Visigothic Metrology / (Philip Grierson)

THE
NUMISMATIC CHRONICLE
AND JOURNAL
OF THE
ROYAL NUMISMATIC SOCIETY
Edited
by
E. S. G. ROBINSON
C.B.E., M.A., F.B.A.,
F.S.A.
JOHN WALKER
M.A.,
D
/LITT.,
F.S.A.
Keeper of
Coins
,
British Museum
and
C. H. V. SUTHERLAND
M.A.,
D .LITT.
Deputy Keeper of
Coins
,
Ashmolean Museum
SIXTH SERIES
Volume XIII
LONDON
THE ROYAL NUMISMATIC SOCIETY
1953
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VISIGOTHIC METROLOGY
The
chapter
on
metrology
is the
only
section in
George
C. Miles's
splendid monograph,
The
Coinage of
the
Visigoths of Spain from
Leovigild
to Achila
II,1
to which the critic can take
exception.
The
procedures
used in
obtaining
the
figures,
and the forms in which these
are
presented,
raise
important questions
of numismatic method
transcending
their immediate
application
to the
coinage
of the Visi-
goths.
I have alluded
briefly
to the matter in
my
review2 of Dr.
Miles's
book,
but it seems desirable to discuss it at
greater length
and
to show how a different
presentation
can
provide
the numismatist and
the historian with information of
great importance.
The evidence
regarding
the
weights
of the coins is set out
by
Dr.
Miles in a series of tables
(pp. 156-64) giving,
under rulers and
mints,
the number of
specimens
for which
weights
are
available,
the
highest
and lowest
weights recorded,
and the
average weights
for the
separate
mints. Two
graphs
have been
plotted showing
the
averages, reign by
reign,
for all the mints
combined, and,
for
comparison,
the
averages
for the mint of
Toledo,
the
Visigothic capital.
The first of these
graphs,
that for the total
coinage
of each ruler as
far as it is
known,
is the more
interesting
of the two. It starts with
the "mintless" series of
Leovigild
at a
figure
of 1-299
gm.,
rises in his
later
coinage
to 1-382
gm.,
and under his successor Reccared
(586-
601)
attains an
average
of 1*471
g.,
not far below the theoretical
weight
of the
tremissis,
which is
put
at 1-516
gm.3 Something
approaching
this
figure
is maintained under Reccared's four succes-
sors,
but under Swinthila
(621-31)
there is a
falling
off to 1-411
gm.,
and under
Tulga (639-42)
the
average
has declined to 1-313
gm.
There is then a
striking improvement
under Chindaswinth
(642-53),
and the
average
remains
high
until the
reign
of
gica
alone
(682-
c.
698), during
which it is still 1-448
gm.
In the short
joint reign
of
Egica
and Wittiza
(c. 698-702)
the
figure
falls to 1-368
gm.
and under
Wittiza alone
(702-c. 710)
still further to 1-250
gm. Finally,
unex-
1
Hispanic
Numismatic
Series,
No. II
(New
York: American Numismatic
Society, 1952).
2
Below,
p.
183.
8
Miles, p.
154. This
figure
follows the traditional estimate of the
weight
of
the Roman
pound
as 327-456
gm.
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VISIGOTHIC METROLOGY 75
pectedly,
under the two last
Visigothic kings,
Roderic
(c. 710-11)
and
Achila II
(c. 710-14),
the
respectable average weights
of 1-440
gm.
and 1-423
gm.
are
again
achieved,
although,
as Dr. Miles
observes,
they
are based on too few
specimens
to be
regarded
as
necessarily
representative.
Such
figures by
themselves can
only
be of value to the economic
historian if he can be assured that the fineness of the coins is con-
stant. On this
matter,
Dr. Miles can
give
no
precise
information.
"To
judge by appearances,
the
gold
of the earlier rulers is
very
fine
;
during Egica's
rule marked debasement
begins,
and thereafter the
proportion
of silver increases
greatly. During
the
joint
rule of
Egica
and Wittiza the
majority
of the coins are of
'pale gold'
or electrum,
and
many actually
have the
appearance
more of silver than of
gold."
