Tripoli in the spring of 1188.
In November 1189 William died, leaving no children. Though Orderic Vitalis records a (presumably short-lived) son in 1181: Bohemond, Duke of Apulia. His title of "the Good" is due perhaps less to his character than to the cessation of internal troubles in his reign. The "Voyage" of Ibn Jubair, a traveller in Sicily in 1183-1185, shows William surrounded by Muslim women and eunuchs, speaking and reading Arabic and living like "a Moslem king."
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
my ancient coin database
Arminius
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CYPRUS - Under Venetian RuleCYPRUS - Under Venetian Rule, DOGE GIROLAMO PRIOLI - 1559-1567. Billon Denier. Obv.: Cyprus rampant lion in circle; S.MARCVS.VENETVS .Rev.: Cross with droplets in angles; +HIERON.PRIOLI.DVX. Like SCHLUMBERGER VIII, 7.dpaul7
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CYPRUS - Under Venetian rule, Lorenzo PrioliCYPRUS - Under Venetian rule, Lorenzo Prioli, Doge of Cyprus (1556-1559), billon carzi (14mm). Obv.: Lion of Cyprus, S. MARCVS VENETVS Rev.: Cross center, small wedges in angles; LAVREN. PRIOLI. DVX. Reference: NNL 6, TCC23.dpaul7
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Girolamo Priuli CyprusObv: +S. MARCVS. VENETVS
Rev: +HIERON. PRIOLI. DVX
Girolamo Priuli was Doge 1559-1567. This is a billon kartza, carzia or denarius struck in Venice for use in Cyprus
Thanks to Manzikert for attribution
-:Bacchus:-Bacchus
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Italian States, Venice, Antonio Venier as Doge 1382-1400, Grosso, Type Three, Full Weight, 1394-1399 Obv. ANTO . VENERIO-. S . M . VENETI .
St. Mark and the Doge standing facing, holding pendant flag between them, D / V / X in center field
* | * across fields
Rev. . + . TIBI . LAVS-. 7 . GLORIA .Christ, nimbate, enthroned facing, holding book of Gospels
Plain Edge
22mm
1.90g
Skyler
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Italian States, Venice, Jacopo Tiepolo as Doge, 1229-1249 AR GrossoObv. . · IA · TЄV · PL’ · DVX · S · M · VЄNЄTI, Doge and St. Mark standing facing, holding banner between them
Rev. Christ seated facing on throne and holding Gospels; barred IC-XC across upper field Skyler
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Italian States. Aquileia, Patriarchate.CNI VI 1, Bernardi 69a, Biaggi 193.
AR Soldo da 12 bagattini (denar), .57 gr., 16 mm., struck 1412-1420 under Patriarch Louis II of Teck (Italian, Ludovico II di Teck; German, Ludwig II von Teck) (1412-1439).
Obv: +LODOVICVS â—¦ dVX â—¦ d â—¦ TECh, shield with Patriarchal coat of arms (diamond pattern).
Rev: PAThE – AQVILE, Nimbate Madonna with nimbate infant Jesus to her right.
Aquileia was founded by the Romans in 180/181 B.C., and became one of the most prominent cities in the Roman Empire. It was destroyed by Attila in 452 A.D. and again by the Lombards in 590. The Lombard Dukes of Friuli ruled Aquileia and the surrounding territory until 774, when Charlemagne conquered the Lombard duchy and turned it into a Frankish duchy of the Carolingian Empire. By the 11th century, the patriarch of Aquileia had grown strong enough to assert temporal sovereignty over Friuli and Aquileia. In 1077, the Holy Roman Emperor gave the region to the patriarch as a feudal possession. Louis II of Teck was a German prelate, who was elected as patriarch with the help of Holy Roman Emperor Sigismund of Luxemburg, the King of Hungary. During the war with the Republic of Venice, which broke out in 1411, Louis sided for Sigismund. The patriarchate was conquered by Venice in 1419, and the patriarch lost his temporal authority on July 7, 1420, when his territories were secularized by Venice.Stkp
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Italian States. Venice. Republic.Stahl 14-17, CNI VII, p. 112 48-57, Papadopoli, p. 321 7.
Billon tornesselo, 16 mm., struck 1382-1400 under Doge Antonio Venier (October 21, 1382 – November 23, 1400).
Obv: + • ANTO’ • VENERIO DVX [retrograde Ns], central cross pattée.
Rev: + • VEXILIFER VENETIA[L or R] [retrograde Ns], winged lion of St. Mark, seated facing, holding a book.
Note: As far as can be ascertained from the portions of the legend that are legible, this coin is a variant that is not recorded in the CNI. Of the ten variants recorded there, only two (Nos. 56 and 57 have retrograde Ns (with No. 56 ending in an L and No. 57 ending in an R). The obverse cross on this coin does not match the style on either of these, and the configurations of small pellets also differs.
Note: The tornesselo was minted in Venice, starting in 1353, for use in its Greek colonies of Coron and Modon, Negroponte and Crete, after the Frankish mints of Athens and Achaia ceased striking the denier tournois, in 1350. The name “tornesello,” meaning “little tower,” is derived from the tower on the reverse of the local Frankish coins that preceded it. The reverse legend is a truncated form of “Vexilifer Venetiarum,” meaning, “standard-bearer of Venice.” The coin’s use spread beyond the Venetian colonies until it became the principal coinage in Greece. They were struck in an alloy of eight parts copper to one part silver, and are typically poorly struck.
Stkp
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Italian States. Venice. Grosso. Andrea DandoloCNI VII --; Papadopoli --; Paolucci _; Biaggi _
AR Grosso (0.965 fineness; 2.178 g.), struck under 54th Dodge Andrea Dandolo (1342–1354); 1.86 g., 20.18 mm. max., 180°
Obv.: • A • DANDVLO • - • S M VENETI • [retrograde S], Doge and St. Mark standing facing, holding banner between them, D / V / X in center.
Rev.: Barred IC-XC across field, Christ enthroned facing.
This obverse legend, as recorded in CNI and Papadopoli,is AND or ANDR DANDVLO.Stkp
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Italian States. Venice. Grosso. Bartolomeo GradenigoItalian States. Venice. Grosso. Bartolomeo Gradenigo
CNI VII 9-14 var.; Papadopoli 2.1; Paolucci 2; Biaggi 2814
AR Grosso (0.965 fineness; 2.178 g.), struck under 53rd Dodge Bartolomeo Gradenigo (1339-1342); 1.89 g., 19.44 mm. max., (clipped) 180°
Obv.: • BA GRADONICO [•] – [•] S M VЄNЄTI • , Doge and St. Mark standing facing, holding banner between them, D / V/ X in center.
Rev.: Barred IC-XC across field, Christ enthroned facing, pellet between feet.Stkp
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Italian States. Venice. Grosso. Francesco DandoloCNI VII 16; Papadopoli 4.1; Paolucci _; Biaggi _
AR Grosso (0.965 fineness; 2.178 g.), struck under 52nd Dodge Francesco Dandolo (1328-1339); 2.06 g., 19.79 mm. max., 180°
Obv.: • FRA • DANDVLO [•] - • S • M • VENETI, Doge and St. Mark standing facing, holding banner between them, D / V / X in center.
Rev.: Barred IC-XC across field, Christ enthroned facing.Stkp
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Italian States. Venice. Grosso. Giovanni DandoloCNI VII 5 var. (legend); Papadopoli 2._; Paolucci _; Biaggi _
AR Grosso (0.965 fineness; 2.178 g.), struck under 48th Dodge Giovanni Dandolo (1280-1289); 1.79 g., 19.97 mm. max., 180°
Obv.: • IA DNDVLO• - • S M VENETI [retrograde S], Doge and St. Mark standing facing, holding banner between them, D / V / X in center.
Rev.: Barred IC-XC across field, Christ enthroned facing.Stkp
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Italian States. Venice. Grosso. Giovanni SoranzoCNI VII 19; Papadopoli 2.1; Paolucci _; Biaggi _
AR Grosso (0.965 fineness; 2.178 g.), struck under 51st Dodge Giovanni Soranzo (1312–1328); 2.12 g., 20.37 mm. max., 180°
Obv.: • IO SVRANTIO - • S • M • VENETI, Doge and St. Mark standing facing, holding banner between them, D / V / X in center.
Rev.: Barred IC-XC across field, Christ enthroned facingStkp
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Italian States. Venice. Grosso. Jacopo ContariniCNI VII 3; Papadopoli 1.--; Paolucci _; Biaggi _
AR Grosso (0.965 fineness; 2.178 g.), struck under 47th Dodge Jacopo Contarini (1275-1280); 1.84 g., 19.03 mm. max., 180°
Obv.: • IA • 9TARIN • -- • S • M • VENETI, Doge and St. Mark standing facing, holding banner between them, D / V / X in center.
Rev.: Barred IC-XC across field, Christ enthroned facing, pellet under the left elbow.Stkp
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Italian States. Venice. Grosso. Lorenzo TiepoloCNI VII 3; Papadopoli 1.3; Paolucci _; Biaggi _
AR Grosso (0.965 fineness; 2.178 g.), struck under 46th Dodge Lorenzo Tiepolo (1268–1275); 2.09 g., 20.59 mm. max., 180°
Obv.: • LA • TEVPL • - • S • M • VENETI •, Doge and St. Mark standing facing, holding banner between them, D / V / X in center.
Rev.: Barred IC-XC across field, Christ enthroned facing, pellet under right elbow.Stkp
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Italian States. Venice. Grosso. Pietro GradenigoCNI VII 14; Papadopoli 2.7 [?]; Paolucci _; Biaggi _
AR Grosso (0.965 fineness; 2.178 g.), struck under 49th Dodge Pietro Gradenigo (1289-1311); 2.15 g., 20.48 mm. max., 180°
Obv.: PE • GRADONICO • - • S • M • VENETI •, Doge and St. Mark standing facing, holding banner between them, annulet to lower left, D / V / X in center.
