Research uncovers the Byzantine origins of silver in Europe ’s 7th-century coinage, later replaced by Francian silver from Melle, marking a pivotal shift in medieval economic and political frameworks. A selection of the Fitzwilliam Museum coins which were studied, including coins of Charlemagne and Offa. Credit: The Fitzwilliam Museum , University of Cambridgecentury, only to be overtaken by silver from a mine in Charlemagne’s Francia a century later, new tests reveal.
The findings could transform our understanding of Europe’s economic and political development. From 660 to 750 AD, Anglo-Saxon England experienced a significant revival of trade, marked by a substantial increase in silver coin usage, moving away from gold dependence. Approximately 7,000 of these silver ‘pennies’ have been documented, an impressive figure that matches the total recorded for the entire Anglo-Saxon era from the 5th century to 1066. For decades, experts have agonized over where the silver in these coins came from. Now a team of researchers from the Universities of Cambridge, Oxford, and Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam have solved that mystery by analysing the make-up of coins held by the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge.publishes their study today. Co-author Rory Naismith, Professor of Early Medieval English History at the University of Cambridge, said: “There has been speculation that the silver came from Melle in France, or from an unknown mine, or that it could have been melted down church silve
Byzantine Silver Europe 7Th-Century Coinage Medieval Economic Political Trade Fitzwilliam Museum
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