He adds: "The
appearance
of the coins that I have been able to
examine shows no evidence of a decline in fineness
during
the
reign
of
Tulga
when the remarkable decrease in
weight
standard takes
place."
The chief criticisms to be made of Dr. Miles' s work are
that,
in the
tables of
weights
and
averages,
the
listing
of the
highest
and lowest
recorded
weights
is
superfluous,
since such
weights
are
by
definition
exceptional,
and the
averages
are
misleading
because of their am-
biguity.
An
equally
serious fault is the omission of
any figures,
how-
ever
approximate,
for the fineness of the coins.
I
A decline in the
average weight
of a coin
series, involving
the
striking
of a
greater
number of coins to a
given weight
of
metal,
may
be due to one or more causes :
(i)
to an
open
and admitted
change
in the
weight
standard
employed
;
(ii)
to a ruler
ordering
the mints to reduce the
weight
of the
coins,
without
any public
avowal of the fact
;4
(iii)
to inefficient administrative control of the
mints,
allowing
mint officials to act as under
(ii),
but to their own
profit
and
not to that of the ruler.
4
In
practice
a reduction in fineness is more
usual,
since it is less
easily
detected.
76 PHILIP GRIERSON
A fourth
possibility
is a mixture of
(iii)
and
(i).
Inefficient central
control has sometimes allowed a local mint to
adopt
a different
weight
standard. This has
usually
meant either the reversion to a
standard to which
people
have been habituated in the
past
and which
they
still
employ
in their
private accounts,
or the
adoption,
for reasons
of commercial
convenience,
of the standard of some
neighbouring
community.
It is
important
to
keep
these several
possibilities
in
mind,
since
their causes are almost
inevitably
different. In the first
case,
they
are
mainly
economic. The usual
explanations
of a
change
of standard are
either an
attempt
to
compensate
for a rise or fall in the value of the
metal used for
coinage,
or a desire to facilitate commercial trans-
actions with another
country by
the
adoption
of a standard
widely
employed
elsewhere. In the second
case,
the cause
belongs
to the
realm of
public
finance : the desire of a ruler to secure a short-term
advantage
to his
exchequer by paying
his debts in debased
-
in this
case
light-weight
-
coin.5 In the third
case,
the cause is
primarily
political, though political
weakness
may
well have economic and
financial weakness
lying
behind it.
If we examine Dr. Miles's
figures,
and
particularly
his
graph
of the
average weights
of the coins under each
ruler,
the
unsatisfactory
nature of his
presentation
of the material is
apparent. Perhaps
the
best
example
of this is
given by
the
graph
of the
average weights
of
the coins of the 620's and 630's. when a sudden and marked decline
took
place.
After the
high figure
of 1-460
gm.
under Sisebut
(612-21),
they
sank to 1-411
gm.
under Swinthila
(621-31),
1-343
gm.
under
Sisenand
(631-6),
1-367
gm.
under Chintila
(636-9),
and
finally
1-313
gm.
under
Tulga (639-42).
Not till the
reign
of Chindaswinth
was there a return to the old level of
weight,
1-439
gm. during
his
early years
when he
reigned
alone
(642-9),
1-506
gm.
in his later
years
when his son Recceswinth was associated with him
(649-53).
These
figures suggest
that at this
period
the
monarchy,
and with
it
probably
the whole
economy
of the
country,
were in serious financial
difficulties.
They
would be
quite compatible
with a
temporary
reduc-
5
From the debtor's
point
of
view,
which
may
also to some extent be the
ruler's
point
of
view,
debasement has the
advantage
of
lightening
the real
burden of
debt,
but this is a refinement that
probably escaped
the attention
of medieval
sovereigns.
ton of the standard of the
tremissis,
not
necessarily
to that of the
20- or
21-siliqua
solidus,
with tremisses of c. 1-3
gm.,
which was in
use in the Frankish
kingdom
and which had been
temporarily
em-
ployed
in the
Visigothic kingdom during part
of the
reign
of
Leovigild,
6
but to
something
less than the full
24-siliqua
standard of Swinthila's
predecessors.
Even if such a formal reduction in the
weight
of the
tremissis were not
involved,
the
figures imply systematic depreciation
of the
coinage explicable only by
considerations of the most
general
character.