Rev.: Barred IC-XC across field, Christ enthroned facing.Stkp
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Italian States. Venice. Grosso. Reniero ZenoCNI VII 15; Papadopoli 1.15; Paolucci _; Biaggi _
AR Grosso (0.965 fineness; 2.178 g.), struck under 45th Dodge Reniero Zeno (1252-1268); 2.02 g., 20.04 mm. max., 180°
Obv.: • RA • GENO • - • S • M • VENETI •, Doge and St. Mark standing facing, holding banner between them, D / V / X in center.
Rev.: Barred IC-XC across field, Christ enthroned facing, pellet between feet.Stkp
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Italian States. Venice. Republic.CNI VII, p. 315 214 var.
Billon tornesselo, 0.46 g., 13.07 mm. max., 270°, struck under Doge Pietro Lando (1538-1545).
Obv: +[ • PET • ]LANDO • DVX, central cross pattée with pellets in quarters and at ends of cross arms.
Rev: + S MARCVS • VENET •, winged lion of St. Mark, seated facing, holding a book.
This coin is a variant that is not recorded in the CNI. Unlike the three Lando tornesello recorded there (Nos. 212-214), this coin lacks pellets on the reverse before and after the S.
The tornesselo was minted in Venice, starting in 1353, for use in its Greek colonies of Coron and Modon, Negroponte and Crete, after the Frankish mints of Athens and Achaia ceased striking the denier tournois, in 1350. The name “tornesello,” meaning “little tower,” is derived from the tower on the reverse of the local Frankish coins that preceded it. The original reverse legend was a truncated form of “Vexilifer Venetiarum,” meaning, “standard-bearer of Venice,” but that legend was changed during the reign of Doge Cristoforo Moro (1462-1471) to an abbreviated form of Saint Marks Venice. The coin’s use spread beyond the Venetian colonies until it became the principal coinage in Greece. They were struck in an alloy of eight parts copper to one part silver, and are typically poorly struck. By the time this coin was struck, Venice had lost all of its colonies for which the tornesello was originally intended other than Crete.Stkp
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Italian States. Venice. Republic. Stahl 8-11, CNI VII, pp. 101-102 58-69, Papadopoli, p. 217 7-8.
Billon tornesello, struck under Doge Andrea Contarini (1367-1382), .59 g., 16.52 mm. max., 90°.
Obv: + • ANDR’ • CTAR•’ DVX •, central cross pattée.
Rev: + VEXILIFER[...] VENETIAʯ,, winged lion of St. Mark, seated facing, holding a book.
Note: This coin is a variant that is not recorded in the CNI. Of the twelve variants recorded there, none have a pellet between the second R and the apostrophe on the obverse.
Note: The tornesello was minted in Venice, starting in 1353, for use in its Greek colonies of Coron and Modon, Negroponte and Crete, after the Frankish mints of Athens and Achaia ceased striking the denier tournois, in 1350. The name “tornesello,” meaning “little tower,” is derived from the tower on the reverse of the local Frankish coins that preceded it. The reverse legend is a truncated form of “Vexilifer Venetiarum,” meaning, “standard-bearer of Venice.” The coin’s use spread beyond the Venetian colonies until it became the principal coinage in Greece. They were struck in an alloy of eight parts copper to one part silver, and are typically poorly struck.Stkp
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Italian States. Venice. Republic. Stahl 18-19, CNI VII, pp. 117-118, 38-43, Plate III 27; Papadopoli, p. 240 7.
Billon tornesello, struck under Doge Michael Steno (1400-1413), .55 g., 16.96 mm. max., 180°.
Obv: •+• MIChAEL STEN' DVX, central cross pattée.
Rev: +• VEXILIFER • VENET[IAʯ,] [retrograde N], winged lion of St. Mark, seated facing, holding a book.
Note: This coin is a variant that is not recorded in the CNI. Of the six variants recorded there, none have a pellet on either ide of the cross but do not have pellets between words on the obverse.
Note: The tornesello was minted in Venice, starting in 1353, for use in its Greek colonies of Coron and Modon, Negroponte and Crete, after the Frankish mints of Athens and Achaia ceased striking the denier tournois, in 1350. The name “tornesello,” meaning “little tower,” is derived from the tower on the reverse of the local Frankish coins that preceded it. The reverse legend is a truncated form of “Vexilifer Venetiarum,” meaning, “standard-bearer of Venice.” The coin’s use spread beyond the Venetian colonies until it became the principal coinage in Greece. They were struck in an alloy of eight parts copper to one part silver, and are typically poorly struck.Stkp
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Italian States. Venice. Republic. Stahl 3, CNI VII, p. 82-83, 21-27, Plate III, 21; Papadopoli, p. 192, 8.
Billon tornesello, struck under Doge Giovanni Gradenigo (1355-1356), .54 g., 16.60 mm. max., 0°.
Obv: •+• IO : GRADOICO • DVX, central cross pattée.
Rev: +• VEXILIFER : VENECIAʯ,, winged lion of St. Mark, seated facing, holding a book.
Note: The tornesello was minted in Venice, starting in 1353, for use in its Greek colonies of Coron and Modon, Negroponte and Crete, after the Frankish mints of Athens and Achaia ceased striking the denier tournois, in 1350. The name “tornesello,” meaning “little tower,” is derived from the tower on the reverse of the local Frankish coins that preceded it. The reverse legend is a truncated form of “Vexilifer Venetiarum,” meaning, “standard-bearer of Venice.” The coin’s use spread beyond the Venetian colonies until it became the principal coinage in Greece. They were struck in an alloy of eight parts copper to one part silver, and are typically poorly struck.Stkp
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Italian States. Venice. Republic. Billon tornesello, contemporary counterfeit, .66 g., 16.17 mm. max., 270°.
Obv: + Bungled legend, central cross pattée.
Rev: + Bungled legend (with VEN at 6 o'clock), winged lion of St. Mark, seated facing, holding a book.
Probably copied from a tornesello of Dodge Antonio Venier (1382-1400) in the Turkish settlements off the west coast of Asia Minor, per Alan Stahl (personal communication).Stkp
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Italian States. Venice. Republic. Stahl 6-7, CNI VII, p. 94, 20-23, Plate III, 27; Papadopoli, p. 204, 5.
Billon tornesello, struck under Doge Marco Cornaro (1365-1367), .63 g., 16.85 mm. max., 0°.
Obv: •+• MARC CORN • DVX, central cross pattée.
Rev: + VEXILIFER • VENECIAʯ,, winged lion of St. Mark, seated facing, holding a book.Stkp
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Italian States. Venice. Republic. Stahl 5, CNI VII, pp. 90-91, 28-31, Plate III 27; Papadopoli, p. 201 4.
Billon tornesello, struck under Doge Lorenzo Celsi (1361-1365), .43 g., 17.31 mm. max., 90°.
Obv: [•+•] LAVR • CELSI • DVX, central cross pattée.
Rev: + VEXILIFER • VENECIA Å”, winged lion of St. Mark, seated facing, holding a book.Stkp
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Italian States. Venice. Republic. Stahl 4, CNI VII, pp. 86-87, 26-29, Plate III, 27; Papadopoli, p. 197, 4.
Billon tornesello, struck under Doge Gioffino Dolfin/Delfino (1356-1361), .52 g., 17.0 mm. max., 90°.
Obv: • + IO DELPhYNO • DVX, central cross pattée.
Rev: + : VEXILIFER : VENECIAʯ,, winged lion of St. Mark, seated facing, holding a book.Stkp
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Italian States. Venice. Republic. Stahl 12-13, CNI VII, p. 106, 18-19, 27; Papadopoli, p. 221, 4.
Billon tornesello, struck under Doge Michele Morosini, (June 10 to October 16, 1382), .63 g., 17.3 mm. max., 90° (clashed dies).
Obv: •+• MIChL M[AVRO]C DVX, central cross pattée.
Rev: + • V[EXIL]IFER • VEN[E]TIAʯ,, winged lion of St. Mark, seated facing, holding a book
Michelle Morosini died of the plague just four months after becoming dodge. Torneselli minted in his name are rare; the Chalkis Hoard contained just 26 specimens out of a total of 4,806 coins. By contrast there were 789 coins of his immediate predecessor and 2,629 of his immediate successor.
ex Chalkis Hoard, ex Alex G. Malloy, ex Forum Ancient Coins.Stkp
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Italian States. Venice. Republic.CNI VII, pp. 237-238, Nos. 55-57
Billon tornesello, struck under Doge Antonio Grimani (1521-1523); .50 g., 14.86 mm. max., 90°
Obv: ANT [• GRI]MANVS[ D]VX, central cross pattée with pellets.
Rev: [+] • S • MARCVS • VENE[TI •], winged lion of St. Mark, seated facing, holding a book.Stkp
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Italian States. Venice. Republic.CNI VII, p. 283, No. 381
Billon tornesello, struck under Doge Andrea Gritti (LXXVIIth dodge; 1523-1528); .40 g., 14.37 mm. max., 270°
Obv: • ANDREAS • [GRIT]TI DVX, central cross pattée with pellets.
Rev: + • S • MARCVS • VENET[I •], winged lion of St. Mark, seated facing, holding a book.Stkp
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Italian States. Venice. Soldino. Andrea ContariniCNI VII 40 var,; Papadopoli 5 var.; Paolucci _; Biaggi _
AR Soldino (0.952 fineness; .513 g.), Second Type, struck under 60th dodge Andrea Contarini (1367–1382) by mint-master Massari Sconosciuti; .50 g., 14.59 mm. max., 0°
Obv.: + ANDR’9 -- TAR’ DVX, Doge standing left, holding banner, R in left field
Rev.: + • S • MARCVS • VENETI •, Winged lion of St. Mark facing left, holding book with both front paws all in inner circle
A Venetian Senate resolution on December 19, 1369 ordered a reduction in weight and purity to the solidini to adjust for the increasing cost of silver in the international market. The change was denoted with the addition of the moneyer's initial on the obverse and the reverse design of the winged lion replacing the lion walking with banner.Stkp
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Italy, Doges of VeniceItaly, Doges of Venice, AR Grosso, 289-1311 (?) AD. Christ enthroned/Doge and St. Mari, standing facing, holding banner between them. Holed.
