[gothic-l] Re: Runic Influences

[Tore Gannholm]

>>
>> The principal routes by which Mediterranean objects reached the
>other side
>> of the North Sea and the English Channel were identified nearly
>thirty
>> years ago by Werner on the basis of the find-places of two types of
>object;
>> gold coins minted in the Mediterranean, especially those of
>Theodoric
>> (493-526) and Justinian (527-65),
>
>
>Hi Tore,
>
>Blackburn and Greason write in their book Early Medieval Coinage Vol.
>1, that one interesting feature of British coin hoards of the dark
>ages is the almost complete absense of any Ostrogothic coins in
>Britain.
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>and bronze vessels. The
>distribution of
>> the coins and the vessels led Werner to identify a trade route from
>Ravenna
>> at the head of the Adriatic, through the Alps to the upper Rhine,
>and
>> thence westward to northern France and the North Sea. The evidence
>suggests
>> that the route may have been busiest in the second and third
>quarters of
>> the sixth century, the period of Justinian´s reconquest of Italy, of
>the
>> establishment of Ravenna as the seat of the Byzantine viceroy, and
>of
>> relatively intense diplomatic activity between the Byzantines and
>the
>> Franks. A second route followed the Rhone valley from Marseille to
>central
>> France and beyond.
>> The crossing to Kent and other entry-points is unlikely to have been
>the
>> monopoly of any one group, although the Frisians are accorded pride
>of
>> place in the literature, thanks partly to Bede, who noted their
>presence in
>> London in 679. The importance of the Frisians is underlined by the
>relative
>> abundance of Byzantine gold coins in Frisland; P.C.J.A.Boeles lists
>two
>> coins of Justin I (518-27), eight of Justinian (527-65), two of
>Justin II
>> (565-78), three of Maurice Tiberius (582-602), two of Phocas
>(602-10) and
>> four of Heraclius and Heraclius Constantine (c. 613/4-30 or later) -
>more
>> than from the whole of Francia.
>
>
>
>When did this P.C.J.A. Boeles write? There have been by far more finds
>of Byzantine gold coins in Francia than in Frisia. In fact, some
>authors (Rigold) believes that an imperial mint continued to produce
>solidi in Marseille in the 5th/7th centuries. I think the graves of
>Frankish kings alone must have contained more solidi than those of
>all Frisian finds together. Clodowig's grave  alone contained several
>hundred solidi. In fact, the Franks had such a demand for large gold
>denominations because of their distant trade that they minted them
>themselves, long before the first Frisian or Anglo-Saxon solidi were
>made.
>
>
>cheers
>Dirk
>

There is no wonder you can't find any Ostrogotic coins in Britain.
They didn't make their own coins.

Peter Heather writes in the "Goths" ISBN 0-631-16536-3

After 511, Theoderic's quasi-imperial posturing was matched by a realm
which he could with justification claim to be the western Roman Empire
reconstituted. In certain formal contexts, Theoderic drew back from
declaring himself a new Roman Emperor, but not very far. The eastern Empire
remained the most powerful state of its day, and Theoderic probably did not
want to antagonize it unduly. We shall see  below what difficulties a
hostile Empire would cause him in the 520s,even without invading Italy.
Thus his formal title was always king, not Emperor; his coinage usually
carried the Emperor's bust, and he forebore from issuing gold coins: an
imperial prerogative. The latter was very much a constitutional nicety,
however, and, on occasion, the mask slipped.

cheers
Tore


------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ---------------------~-~>
eGroups is now Yahoo! Groups
Click here for more details
http://click.egroups.com/1/11231/1/_/3398/_/980838041/
---------------------------------------------------------------------_->

You are a member of the Gothic-L list.  To unsubscribe, send a blank email to <gothic-l-unsubscribe at egroups.com>.
Homepage: http://www.stormloader.com/carver/gothicl/index.html