A number of
possible explanations
of this sort could be found
without serious
difficulty.
The conversion of the
Visigoths
from
Arianism to
Catholicism,
completed
under
Sisebut,
and the dominant
position
attained
by
the Catholic
hierarchy
in the
630's,
might
have
led to the
impoverishment
of the
monarchy through
its lavish
gifts
to
the
Church,
as well as to the withdrawal of
large quantities
of bullion
from circulation in the form of church ornaments and
plate.
The
savage persecution
of the
Jews,
inaugurated by
Sisebut and carried
on
by
his
successors,
must almost
certainly
have had
amongst
its
consequences
the concealment of hoards of bullion and their
smug-
gling
abroad. On the other
hand,
the
improvement
in the
currency
under Chindaswinth would have been made
possible by
the vast con-
fiscations of
property
which
accompanied
this monarch's ruthless
attack on the
aristocracy,
and
perhaps
would have been
helped by
the
flight
of wealth from
Byzantine
North
Africa,
already
menaced
during
the 640's
by
the advance of the Arabs. There are
clearly
plenty
of
general
considerations which could
explain
the
currency
debasement of the thirties
-
provided
that such considerations are
really required.
It is this last
point
that Dr. Miles's statistics do not
make clear.
A more
revealing presentation
of the material would have been
given by
the
frequency-table.
What this involves is well known: the
arranging
of a scale of
weights,
at intervals
of,
say,
0-05
gm.,
from the
minimum to the maximum found in the
series,
and then the
recording
of the number of
specimens
found in each
weight-group.
From the
figures
thus arrived
at,
a
frequency
curve can be drawn which in a
uniform coin series will be found to rise
slowly
to a certain
point,
and
then fall off
sharply.
The summit of the curve
gives
a
weight
a little
6
See
below,
p.
81.
78 PHILIP GEIERSON
below that to which the coins were
being
struck.
Theoretically,
to
determine this
weight accurately,
the formula of the curve should be
calculated
by
a
statistician,
but in
practice
the numismatist is
usually
content with the more
primitive procedure
of
taking
the
average
of
the
highest weight-group
and
adding
a small
figure
to allow for wear
and tear in circulation.
Except
where the
shape
of the curve is
abnormal,
as for
example
where the
proportion
of low
weights
is
unusually large,
this
gives
a
fairly
close
approximation
to the true
result.
The method is
mainly
useful for
ascertaining
the theoretical
weight
of a coin series where this is not
known,
since it eliminates the influ-
ence of isolated and irrelevant
high
and low
weights,
reduces to its
true
proportions
the
preponderance
of low
weights
which makes strict
averaging give
too low a
result,
and sometimes
brings
to
light
the fact
that the
group
under
investigation
has been struck to more than one
weight-pattern.
When it has been tested in the case of coins whose
theoretical
weight
is known to us from
documentary evidence,
it has
been found to be
remarkably
accurate in its results.7
In the case of the
coinage
of the
Visigoths,
where the theoretical
weight
of the tremissis is
already known,
or can at least be estimated
with considerable
confidence,
the uses to which a
frequency-table
can
be
put
are two in number. We can
hope
to ascertain from it whether
the same
weight
standard was
always followed,
or whether on occa-
sions some other standard was resorted
to,
and we can examine the
spread
of the coin
weights
over different
weight-groups
in order to see
how far the official
prescriptions regarding
the
coinage
were effective
7
The clearest
description
of the
method,
as
applied
to
coinage,
is
given by
G. F.
Hill,
"The
Frequency
-Table Num. Chron
.,
5th
ser.,
iv
(1924), pp.
76-85.
As Hill
employed
the
method,
the
weight
intervals were selected more or less at
random,
but M. Paul
Naster,
in his
study
of the find of Athenian tetradrachms
at Tell el Maskhouta
(Revue belge
de
numismatique ,
xciv
(1948), pp. 10-11),
shows that a more accurate result is obtained
by choosing
them after a
pre-
liminary study
of how the
weights
are
grouped.
In this
way
one avoids the
possibility
of
breaking up
a
strongly
marked
weight -group
between two dif-
ferent
intervals,
which
may
occur if the intervals are selected at random. In
my frequency
-table of
Visigothic
coins below I have had to
ignore
this refine-
ment,
since the ideal
grouping
would not be the same for each ruler and I had
to use a uniform
system throughout
for
purposes
of
comparison.