Gift to Fr. Daniel MorenoMolinari
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Italy, St. Peter's gate in the Basicilica of St. Mark in Venice.This is one of the frontal (western facade) portico entrances to St Mark's basilica in Venice. The church was founded in 1063 and is an fine example of byzantine architecture. Many of the columns, reliefs, and sculptures were spoils stripped from the churches, palaces, and public monuments of Constantinople as a result of the Venetian participation in the Fourth Crusade. Among the plundered artefacts brought back to Venice were the four ancient bronze horses that were placed prominently over the entry.
The mosaic depicts the arrival St Mark's body in Venice.
St Mark the Evangelist's body is buried here, after the Venetians plundered if from Alexandria.
Not shown, but sitting just above this mosaic, were the 4 bronze horses that adorned the main gate to Constantinople. Since 1974, these are exact replicas - the originals are in a nearby museum. The venetians carried them off as plunder when the 4th crusade sacked Constantinople in 1204.Ron C2
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Italy, Venezia, Giovanni Dolfin, (1356–1361 A.D.), AR-Soldino n.d, Biaggi 2833,Italy, Venezia, Giovanni Dolfin, (1356–1361 A.D.), AR-Soldino n.d, Biaggi 2833,
avers:- +Iohs DELP HYNO DVX *, Kneeling Doge.
revers:- +S MARCVS VENITI, Nimbate lion rampant holds banner.
diameter: 15,5mm, weight: 0,51g, axis:2h,
mint: Venezia , , mint mark: ,
date: 1356–1361 A.D., ref: Biaggi 2833,
Q-001quadrans
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Italy, Venice - Grand Canal and St. MarksVeiw from the ferry 1999Randygeki(h2)
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Italy, Venice, Basilica di Santa Maria Assunta Torcello interior mural showing the last judgementthis church is a notable example of Late Paleochristian architecture, one of the most ancient religious edifices in the Veneto, and containing the earliest mosaics in the area of Venice. The basilica was founded by the exarch Isaac of Ravenna in 639. The mosaic pieces are 24kt gold cabochons and the colors are largely semi-precious stone. It was built when the area was still very much under the influence of the Byzantine empire.
Sadly, this building is WAY off the beaten path and is almost never visited.
The skull of Saint Cecilia is kept as a relic here.Ron C2
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Italy, Venice, Giovanni Soranzo AR Grosso, Doge LI (1312-1328 AD)Medieval Europe, Italy, Venice, Giovanni Soranzo AR Grosso, Doge LI (1312-1328 AD), 2.7g, 19.0mm, 12h
Obverse: IO SVRANTIO DVX S M VENETI, Doge and S. Marco standing facing, holding banner between them.
Reverse: Christ seated facing on throne, wearing nimbus crown, pallium, and colobium; barred IC-XC across fields.
Reference: Paolucci p. 26, 2 , Papadopoli 3.3
Gil-galad
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Italy- Rome- The Pantheon of Marco V Agripa and HadrianPantheon
The Pantheon is a building in Rome which was originally built as a temple to all the gods of the Roman state religion, but has been a Christian church since the 7th century AD. It is the only building from the Greco-Roman world which is completely intact and which has been in continuous use throughout its history.
History
The original Pantheon was built in 27 BC under the Roman Republic, during the third consulship of Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa, and his name is inscribed on the portico of the building. The inscription reads M·AGRIPPA·L·F·COS·TERTIUM·FECIT, "Marcus Agrippa, son of Lucius, consul for the third time, built this."
In fact, Agrippa's Pantheon was destroyed by fire in AD 80, and the Pantheon was completely rebuilt in about AD 125, during the reign of the Emperor Hadrian, as date-stamps on the bricks reveal. It was totally reconstructed, with the text of the original inscription (referring to Agrippa) added to the new facade, a common practice in Hadrian's rebuilding projects all over Rome.
Hadrian was a cosmopolitan emperor who travelled widely in the east and was a great admirer of Greek culture. He seems to have intended the Pantheon, a temple to all the gods, to be a sort of ecumenical or syncretist gesture to the subjects of the Roman Empire who did not worship the old gods of Rome, or who (as was increasingly the case) worshipped them under other names.
In AD 609 the Byzantine emperor Phocas gave the building to Pope Boniface IV, who reconsecrated it as a Christian church, the Church of Mary and all the Martyr Saints (Santa Maria ad Martyres), which title it retains.
The building's consecration as a church saved it from the abandonment and spoliation which befell the majority of ancient Rome's buildings during the early mediaeval period. The only loss has been the external sculptures, which adorned the pediment above Agrippa's inscription. The marble interior and the great bronze doors have survived, although the latter have been restored several times.
During the reign of Pope Urban VIII, the Pope ordered the bronze ceiling of the Pantheon's portico melted down. Most of the bronze was used to make bombards for the fortification of Castel Sant'Angelo, with the remaining amount used by the Apostolic Chamber for various other works. (It is also said that the bronze was used by Bernini in creating the baldachin above the main altar of St. Peter's Basilica, but according to at least one expert, the Pope's accounts state that about 90% of the bronze was used for the cannon, and that the bronze for the baldachin came from Venice.[1]) This led to the Latin proverb, "Quod non fecerunt barbari, fecerunt Barberini" ("What the barbarians did not do, the Barberinis [family name of Urban VIII] did").
Since the Renaissance the Pantheon has been used as a tomb. Among those buried there are the painters Raphael and Annibale Caracci, the architect Baldassare Peruzzi and two kings of Italy: Vittorio Emanuele II and Umberto I, as well as Vittorio Emanuele's Queen, Margharita.
Although Italy has been a republic since 1946, volunteer members of Italian monarchist organisations maintain a vigil over the royal tombs in the Pantheon. This has aroused protests from time to time from republicans, but the Catholic authorities allow the practice to continue, although the Italian Ministry of Cultural Heritage [2] is in charge of the security and maintenance. The Pantheon is still a church and Masses are still celebrated in the church, particularly for weddings.
Structure
The building is circular with a portico of three ranks of huge granite Corinthian columns (8 in the first rank and 16 in total) under a pediment opening into the rotunda, under a coffered, concrete dome, with a central opening (oculus), open to the sky. The height to the oculus and the diameter of the interior circle are the same (43 metres), so the whole interior would fit exactly within a cube (alternatively, the interior could house a sphere 43 metres in diameter). The dome is the largest surviving from antiquity, and was the largest dome in western Europe until Brunelleschi's dome of the Duomo of Florence was completed in 1436.
It may well be noted that the proportions of the building are in discord with respect to the classical ideal. Most evident is the rather large pediment, which appears far too "heavy" for the columns supporting it. The reason for this was the expectation that the building would be much taller than it actually is, which would effect larger columns. However, by the time the pediment was built, it was realised that the proposed height was unrealistic, and so the builders had to settle with a building somewhat out of proportion.
The composition of the Roman concrete used in the dome remains a mystery. An unreinforced dome in these proportions made of modern concrete would hardly stand the load of its own weight, since concrete has very low tensile strength, yet the Pantheon has stood for centuries. It is known from Roman sources that their concrete is made up of a pasty hydrate lime; pozzolanic ash from a nearby volcano; and fist-sized pieces of rock. In this, it is very similar to modern concrete. The high tensile strength appears to come from the way the concrete was applied in very small amounts and then was tamped down to remove excess water at all stages. This appears to have prevented the air bubbles that normally form in concrete as the material dries, thus increasing its strength enormously.
As the best preserved example of monumental Roman architecture, the Pantheon was enormously influential on European and American architects from the Renaissance to the 19th century. Numerous city halls, universities and public libraries echo its portico-and-dome structure. Examples of notable buildings influenced by the Pantheon include Thomas Jefferson's Rotunda at the University of Virginia, Low Library at Columbia University, New York, and the State Library of Victoria in Melbourne, Australia.
Peter Wissing
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Louis I le Pieux (the Pious). Christiana Religio DenierCarolingian. Louis I le Pieux (the Pious). 814‑840 AD. AR Denier (1.27 gm, 119.4mm, 3h), Christiana religio coinage, possibly of Venice. Cross pattée with pellets in each quarter. ✠HLVDOVVICVS IMP. / Tetrastyle temple façade, cross within. ✠XPISTIANA RELIGIO (⳩ Chi-Rho). VF. Pegasi Numismatics Sale 148 #554. Dolley & Morrison BMC 51ff; Coupland (Money) Class III; Depeyrot 1179; MEC I #791ff; Morrison & Grunthal 472; Prou (Forme Trapue) 1002ff.Anaximander
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Medieval Italy: Agostino Barbarigo, AR Soldino o Marchetto.Venice 1486-1501 A.D. 0.27g - 12.3mm, Axis 6h.
Obv: AV•BAR•DVX•S•MV• / DVX - St. Mark standing right blessing kneeling Doge, both holding staff.
Rev: •LAVS•TIBI•SOLI - Christ, nimbate, standing facing.
Ref: Paolucci, page 53, 7.
Provenance: Chris Scarlioli Collection.Christian Scarlioli
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MEDIEVAL, Italy, Genoa, 1139 - 1339Silver Grosso, Biaggi-838
Before 1100, Genoa emerged as an independent city-state, one of a number of Italian city-states during this period. Nominally, the Holy Roman Emperor was overlord and the Bishop of Genoa was president of the city; however, actual power was wielded by a number of "consuls" annually elected by popular assembly. Genoa was one of the so-called "Maritime Republics" (Repubbliche Marinare), along with Venice, Pisa, and Amalfi and trade, shipbuilding and banking helped support one of the largest and most powerful navies in the Mediterranean. Through Genoese participation on the Crusades, colonies were established in the Middle East, in the Aegean, in Sicily and Northern Africa.
The collapse of the Crusader States was offset by Genoa’s alliance with the Byzantine Empire, which opened opportunities of expansion into the Black Sea and Crimea. When I purchased this coin it was identified as as an annonomous issue from Genoa’s trading post at Caffa. The Black Death was imported into Europe in 1347 from the Genoese trading post at Caffa (Theodosia) in Crimea, on the Black Sea.Richard M10
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MEDIEVAL, Italy, Venice, Antonio VenierVenice, Antonio Venier,1382-1400 A.D., base silver tornesello
OBV: +ANTO' VENERIO DVX, cross
REV:+VEXILIFER VENETIAR, bust of winged lion facing, hand on gospels.
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MEDIEVAL, ITALY, Venice, AR Grosso
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Moesia inferior, Markianopolis, 25. Diadumenian, HrJ (2013) 6.25.21.02Diadumenian, AD 217-218
AE 21, 4.81g, 20.62mm, 210°
obv. [M OPE]LLIOC ANTWNEINOC K
laureate head r.
rev. MARKIANO - POLEITWN
Hygieia, in long garment, veiled, stg. r., feeding snake in l. arm from patera (phiale omphalikos) in r. hand
ref. a) AMNG I/1, 790 (4 ex., Bukarest, Imhoof, Venice, Mionnet)
b) Varbanov (engl.) 1345 (calls pic #1344 in error)
c) Hristova/Jekov (2013) No.6.25.21.2 (same dies)
rare, VF, nice glossy green patina
This coin has a so-called centration dimple only on the obv. Jochen
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Moesia inferior, Markianopolis, 32. Severus Alexander, HrJ (2014) 6.32.01.06 (plate coin)Severus Alexander, AD 222-235
AE 25, 9.27g, 24.72mm, 165°
struck under governor Um(brius?) Tereventinus
obv. AVT KM AVR CEV ALEZANDR[OC]
laureate head r.
rev. HG OVM TEREBENTINOV MARKIANOPOLIT / WN (ligate HG, both OV,
AR and WN)
Eagle, with open wings, stg. frontal on rod, head l. with wreath in beak
ref. a) AMNG I/1, 1039 (2 ex., Athen, Venice)
b) Varbanov (engl.) 1710 corr. (cites AMNG 1039; but wrong description; its
rather #1712 corr.!)
c) Hristova/Jekov (2014) No. 6.32.1.6 (plate coin)
rare, VF, green patina
The only eagle listed for Tereventinus!Jochen
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Moesia inferior, Nikopolis ad Istrum, 36. Gordian III, HrHJ (2018) 8.36.46.08 (plate coin)Gordian III, AD 238-244
AE 27, 12.14g, 26.92mm, 180°
struck under governor Sabinius Modestus
obv. AVT K M ANTW - GORDIANOC
Bust, draped and cuirassed, seen from behind, laureate, r.
rev. VP CAB MODECT - OV NIKOPOLEITWN
in ex. PROC ICTR / ON
Tetrastyle temple with spiral columns; in middle intercolumnare statue of
Homonoia(?) with kalathos, patera and cornucopiae stg. l. on high base;
pediment decorated with shield(?); top of roof and corners of gable decorated
with floral acroteria.
ref. a) AMNG I/1, 2088 (2 ex., Mandl and Venice Marciana)
b) Varbanov (engl.) 4149 var. (cites AMNG 2088, but lists wrong legends and wrong picture!)
c) Hristova/Hoeft/Jekov (2018) No. 8.36.46.8 (plate coin)
good F/ about VF
Pedigree:
ex Beast Architecture Coins Coll. Jochen
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NEAPOLITAN REPUBLIC - Henry de GuiseNEAPOLITAN REPUBLIC - Henry de Guise (1647-1648) AE 3 Tornesi, 1648. Obv.: Crowned shield with letters SPQN. Legend: HEN DE LOR DUX REIP N. Rev.: Bound wheat and olives, legend PAX ET UBERTAS 1648. Reference: KM #55. Ex Ardatirion collection.
These are always poorly struck, usually not this nice. The design quality of this piece is rather crude, and the SPQN is NOT aligned properly... letters are sideways. Usually they are straight. Probably made toward the end of the siege of the Republic by Spain.
From Wikepedia: The Neapolitan Republic was a Republic created in Naples, which lasted from 22 October 1647 to 5 April 1648. It began after the revolt led by Masaniello and Giulio Genoino against the Spanish viceroys.
The leader of the Republic was Henry II of Lorraine, duke of Guise, descendant of the former king of Naples Rene I of Anjou. The Republic had the following official names: Serenissima Repubblica di questo regno di Napoli ("Most Serene Republic of this Kingdom of Naples"), Reale Repubblica ("Royal Republic"), and Serenissima Monarchia repubblicana di Napoli ("Most Serene Republican Monarchy of Naples"). All indicated the double nature of the Republic, both republican and monarchical, and "Serenissima" was a purposeful comparison with the famous Italian maritime republic with the same title, Venice. The coat of arms was a red shield with the motto S.P.Q.N., in imitation of the well-known S.P.Q.R., the initialism of the Latin phrase, Senatus Populusque Romanus ("The Senate and the People of Rome"), Thus, the Neapolitan phrase meant "The Senate and People of Naples." The coat of arms contained the crest of the duke of Guise.dpaul7
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Republic of Venice, Doge Giovanni Dolfin, 1356 - 1361 Stahl tornesello 1Billon tornesello, Stahl tornesello 1, weight 0.6 g, maximum diameter 16 mm, die axis 0o, obverse • + IO : DELPhYNO DVX, cross pattée; reverse • + VEXELIFER • VENETIA, winged lion of San Marco, seated facing, holding a book.
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Selinus in Cilicia, Philippus I., AE 29, ApolloSelinus in Cilicia, Philippus I., AE 29, 244-249 AD
Obv.: AY K M IOYΛ [ΦI]ΛΠΠOC CE , Laureate, draped, cuirassed bust right (seen from behind
Rev.: TPAIANO[ΠCEΛINO]YCI ΘHC [IEPAC] , Apollo standing front, patera in his right hand, rod/staff in left hand, on right side: bird (raven?) beneath
SNG France 2,686; SNG Levante 467; Lindgren I,1595; SNG Pfalz 6,1105 , (thanks to Markus for ID)
Selinus: City in Cilicia Aspera, among the principal ones on this coast and mentioned by most of the ancient geographers from Pseudo-Skylax on. It was one of the towns taken by Antiochos III in 197 B.C. (Livy 33.20), but is best known as the place where Trajan died in A.D. 117 on his way back from the East. Then it took the name of Trajanopolis (as on this), but the old one prevailed (as on this), shown by coins and other documents.
In mid-summer 117, when Trajan was returning from his Parthian campaigns, he fell ill while at Selinus in Cilicia and died on August 8. The following day his adoption of Hadrian was announced by Plotina and Attianus, the praetorian prefect who had earlier been Hadrian's guardian, with some question whether Trajan had indeed performed the act or whether it was posthumous, thanks to his widow. On August 11, which he considered his dies imperii, the army of Syria hailed its legate, Hadrian, as emperor, which made the senate's formal acceptance an almost meaningless event. This was an example of the historian Tacitus' famous dictum that an emperor could be made elsewhere than at Rome. Hadrian must then have proceeded to Selinus at once from Antioch, to catch up with Attianus, Plotina, and Matidia. He then returned to his province no later than September and stayed there at least into the new year, consolidating his administration.
Basil,of Seleucia (Vita S. Theclae, II, 17) said that the city cof Selinus, which was formerly of much importance, lost it from his time to the fifth century. Constantine Porphyrogenitus, in the tenth century, called it a small town. Today it is the little village of Selinti (near the city GazipaÅŸa) in the vilayet of Adana; there are ruins of a theatre, aqueduct, market-place, bath, etc. .
The coinage begins under the kingdom of Antiochos IV of Kommagene, and continues later from Trajan to Philip. A bishop of Selinos is recorded, under the metropolitan of Seleukeia. . Le Quien (Oriens christianus, II, 1019) names four bishops: Neon, present at the council of Constantinople, 381; Alypius, at Ephesus, 431; AElianus, at Chalcedon, 451; Gheon, signer of the letter of the bishops of the province to Emperor Leo, 458. The see is in the Greek "Notitiae Episcopatuum" of the Patriarchate of Antioch from the fifth to the tenth century (Vailhé in "Echos d'Orient", X, 95, 145). It was also perhaps an Armenian bishopric until the tenth century. (Alishan, Sissouan, Venice, 1899, p. 60). Eubel (Hierarchia catholica medii aevi, I, 468) names a Latin bishop in 1345.
my ancient coin database
Arminius
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Theriac-Cap, VeniceTheriac cap from the "Dalla Madonna" pharmacy in Venice.
Obv: mother with child
date: 16th-18th century
material: lead
6,63 g, ∅ 21mm
Theriac was a popular medicine that was also used in ancient times. The closures of the capsules were goods and seals of quality and advertising.
The main ingredient was opium.Laurentius
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VENICE - Antonio PriuliVENICE - Antonio Priuli (1618-1623) AE Soldo. Obv.: Lion of St. Mark facing kneeling Dodge with cross stave. Rev.: Nimbate Saint Mark stands facing. Ref.: EK-1194.dpaul7
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VENICE - Bertruccio ValieroVENICE - Bertruccio Valiero (1656-1658) CU Soldo. Obv.: Dodge with staff kneels left before Lion of St. Mark. S.M.V.BERT.VALER -- Value "12" flanked by rosettes in exurge. Rev.: Nimbate saint stands with right hand raised in benediction; {rosette} DEFENS. NOSTRA {ROSETTE}. dpaul7
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VENICE - Giovanni CornerVenice. Giovanni I Corner (1624-1630). Quarter Soldi, Copper. Mint Period: 1625-1629 AD
Doge: Giovanni Corner (96th Doge of Venice)
Denomination: Quarter Soldi of 12 denarii (1 Soldino)
Reference: Davenport 4267. Papadopoli 146; Scarfèa 960.