In
any case,
the table is not intended for
ascertaining
the theoretical
weight
of the
tremissis,
and an examination of the
weights
I
give
will show the
very
small nature of the
improvement
that this refinement would make
possible.
in the actual
working
of the mints. Where we find a considerable
proportion
of coins
being
struck
markedly
below
weight,
we can
go
back to the individual
weights
themselves to discover how far this
practice
was
general,
or whether it was confined to individual mints.
The
frequency-table
that follows is based on the material in Dr.
'Miles's
book,
and takes into account the
weights
of over
1,600
coins.
Damaged
coins,
and a few whose
weights
seemed
uncertain,
have been
excluded.8 This accounts for some
slight divergences
between his
totals and those
given
here. Where the
weights
of fewer than
twenty
specimens
are
known,
no
attempt
has been made to
suggest
where the
summit of the
frequency
curve would
come,
since it would be
largely
a matter of chance. Dr. Miles's
averages
for each
reign
have been
tabulated for
purposes
of
comparison.9
An examination of this table allows one to make a number of
generalizations regarding
the
metrology
of
Visigothic
coins.
(i)
From the introduction of the
"facing
bust"
types by Leovigild
to the
reign
of
Egica,
there was no
change
in
weight
standard. Over
the whole
period
between 584 and c.
698,
the tremissis was con-
sistently
struck 216 to the Roman
pound,
with a theoretical
weight
of 1*516
gm.
In no
reign
in this
period
does the
average weight
of the
largest group
of
specimens
fall below 1-480
gm.,10
and in three
reigns
it reaches 1-488
gm.
This
uniformity,
and the smallness of the dif-
ference between these
weights
and the theoretical
weight
of 1-516
gm,,
are a
striking testimony
to the
accuracy
of the
frequency-table
as
a method for
ascertaining
the
weight-standard
of a uniform coin
series.
Indeed,
a full statistical
analysis
of the
groups
would
probably
show that some mints often struck above rather than below the
theoretical
weight,
an aberration
possible only
because of the base-
ness of the
gold.
8
Dr. Miles's
weights
come from
many
different
sources,
and some of them
are
only approximate
-
those of the Carles -Tolr
collection,
for
example,
are
only given
to the nearest 0-05
gm.
-
or are
open
to
question, being given
differently by
different scholars who have described the coins
-
sometimes
even
given differently by
the same scholar in two different
places.
But these
divergences
are not so numerous as to affect the
general
line of the curves.
9
I have reduced them from four to three
places
of
decimals,
smce this is
quite
sufficient for our
purposes.
10
In the case of Swinthila the summit of the curve all but falls m the
weight-
group
1-41-1-45,
instead of that 1-46-1-50. In his
reign
the
coinage
was
beginning
to be less
efficiently
controlled than it was
by
his
predecessors.
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(ii) Leovigils
two
"
profile-bust"
series,
those with as well as
those without mint
names,
were struck to a different
standard,
clearly
that
represented by
the tremissis of 1-326
gm.,
or the 21-
siliqua solidus,
which was
widely
used in the former Roman
provinces
in the west. This fact is not remarked on
by
Dr.
Miles,
and indeed is
completely
concealed
by
his method of
averaging
all the coins of
Leovigild together,
but is
brought
out
clearly by
the
frequency-table.
It is commented on at some
length by
Wilhelm Reinhart in his
article,
Die Mnzen des
westgotischen
Reiches von Toledo
,u
where he
shows that the reduced
weight
is
already apparent
in the
coinage
immediately prior
to the first of
Leovigild's
reforms,
that which
put
his own name on the
coinage.
His second reform thus involved not
only
a
change
in the
design
of the coins but also a
change
of
weight-
standard,
and it seems reasonable to assume that the two were
related to each other. The
striking
alteration in
design
would
prevent
the new heavier tremisses
being
confused with their
lighter pre-
decessors.12
Leovigild's
return to the old
weight-standard
is not
easy
to
explain.