Diameter: 20.6mm Material: Copper Weight: 1.7gm
Obverse: Doge kneeling to right, holding cruciform staff. Nimbate and winged lion to left, holding Gospels open with left fore-paw.
Legend: *S•M•V•IO•CORN
Exergue: *12* (value)
Reverse: Full length facing Christ, nimbate and robed.
Legend: +DEFENS NOSTER+dpaul7
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VENICE - Giovanni DandoloVENICE - Giovanni Dandolo, 1280 - 1289. Silver Grosso, without date.
Obv.: St. Mark gives an investiture banner to the Dodge.
Rev.: Christ enthroned facing.
21 mm. 2,06 g. VF. dpaul7
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VENICE - Orio MaliperoVENICE - Orio Malipero (1178-1192) silver Piccolo. Obv.: Cross in pearled circle. Writing around rim.
Rev.: Cross in pearled curcle. Writing around rim.
Weight: 0,28g
dpaul7
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VENICE -- Anonymous, decree of 1565VENICE -- Anonymous, decree of 1565, AR Gazzetta of 2 Soldi Obv.: + SANCTVS MARCVS VENET Lion of St. Mark left. Rev.: DILIGITE IVSTITIAM. Justice, seated facing on two lions, holding sword and scales. Reference: CNI VIII, 350; Papadopoli 163a. dpaul7
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VENICE -- Lorenzo Celsi VENICE -- Lorenzo Celsi (1361-1365) Silver Soldino. Obv.: Kneeling Doge to left holding banner. +LAVR.CE LSI.DVX Rev.: +.S.MARCVS.VENETI. Nimbate lion stands left with banner; letter S before (Mintmaster Secondo Aventurado). Reference: Biaggi 2837, CNI 3 var., Papadopoli 2.dpaul7
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Venice Giovanni SoranzoItaly, Venice. Giovanni Soranzo AD 1312-1328.AR.Grosso. (1.92g, 20.6mm, 6h)
IC-XC, Christ enthroned holding book of gospels / IO SVPANTIO- D/V/X - •S• M• VENETI , on right Saint Mark standing left handing banner to Doge.
Ref: CNI VII pg.59.19Ajax
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Venice Silver Grosso2.15 gr.
Obv: The Doge of Venice shares astaffwith Venice'spatron St. Mark.
Rev: Christ is enthroned in the heavens.Antonivs Protti
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VENICE, REPUBLIC--FRANCESCO FOSCARI, DOGE OF VENICEFRANCESCO FOSCARI as Doge
1423-1457 AD
AR Grosso 21mm, 1.53 g FRA FOSCARI .-. S . M . VENETI St. Mark
and the Doge standing facing, holding
pendant flag between them, D / V / X in
center field; C | P across fields R: TIBI LAUS-7 GLORIA Christ, nimbate, enthroned facing, holding book of Gospels Italian States-Venice, Venice mint;
cf Paolucci 41.4
laney
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VENICE. F. Dandolo.AR grosso. 1329-1339 AD. 2,14 grs. Christ Pantokrator facing on throne,wearing nimbus crown,pallium and colobidium. Barred IC XC across upper field. / Doge and St.Marc standing facing holding banner between them. FRA DANDVLO DVX ( below banner) SM VENETI.
Paolucci 2.benito
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Venice: Andrea Dandolo (1342-1354) AR Mezzanino nuovo (Biaggi-2822; Paolucci #3)Obv: AN DADVL SM VENE DVX; Doge and St. Marco standing facing, holding banner between them.
Rev: XPS RESVRESIT, Christ emerging from coffin.
Quant.Geek
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Venice: Antonio Venier (1382-1400) AR Type III Grosso (Paolucci #3)Obv: ANTO . VENERIO-. S . M . VENETI .
St. Mark and the Doge standing facing, holding pendant flag between them, DVX in center field; ✶ | ✶ across fields
Rev: • + • TIBI • LAVS • 7 • GLORIA •
Christ, nimbate, enthroned facing, holding book of Gospels; • | • across fields
Quant.Geek
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Venice: Giovanni Dandolo (1328-1339) AR Grosso (Paolucci #2)Obv: IO DANDVL S M VENETI DVX.
Doge and St. Marco standing facing, holding banner between them.
Rev: IC - XC.
Christ Pantokrator enthroned facing.
Quant.Geek
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Venice: Giovanni Soranzo (1312-1327) AR Grosso (Paolucci pg24, #2)Obv: IO SVPANTIO S M VENETI DVX; Doge and S. Marco standing facing, holding banner between them
Rev: IC - XC; Christ Pantokrator enthroned facingQuant.Geek
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[1663a] Byzantine Empire: Manuel I Comnenus Megas (1143-1180)---NOT TO BE CONFUSED WITH---[1685a] Empire of Trebizond: Manuel I Komnenos Megas (1218-1263 AD)Manuel I Comnenus Megas (1143-1180). AE billon trachy; Sear 1964; 30mm, 3.91g.; Constantinople mint; aF. Obverse: MP-OV-The Virgin enthroned. Nimbate and wearing pallium and maphorium; Reverse: Maueil standing facing, wearing crown, holding labarum and globe surmounted by Patriachal cross. Ex SPQR.
De Imperatoribus Romanis: An Online Encyclopedia of Roman Rulers and their Families
MANUEL I COMNENUS (A.D. 1143-1180)
Andrew Stone
University of Western Australia
Introduction: Sources
The reign of the emperor Manuel I Comnenus (5 April 1143- 24 September 1180) could well be regarded as a high-water mark of Byzantine civilization. It was the apogee of the so-called "Comnenian Restoration". Politically, the emperor undertook an ambitious foreign policy which has been seen by some, particularly in the light of many ultimate failures, as "misguided imperialism", recent scholarship has come to question this traditional judgment and suggests instead that the the Comnenian foreign policy was rather an energetic seizing of the different opportunities that presented themselves in the rapidly changing constellations of powers of the time. Such measures were made possible by the internal security of the empire under this, its third, Comnenian incumbent, although there were a few other aspirants to the throne, not least among them the emperor's cousin Andronicus. Manuel and other key members of the "Comnenian system", as it has been called, were patrons of rhetoric and other forms of learning and literature, and Manuel himself became keenly interested in ecclesiastical affairs, even if here his imperialistic agenda was a factor as he tried to bring Constantinopolitan theology in line with that of the west in a bid to unite the Church under his crown.
In terms of volume of contemporary material, Manuel is the most eulogised of all Byzantine emperors, and the panegyric addressed to him supplements the two major Byzantine historians of the reign, the more critical Nicetas Choniates and the laudatory John Cinnamus, as primary sources for the student of the period to study. The Crusader historian William of Tyre met Manuel personally, and such was the scope of Manuel's diplomacy that he is mentioned incidentally in western sources, such as Romuald of Salerno. Among authors of the encomia (panegyrics) we have mentioned are Theodore Prodromus and the so-called "Manganeios" Prodromus, who wrote in verse, and the prose encomiasts Michael the Rhetor, Eustathius of Thessalonica and Euthymius Malaces, to name the most important. Manuel, with his penchant for the Latins and their ways, left a legacy of Byzantine resentment against these outsiders, which was to be ruthlessly exploited by Andronicus in the end.
Manuel as sebastokrator
Manuel was born in the imperial porphyry birthchamber on 28 November 1118. He was the fourth of John II's sons, so it seemed very unlikely that he would succeed. As a youth, Manuel evidently accompanied John on campaign, for in the Anatolian expedition of 1139-41 we find Manuel rashly charging a small group of the Turkish enemy, an action for which he was castigated by his father, even though John, we are told, was inwardly impressed (mention of the incident is made in John's deathbed speech in both John Cinnamus and Nicetas Choniates). John negotiated a marriage contract for Manuel with Conrad III of Germany; he was to marry Bertha of Sulzbach. It seems to have been John's plan to carve out a client principality for Manuel from Cilicia, Cyprus and Coele Syria. In the event, it was Manuel who succeeded him.
The Securing of the Succession 1143
In the article on John II it is related how the dying John chose his youngest son Manuel to succeed him in preference to his other surviving son Isaac. Manuel was acclaimed emperor by the armies on 5 April 1143. Manuel stayed in Cilicia, where the army was stationed, for thirty days, to complete the funeral rites for his father. He sent his father's right-hand man John Axuch, however, to Constantinople to confine Isaac to the Pantokrator Monastery and to effect a donation of two hundredweight of silver coin to the clergy of the Great Church. The surviving encomium of Michael Italicus, Teacher of the Gospel, for the new emperor can be regarded as a return gift for this largesse. In the meantime the Caesar John Roger, husband of Manuel's eldest sister Maria, had been plotting to seize the throne; the plot was, however, given away by his wife before it could take effect. Manuel marched home to enter Constantinople c. July 1143. He secured the good-will of the people by commanding that every household should be granted two gold coins. Isaac the younger (Manuel's brother) and Isaac the elder (Manuel's paternal uncle), were both released from captivity and reconciled with him. Manuel chose Michael Oxeites as the new patriarch and was crowned either in August or November 1143.
Manuel confirmed John Axuch in the office of Grand Domestic, that is, commander of the army, appointed John of Poutze as procurator of public taxes, grand commissioner and inspector of accounts and John Hagiotheodorites as chancellor. John of Poutze proved to be an oppressive tax collector, but was also unsusceptible to bribery. However, this John diverted monies levied for the navy into the treasury, which would, as we shall see, further Byzantine dependence on the maritime Italian city-states of Venice, Genoa and Pisa.
Early Campaigns: 1144-1146
Manuel's first concern was to consolidate the work of his father in securing the eastern frontier. He sent a force under the brothers Andronicus and John Contostephanus against the recalcitrant Crusader prince Raymond of Antioch, which consisted of both an army and a navy, the latter commanded by Demetrius Branas. Raymond's army was routed, and the naval force inflicted no small damage on the coastal regions of the principality. In the meantime the Crusader city of Edessa fell to the Turkish atabeg Zengi. Raymond therefore travelled to Constantinople as a suppliant to Manuel. It was subsequently decided, in the light of Manuel's imperial status, that the terms under which he would marry Bertha of Sulzbach should be improved. Manuel asked for 500 knights, and Conrad happily granted them, being prepared to supply 2000 or 3000 if need be all for the sake of this alliance. Bertha took the Greek name Irene.
The Seljuk sultanate of Rum under Masud had become the ascendant Turkish power in Anatolia. Manuel himself supervised the rebuilding of the fortress of Melangeia on the Sangarius river in Bithynia (1145 or 1146). In the most daring campaign of these early years, after building the new fort of Pithecas in Bithynia, Manuel advanced as far into Turkish territory as Konya (Iconium), the Seljuk capital. He had been wounded in the foot by an arrow at a mighty battle at Philomelium (which had been Masud's headquarters), and the city had been rased; once at Konya, he allowed his troops to despoil the graves outside the city walls, before taking the road home.
Cinnamus relates that the gratutitous heroics which Manuel displayed on this campaign were calculated to impress Manuel's new bride. Manuel and his army were harried by Turks on the journey home. Manuel erected the fort of Pylae before leaving Anatolia.
[For a detailed and interesting discussion of the reign of Manuel I Comnenus please see http://www.roman-emperors.org/mannycom.htm]
Frederick Barbarossa and the "two-emperor problem"
Frederick Barbarossa, who was to become a constant menace to Manuel's designs, had succeeded his uncle Conrad III in 1152, but unlike him proved in the end unprepared to make any territorial concessions in Italy. The origins of this "cold war" between the two empires cannot be dated with any certainty, but there may have been a tendency to date it too early. One school of thought would not date the outbreak of this rivalry to any earlier than 1159-60, the death of Manuel's German wife, Bertha-Irene. About this time there was a scare at Constantinople that Frederick Barbarossa would march on Byzantium, perhaps reflecting a desire on Frederick's part to crusade (which he eventually did, in the reign of Isaac II Angelus). The new Pope, Alexander III, by, as it would seem, offering to grant Manuel the imperial crown, used it as a bargaining chip to play off the emperors of west and east against one another. Manuel may have supported Alexander during the papal schism of 1160-1177 because he was the preferred candidate of Hungary and the Crusader states, both of which he hoped would recognise him as their feudal overlord. By this means he could claim sovereign rights over the crusading movement, and thereby turn it to his advantage. The playing off of Manuel against Frederick continued right up until 1177, the Peace of Venice, whereby Frederick agreed to recognise Pope Alexander, the autonomy of Sicily and of the northern Italian communes. But this result was not a foregone conclusion in the 1160s and early 1170s, and Manuel used Byzantine gold to win supporters in Italy and thereby keep Frederick occupied.
Marriage to Maria of Antioch 1161
Bertha-Irene died in late 1159/early 1160. Manuel sought to strengthen his ties with the Crusader principalities by selecting an eastern Latin princess for his wife. The exceedingly beautiful Maria of Antioch, daughter of Raymond of Antioch, was chosen, and the nuptials celebrated at Christmas, 1161.
Dynastic considerations 1169-1172
Manuel's wife Maria of Antioch gave birth to a baby boy 14 September 1169 in the porphyry marble birthchamber, the cause of great festivities. The infant was crowned emperor in 1171. With the death of Stephen III of Hungary in 1172, Stephen's brother Béla was sent out from Constantinople to assume the throne (though without Sirmium and Dalmatia being surrendered to the Hungarian crown). A husband for Maria Porphyrogenita was therefore required. At first it was proposed that she marry William II of Sicily, who was outraged when she failed to show up at Taranto on the appointed day, the emperor having had second thoughts.
The final months 1180
Manuel took ill in the month of March 1180. During this period of terminal illness the last major religious controversies took place. We are told that Manuel directed that the anathema pronounced against the god of Muhammad be removed from the abjuration against the Islamic faith declared by converts to Christianity. Manuel was opposed by the last patriarch of his reign, Theodosius Boradiotes (1179-1183), as well as, notably, by Eustathius of Thessalonica. Both parties were satisfied in the end upon a reading of the emperor's proposed amendments to the abjuration. This controversy would seem to be a different one from the one alluded to in Eustathius' funeral oration for Manuel, since Manuel is praised by Eustathius for his stance in it, which seems to have revolved around a book written by a convert from Islam that magnified the Father at the expense of the Son (and therefore had Arian overtones). It became apparent that the emperor was dying, and, on the advice of Theodosius, he renounced astrology. As his end approached, he assumed the monastic habit and the name Matthew, demanding that his wife Maria become a nun. Manuel's son Alexius was but eleven, and the minority would prove to be disastrous for Byzantium. Manuel died thirty-seven years and nine months from the beginning of his reign.
General strategies in Manuel's foreign policy
The funeral oration for Manuel by Eustathius of Thessalonica is an interesting document in that it discusses some of the general policies pursued over Manuel's reign. It endorses his policy of dividing his enemies, the Petchenegs, the Sicilian Normans and the Turks, among themselves by using Byzantine gold, a policy of "divide and rule". We have seen how this was applied especially in Italy. Another general policy was to create friendly buffer states on the frontiers of the empire, most notably Hungary (and Serbia) and the Crusader States. Manuel would deliberately underpin the most powerful potentate in each region (the king of Hungary, the king of Jerusalem, the sultan of Konya) and thereby emphasise his own absolute sovereignty. In the funeral oration this granting of autonomy is justified as the reward for good service, as in the parable of the talents. We also see in the panegyric of the 1170s the downplaying of the idea of world rule which was so prevalent in the reign of John. Although Manuel claimed sovereign rights over many of his neighbours, his territorial claims were limited: coastal southern Italy, Dalmatia and Sirmium, coastal Egypt. The Byzantines seem to have come to terms with the reality of nation states and it is in Manuel's reign that they begin to refer to themselves not only as "Romans", but as "Hellenes", in order to demarcate themselves from the barbarians surrounding them.
Manuel's taxation, government and army
Nicetas Choniates roundly criticises Manuel in his history for increasing taxes and lavishing money on his family and retainers, particularly his Latin favourites. We have also seen how money was spent in Manuel's ambitious foreign policy. Mention is made of two towers, one at Damalis, and one next to the monastery of the Mangana, between which a chain could be stretched to block the Bosphorus. Then there was the work done at both the Great Palace and the Palace of the Blachernae, galleries, a pavilion alla Turca and numerous mosaics. He also founded a monastery at Kataskepe at the mouth of the Black Sea, which was endowed from the imperial treasury.
Choniates further criticizes the continuation and spread of the granting of pronoiai, parcels of land, the income from each of which supported a soldier. Many of these were granted to foreigners, for example, Turks captured in the Meander campaigns were settled around Thessalonica. The pronoia would pay not only for a soldier's upkeep, but his expensive equipment, for in Manuel's reign the bow and arrow and circular shield had been replaced by a heavier western-style panoply of armour, large triangular shield and lance. Choniates laments how fashionable a practice it had become in Manuel's reign to forsake the land or one's trade and become enlisted in the army.
Manuel and the "Comnenian system"
Throughout Manuel's reign, as under his father John, the top tier of the aristocracy was formed by the emperor's family, the Comneni, and the families into which they married. The extended family was, however, by now becoming unwieldy, and beginning to lose its cohesion, as the example of Manuel's cousin Andronicus shows. Under Manuel it was degree of kinship to the emperor which determined one's rank, as synodal listings show. So it was that very quickly after Manuel's death the upper tier of the aristocracy splintered into separate groups, each with its own identity and interests.
Literature
The various aristocratic courts, that of the emperor and other key members of the extended family, most notably the sebastokrator Isaac Comnenus the elder and the sebastokratorissa Irene, widow of Manuel's brother Andronicus, attracted literati who would seek to serve under them. Such figures would not only turn their hands to literature, encomia in prose or poetry, expositions on mythology, commentaries on Homer or the philosophers, historical chronicles and even, in this period, romances - the twelfth century is a high point of literary production at Constantinople, so much so that some have even talked of a "Comnenian renaissance" - but they would seek to perform more menial, such as administrative, duties to support themselves. Such men would often come from noble families whose prestige had been eclipsed by the Comnenian upper tier of the aristocracy. Serving under a lord was one way of advancing oneself, entering the Church was another.
The patriarchal church and education
The deacons of the church of St Sophia were a powerful group, the chartophylax being second only to the patriarch. These deacons would either go on to become bishops in the provinces, or possibly first hold one of the professorial chairs associated with the patriarchal church. First there were the "teachers", didaskaloi of the Gospels, Epistles and Psalter. Then there was the maistor ton rhetoron, "master of the rhetors", responsible for delivering speeches in praise of the emperor on January 6 each year and of the patriarch on the Saturday prior to Palm Sunday, as well as for other state occasions. And there was the hypatos ton philosophon, "consul of the philosophers", an office which had lapsed but was revived under Manuel.