It
may
be connected with a clause in the
Visigothic legal
code,
which
provided
that no
person
should refuse a solidus or
tremissis,
whatever
its
origin, provided
that it was of full
weight
and not a
forgery.13
If
strictly interpreted,
this would
compel,
or rather was intended to
compel,
the
acceptance
of
Leovigild's heavy
tremisses on a
par
with
imperial
ones,
despite
the fact
that,
as we shall see
later,
they
were
seriously
debased.
(iii) During
the
reign
of
Swinthila,
the
proportion
of
specimens
in
the
weight-groups
1 '26-1 *30
gm.
and 1-36-1-40
gm.
is
exceptionally
large,
and in the
reigns
of his three successors this
frequency
is ex-
tended into the
weight-group
1-21-1-25
gm.
as well. It is this
pre-
dominance that accounts for the lower
average weights
of the
coinage
11
In the Deutsches Jahrbuch
fr
Numismatik
,
iii-iv
(1940-1), pp.
87-89;
cf. also his "Nuevas
aportaciones
a la numismtica
visigoda",
Archivo
Espaol
de
Arqueologa ,
xviii
(1945), pp.
232-3.
12
In
this,
as in other
aspects
of
Leovigild's policy,
it is worth
noting
how he
was
imitating Byzantium
and
asserting
his
independence
of it at the same time.
His coins were
ceasing
to be
Byzantine
in their
general appearance
at a moment
when
they
were
reverting
to the
Byzantine weight
-standard.
13
Lex
Visigothorum,
vii.
6,
5
(in Leges Visigothorum
,
ed. K. Zeumer
(Hanover-
Leipzig, 1902), p.
31
1).
This clause is marked
antiqua
in the
manuscripts,
which
means that it
goes
back to the time of
Leovigild
or even
beyond,
a fact which
the
separate
references to solidi and tremisses in
any
case make
plain.
vi. XIII G
82 PHILIP GRIERSON
of these
kings
to which Dr. Miles has called attention. The
frequency-
table makes it clear that no
change
in the
weight-standard
took
place
at this
period,
and an examination of the mint
averages given by
Dr.
Miles
(pp. 159-61)
and of the detailed
weights
of individual coins
shows that at
Toledo, Seville,
and Merida
they
remained
consistently
high,
and that the decline was due to
irregularities
in the smaller
provincial mints,
particularly
those of
north-eastern, eastern,
and
south-eastern
Spain.
This means that it is to be attributed to the
weakness of the
crown,
allowing
the
exploitation
of the mints
by
local
officials,
not to
manipulation
of the central mints in the
royal
interest.
Despite
the low
averages,
there are too
many
individual
specimens weighing
more than 1-326
gm.
to
justify
the
supposition
that there was
any
deliberate return to the standard of the 21
-siliqua
solidus. It is
possible, however,
that in the north-eastern mints
(Nar-
bonne,
Rodas
, Gerona, Barcelona,
even
Saragossa)
there
may
have
been some assimilation to the lower
weight-standard
in
vogue amongst
the Franks.
(iv)
The
reign
of
Egica
and Wittiza
(c. 698-702)
shows a decline in
the
weight-standard,
and in that of Wittiza alone
(702-c. 710)
the
standard
completely disappears
;
the curve ceases to be the
typical
one of a uniform coin
series,
and the list of
weights gives
us no clue at
all as to what
system
was
being
used. This leads us on to the
question
of the fineness of the coins.
II
Tables II and III
give figures
for the fineness of all the
Visigothic
"
regal"
coins,
and a few of the
pseudo-imperial series,
in
my
collec-
tion. These are all that have been available to me for
systematic
examination,
for under
present
conditions museums are
ill-equipped
for the determination of
specific gravities
and are
naturally
not
pre-
pared
to undertake
anything
in the
way
of chemical
analysis
that
might injure
the coins. A
private
collector has a freer
hand,
both in
taking
the coins to a
laboratory
where
they
can be
conveniently
studied and in
determining
how
they
shall be treated when
they
are
there. Three
important points,
however,
I could not
verify
from the
material in
my
own
collection,
and Dr. Walker has been kind
enough
to
supply
me with
figures
for the
specific gravities
of the relevant
coins in the British Museum.