Character and Legacy
Was Byzantium of the middle to late twelfth century living on borrowed time? Until recently this was the verdict of many scholars. Yet John II and Manuel had, if there is any kernel of truth in their encomia, at least temporarily reversed the overrunning of Anatolia by the Turks, and Manuel had won Dalmatia and Sirmium from Hungary. But Byzantine collapse was rapid, which is the reason why scholars have searched in the reigns of John and Manuel for the beginnings of the disintegration that occurred under the last Comneni and the Angeli. The history and comments of Nicetas Choniates have been adduced as vindicating this view. The victory of the military aristocracy that the establishment of the Comnenian dynasty represents has been seen as both the reason for the temporary reversal of Byzantine fortunes - government by three very capable autocrats - and of ultimate failure, because of the splintering into factions that oligarchy, such as was present in the Comnenian system, foments. A Marxist interpretation is that the feudalisation of the Byzantine Empire, the depletion of the free peasantry, that began to take place in the middle period was the reason for its ultimate failure. But to the Byzantines at the time Byzantium seemed to be holding its own; the "nations" around were being kept at bay, and even though the panegyric of renovation is less evident than in the reign of John II, the emperor remains despotes, "master" of the oikoumene, "world". Indeed, Manuel would be remembered in France, Genoa and the Crusader States as the most powerful sovereign in the world.
We have mentioned the funeral oration for Manuel by Eustathius of Thessalonica. This contains a series of vignettes of the personal aspects of Manuel. There are commonplaces: the emperor is able to endure hunger, thirst, heat and cold, lack of sleep and so on, and sweats copiously in his endeavours on the empire's part. Although these ideas have been recycled from earlier reigns, notably that of John II, the contemporary historians agree that Manuel was an indefatigable and daring warrior. However, there are more specifically individual touches in the Eustathian oration. Manuel had a manly suntan and was tall in stature. The emperor was capable of clever talk, but could also talk to others on a man-to-man basis. Eustathius makes much of the emperor's book-learning (Cinnamus claims to have discussed Aristotle with the emperor). The restoration of churches was a major concern for Manuel. He also had some expertise in medicine (he had tended Conrad III of Germany and Baldwin III of Jerusalem personally). Manuel showed temperance in eating and drinking, with a certain liking for beer as well as wine, the latter being mixed sour after the manner of ascetics. Likewise, he would not slumber long. He would generally choose walking over riding. The oration closes on the widow and orphan Manuel has left behind. The situation resulting for the Byzantine Empire at this stage, with the vacuum created by Manuel would result in no less than implosion.
Copyright (C) 2003, Andrew Stone.
Published: De Imperatoribus Romanis: An Online Encyclopedia of Roman Rulers and their Families http://www.roman-emperors.org/startup.htm. Used by permission.
Edited by J. P. Fitzgerald, Jr.
Cleisthenes
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[1663a] Byzantine Empire: Manuel I Comnenus Megas (1143-1180)---NOT TO BE CONFUSED WITH---[1685a] Empire of Trebizond: Manuel I Komnenos Megas (1218-1263 AD)MANUEL I COMNENUS AE tetarteron. 1143-1180 AD. 19mm, 2.8g. Obverse: Bust of St. George facing, beardless, wearing nimbus, tunic, cuirass and sagion, and holding spear. Reverse: MANVHL-DECPOT, bust of Manuel facing, wearing crown and loros, holding labarum & globe-cross. Simply wonderful style, very sharp for the issue. A gorgeous late Byzantine coin! Ex Incitatus.
De Imperatoribus Romanis: An Online Encyclopedia of Roman Rulers and their Families
MANUEL I COMNENUS (A.D. 1143-1180)
Andrew Stone
University of Western Australia
Introduction: Sources
The reign of the emperor Manuel I Comnenus (5 April 1143- 24 September 1180) could well be regarded as a high-water mark of Byzantine civilization. It was the apogee of the so-called "Comnenian Restoration". Politically, the emperor undertook an ambitious foreign policy which has been seen by some, particularly in the light of many ultimate failures, as "misguided imperialism", recent scholarship has come to question this traditional judgment and suggests instead that the the Comnenian foreign policy was rather an energetic seizing of the different opportunities that presented themselves in the rapidly changing constellations of powers of the time. Such measures were made possible by the internal security of the empire under this, its third, Comnenian incumbent, although there were a few other aspirants to the throne, not least among them the emperor's cousin Andronicus. Manuel and other key members of the "Comnenian system", as it has been called, were patrons of rhetoric and other forms of learning and literature, and Manuel himself became keenly interested in ecclesiastical affairs, even if here his imperialistic agenda was a factor as he tried to bring Constantinopolitan theology in line with that of the west in a bid to unite the Church under his crown.
In terms of volume of contemporary material, Manuel is the most eulogised of all Byzantine emperors, and the panegyric addressed to him supplements the two major Byzantine historians of the reign, the more critical Nicetas Choniates and the laudatory John Cinnamus, as primary sources for the student of the period to study. The Crusader historian William of Tyre met Manuel personally, and such was the scope of Manuel's diplomacy that he is mentioned incidentally in western sources, such as Romuald of Salerno. Among authors of the encomia (panegyrics) we have mentioned are Theodore Prodromus and the so-called "Manganeios" Prodromus, who wrote in verse, and the prose encomiasts Michael the Rhetor, Eustathius of Thessalonica and Euthymius Malaces, to name the most important. Manuel, with his penchant for the Latins and their ways, left a legacy of Byzantine resentment against these outsiders, which was to be ruthlessly exploited by Andronicus in the end.
Manuel as sebastokrator
Manuel was born in the imperial porphyry birthchamber on 28 November 1118. He was the fourth of John II's sons, so it seemed very unlikely that he would succeed. As a youth, Manuel evidently accompanied John on campaign, for in the Anatolian expedition of 1139-41 we find Manuel rashly charging a small group of the Turkish enemy, an action for which he was castigated by his father, even though John, we are told, was inwardly impressed (mention of the incident is made in John's deathbed speech in both John Cinnamus and Nicetas Choniates). John negotiated a marriage contract for Manuel with Conrad III of Germany; he was to marry Bertha of Sulzbach. It seems to have been John's plan to carve out a client principality for Manuel from Cilicia, Cyprus and Coele Syria. In the event, it was Manuel who succeeded him.
The Securing of the Succession 1143
In the article on John II it is related how the dying John chose his youngest son Manuel to succeed him in preference to his other surviving son Isaac. Manuel was acclaimed emperor by the armies on 5 April 1143. Manuel stayed in Cilicia, where the army was stationed, for thirty days, to complete the funeral rites for his father. He sent his father's right-hand man John Axuch, however, to Constantinople to confine Isaac to the Pantokrator Monastery and to effect a donation of two hundredweight of silver coin to the clergy of the Great Church. The surviving encomium of Michael Italicus, Teacher of the Gospel, for the new emperor can be regarded as a return gift for this largesse. In the meantime the Caesar John Roger, husband of Manuel's eldest sister Maria, had been plotting to seize the throne; the plot was, however, given away by his wife before it could take effect. Manuel marched home to enter Constantinople c. July 1143. He secured the good-will of the people by commanding that every household should be granted two gold coins. Isaac the younger (Manuel's brother) and Isaac the elder (Manuel's paternal uncle), were both released from captivity and reconciled with him. Manuel chose Michael Oxeites as the new patriarch and was crowned either in August or November 1143.
Manuel confirmed John Axuch in the office of Grand Domestic, that is, commander of the army, appointed John of Poutze as procurator of public taxes, grand commissioner and inspector of accounts and John Hagiotheodorites as chancellor. John of Poutze proved to be an oppressive tax collector, but was also unsusceptible to bribery. However, this John diverted monies levied for the navy into the treasury, which would, as we shall see, further Byzantine dependence on the maritime Italian city-states of Venice, Genoa and Pisa.
Early Campaigns: 1144-1146
Manuel's first concern was to consolidate the work of his father in securing the eastern frontier. He sent a force under the brothers Andronicus and John Contostephanus against the recalcitrant Crusader prince Raymond of Antioch, which consisted of both an army and a navy, the latter commanded by Demetrius Branas. Raymond's army was routed, and the naval force inflicted no small damage on the coastal regions of the principality. In the meantime the Crusader city of Edessa fell to the Turkish atabeg Zengi. Raymond therefore travelled to Constantinople as a suppliant to Manuel. It was subsequently decided, in the light of Manuel's imperial status, that the terms under which he would marry Bertha of Sulzbach should be improved. Manuel asked for 500 knights, and Conrad happily granted them, being prepared to supply 2000 or 3000 if need be all for the sake of this alliance. Bertha took the Greek name Irene.
The Seljuk sultanate of Rum under Masud had become the ascendant Turkish power in Anatolia. Manuel himself supervised the rebuilding of the fortress of Melangeia on the Sangarius river in Bithynia (1145 or 1146). In the most daring campaign of these early years, after building the new fort of Pithecas in Bithynia, Manuel advanced as far into Turkish territory as Konya (Iconium), the Seljuk capital. He had been wounded in the foot by an arrow at a mighty battle at Philomelium (which had been Masud's headquarters), and the city had been rased; once at Konya, he allowed his troops to despoil the graves outside the city walls, before taking the road home.
Cinnamus relates that the gratutitous heroics which Manuel displayed on this campaign were calculated to impress Manuel's new bride. Manuel and his army were harried by Turks on the journey home. Manuel erected the fort of Pylae before leaving Anatolia.
[For a detailed and interesting discussion of the reign of Manuel I Comnenus please see http://www.roman-emperors.org/mannycom.htm]
Frederick Barbarossa and the "two-emperor problem"
Frederick Barbarossa, who was to become a constant menace to Manuel's designs, had succeeded his uncle Conrad III in 1152, but unlike him proved in the end unprepared to make any territorial concessions in Italy. The origins of this "cold war" between the two empires cannot be dated with any certainty, but there may have been a tendency to date it too early. One school of thought would not date the outbreak of this rivalry to any earlier than 1159-60, the death of Manuel's German wife, Bertha-Irene. About this time there was a scare at Constantinople that Frederick Barbarossa would march on Byzantium, perhaps reflecting a desire on Frederick's part to crusade (which he eventually did, in the reign of Isaac II Angelus). The new Pope, Alexander III, by, as it would seem, offering to grant Manuel the imperial crown, used it as a bargaining chip to play off the emperors of west and east against one another. Manuel may have supported Alexander during the papal schism of 1160-1177 because he was the preferred candidate of Hungary and the Crusader states, both of which he hoped would recognise him as their feudal overlord. By this means he could claim sovereign rights over the crusading movement, and thereby turn it to his advantage. The playing off of Manuel against Frederick continued right up until 1177, the Peace of Venice, whereby Frederick agreed to recognise Pope Alexander, the autonomy of Sicily and of the northern Italian communes. But this result was not a foregone conclusion in the 1160s and early 1170s, and Manuel used Byzantine gold to win supporters in Italy and thereby keep Frederick occupied.
Marriage to Maria of Antioch 1161
Bertha-Irene died in late 1159/early 1160. Manuel sought to strengthen his ties with the Crusader principalities by selecting an eastern Latin princess for his wife. The exceedingly beautiful Maria of Antioch, daughter of Raymond of Antioch, was chosen, and the nuptials celebrated at Christmas, 1161.
Dynastic considerations 1169-1172
Manuel's wife Maria of Antioch gave birth to a baby boy 14 September 1169 in the porphyry marble birthchamber, the cause of great festivities. The infant was crowned emperor in 1171. With the death of Stephen III of Hungary in 1172, Stephen's brother Béla was sent out from Constantinople to assume the throne (though without Sirmium and Dalmatia being surrendered to the Hungarian crown). A husband for Maria Porphyrogenita was therefore required. At first it was proposed that she marry William II of Sicily, who was outraged when she failed to show up at Taranto on the appointed day, the emperor having had second thoughts.
The final months 1180
Manuel took ill in the month of March 1180. During this period of terminal illness the last major religious controversies took place. We are told that Manuel directed that the anathema pronounced against the god of Muhammad be removed from the abjuration against the Islamic faith declared by converts to Christianity. Manuel was opposed by the last patriarch of his reign, Theodosius Boradiotes (1179-1183), as well as, notably, by Eustathius of Thessalonica. Both parties were satisfied in the end upon a reading of the emperor's proposed amendments to the abjuration. This controversy would seem to be a different one from the one alluded to in Eustathius' funeral oration for Manuel, since Manuel is praised by Eustathius for his stance in it, which seems to have revolved around a book written by a convert from Islam that magnified the Father at the expense of the Son (and therefore had Arian overtones). It became apparent that the emperor was dying, and, on the advice of Theodosius, he renounced astrology. As his end approached, he assumed the monastic habit and the name Matthew, demanding that his wife Maria become a nun. Manuel's son Alexius was but eleven, and the minority would prove to be disastrous for Byzantium. Manuel died thirty-seven years and nine months from the beginning of his reign.
General strategies in Manuel's foreign policy
The funeral oration for Manuel by Eustathius of Thessalonica is an interesting document in that it discusses some of the general policies pursued over Manuel's reign. It endorses his policy of dividing his enemies, the Petchenegs, the Sicilian Normans and the Turks, among themselves by using Byzantine gold, a policy of "divide and rule". We have seen how this was applied especially in Italy. Another general policy was to create friendly buffer states on the frontiers of the empire, most notably Hungary (and Serbia) and the Crusader States. Manuel would deliberately underpin the most powerful potentate in each region (the king of Hungary, the king of Jerusalem, the sultan of Konya) and thereby emphasise his own absolute sovereignty. In the funeral oration this granting of autonomy is justified as the reward for good service, as in the parable of the talents. We also see in the panegyric of the 1170s the downplaying of the idea of world rule which was so prevalent in the reign of John. Although Manuel claimed sovereign rights over many of his neighbours, his territorial claims were limited: coastal southern Italy, Dalmatia and Sirmium, coastal Egypt. The Byzantines seem to have come to terms with the reality of nation states and it is in Manuel's reign that they begin to refer to themselves not only as "Romans", but as "Hellenes", in order to demarcate themselves from the barbarians surrounding them.
Manuel's taxation, government and army
Nicetas Choniates roundly criticises Manuel in his history for increasing taxes and lavishing money on his family and retainers, particularly his Latin favourites. We have also seen how money was spent in Manuel's ambitious foreign policy. Mention is made of two towers, one at Damalis, and one next to the monastery of the Mangana, between which a chain could be stretched to block the Bosphorus. Then there was the work done at both the Great Palace and the Palace of the Blachernae, galleries, a pavilion alla Turca and numerous mosaics. He also founded a monastery at Kataskepe at the mouth of the Black Sea, which was endowed from the imperial treasury.
Choniates further criticizes the continuation and spread of the granting of pronoiai, parcels of land, the income from each of which supported a soldier. Many of these were granted to foreigners, for example, Turks captured in the Meander campaigns were settled around Thessalonica. The pronoia would pay not only for a soldier's upkeep, but his expensive equipment, for in Manuel's reign the bow and arrow and circular shield had been replaced by a heavier western-style panoply of armour, large triangular shield and lance. Choniates laments how fashionable a practice it had become in Manuel's reign to forsake the land or one's trade and become enlisted in the army.
Manuel and the "Comnenian system"
Throughout Manuel's reign, as under his father John, the top tier of the aristocracy was formed by the emperor's family, the Comneni, and the families into which they married. The extended family was, however, by now becoming unwieldy, and beginning to lose its cohesion, as the example of Manuel's cousin Andronicus shows. Under Manuel it was degree of kinship to the emperor which determined one's rank, as synodal listings show. So it was that very quickly after Manuel's death the upper tier of the aristocracy splintered into separate groups, each with its own identity and interests.
Literature
The various aristocratic courts, that of the emperor and other key members of the extended family, most notably the sebastokrator Isaac Comnenus the elder and the sebastokratorissa Irene, widow of Manuel's brother Andronicus, attracted literati who would seek to serve under them. Such figures would not only turn their hands to literature, encomia in prose or poetry, expositions on mythology, commentaries on Homer or the philosophers, historical chronicles and even, in this period, romances - the twelfth century is a high point of literary production at Constantinople, so much so that some have even talked of a "Comnenian renaissance" - but they would seek to perform more menial, such as administrative, duties to support themselves. Such men would often come from noble families whose prestige had been eclipsed by the Comnenian upper tier of the aristocracy. Serving under a lord was one way of advancing oneself, entering the Church was another.
The patriarchal church and education
The deacons of the church of St Sophia were a powerful group, the chartophylax being second only to the patriarch. These deacons would either go on to become bishops in the provinces, or possibly first hold one of the professorial chairs associated with the patriarchal church. First there were the "teachers", didaskaloi of the Gospels, Epistles and Psalter. Then there was the maistor ton rhetoron, "master of the rhetors", responsible for delivering speeches in praise of the emperor on January 6 each year and of the patriarch on the Saturday prior to Palm Sunday, as well as for other state occasions. And there was the hypatos ton philosophon, "consul of the philosophers", an office which had lapsed but was revived under Manuel.
Character and Legacy
Was Byzantium of the middle to late twelfth century living on borrowed time? Until recently this was the verdict of many scholars. Yet John II and Manuel had, if there is any kernel of truth in their encomia, at least temporarily reversed the overrunning of Anatolia by the Turks, and Manuel had won Dalmatia and Sirmium from Hungary. But Byzantine collapse was rapid, which is the reason why scholars have searched in the reigns of John and Manuel for the beginnings of the disintegration that occurred under the last Comneni and the Angeli. The history and comments of Nicetas Choniates have been adduced as vindicating this view. The victory of the military aristocracy that the establishment of the Comnenian dynasty represents has been seen as both the reason for the temporary reversal of Byzantine fortunes - government by three very capable autocrats - and of ultimate failure, because of the splintering into factions that oligarchy, such as was present in the Comnenian system, foments. A Marxist interpretation is that the feudalisation of the Byzantine Empire, the depletion of the free peasantry, that began to take place in the middle period was the reason for its ultimate failure. But to the Byzantines at the time Byzantium seemed to be holding its own; the "nations" around were being kept at bay, and even though the panegyric of renovation is less evident than in the reign of John II, the emperor remains despotes, "master" of the oikoumene, "world". Indeed, Manuel would be remembered in France, Genoa and the Crusader States as the most powerful sovereign in the world.
We have mentioned the funeral oration for Manuel by Eustathius of Thessalonica. This contains a series of vignettes of the personal aspects of Manuel. There are commonplaces: the emperor is able to endure hunger, thirst, heat and cold, lack of sleep and so on, and sweats copiously in his endeavours on the empire's part. Although these ideas have been recycled from earlier reigns, notably that of John II, the contemporary historians agree that Manuel was an indefatigable and daring warrior. However, there are more specifically individual touches in the Eustathian oration. Manuel had a manly suntan and was tall in stature. The emperor was capable of clever talk, but could also talk to others on a man-to-man basis. Eustathius makes much of the emperor's book-learning (Cinnamus claims to have discussed Aristotle with the emperor). The restoration of churches was a major concern for Manuel. He also had some expertise in medicine (he had tended Conrad III of Germany and Baldwin III of Jerusalem personally). Manuel showed temperance in eating and drinking, with a certain liking for beer as well as wine, the latter being mixed sour after the manner of ascetics. Likewise, he would not slumber long. He would generally choose walking over riding. The oration closes on the widow and orphan Manuel has left behind. The situation resulting for the Byzantine Empire at this stage, with the vacuum created by Manuel would result in no less than implosion.
Copyright (C) 2003, Andrew Stone.
Published: De Imperatoribus Romanis: An Online Encyclopedia of Roman Rulers and their Families http://www.roman-emperors.org/startup.htm. Used by permission.
Edited by J. P. Fitzgerald, Jr.Cleisthenes
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