The main series of
figures give my
own determinations of the
densities of the coins.14 These in themselves would be an
inadequate
guide
to fineness. It is
necessary
to know whether the
alloy
includes
other metals besides
gold
and
silver,
since if substantial
quantities
are
present
the
accuracy
of
any figures
deduced from the densities is not
very great.
I therefore had small
pieces
cut from six
sample coins,
several of which were
already pierced
or otherwise
damaged,
and had
these
analysed gravimetrically
and
colorimetrically by
Messrs. John-
son,
Matthey
&
Co.,
the most
competent
firm in the
country
in this
kind of work. These
analyses
showed,
in the first
place,
that the
alloys
could be treated as if
they
were
binary
ones of
gold
and silver
;
the
proportion
of
copper
in none of the coins examined exceeded
2
per
cent.,
and could therefore be
neglected.15
The
figures
for fine-
ness in the
accompanying
table are
consequently
reckoned on the
assumption
that
only gold
and silver are involved. In the second
place,
the
figures
calculated from densities
agree
to within 5
per
cent,
of those obtained
by
a more
thorough analysis.
This involves a
margin
of error of about one
carat,
and since this is
probably
as close
as the
Visigoths
themselves could have measured the fineness of their
coins,
it cannot be
regarded
as of much
consequence.
Table II
gives
the
figures
for
eight
coins of the
pseudo-imperial
series of about the middle of the sixth
century.
The first two coins
are
possibly Merovingian,
from southern
Gaul,
and not
Visigothic,
since in the
present
state of our
knowledge
it is often difficult to
make a clear-cut distinction between the two
series,
but the others
are
certainly Visigothic. They
show that the
coinage
of the mid-
century
was of
remarkably pure gold.
It was
presumably produced
by melting
down
imperial
coins,
which are of the same
degree
of
fineness.16 The same is true of what Reinhart christened the CVRR V
14
I would like to
express my
thanks to
my
friend and
colleague
Dr. J. S.
Courtney-Pratt
for
having
allowed me access to the
necessary apparatus
in the
Physical Chemistry Laboratory
at
Cambridge
and
given
me much advice and
assistance
regarding
its use.
15
The
employment
o
copper
as an
alloy
tor
gold,
was uncommon in tne
Middle
Ages,
and is
practically
confined to some Amalfitan and late
Byzantine
series. The reason was that
copper
hardened the
gold
too
much,
and so
shortened the life of the dies.
16
For
comparable figures
for
imperial
coins of this
period
see L. Brunetti m
Rivista Italiana di
Numismatica,
4th
ser.,
vii
(1950-1), p.
7.
Merovingian
coins
of this
period,
to
judge by
such
figures
as I have been able to
obtain,
are also
of
very
fine
gold.
84 PHILIP GRIERSON
series which
immediately preceded
the first issues of
Leovigild
in his
own name. This series is not
represented
in
my
collection,
but a
specimen
in the British Museum has a
density
of
17-65,
and a fineness
therefore of
86-5,
or about 21 carats.
Table II
Densities
of "Pseudo-Imperial"
Coins
Collection Wt. in Wt. in
No. Ruler
reference
air water
Density
Fineness
1 Pseudo
-Imperial
8505 1-4522 1-3746 18-71 96
2

3467 1-4490 1-3722 18-86 97
(a)
3
(b)
8102 1-2806 1-2135 19-09 98-5
4

3468 1-4442 1-3688 19-15 99
5
(c)
2553 1-3632 1-2890 18-62 95
6
(d)
7584 1-3984 1-3213 18-23 92-5
7
(e)
2555 1-2086 1-1406 17-77 88
8

(/)
1073 1-4299 1-3495 17-78 88
(a) Analysis gives
93-6
gold,
5-4
silver,
the rest
copper.
(b) Reinhart,
Mnzen des
westgotischen
Reiches von
Toledo,
pl. 9,
8.
(c) Ibid.,
pl. 10,
16 var. Pierced.
Analysis gives
92-9
gold,
6-8
silver,
the
rest
copper.
(d) Ibid.,
pl. 11,
11 var.
(e) Ibid.,
pl. 9,
15 var.
Slightly clipped.
(/) Ibid.,
pl. 10,
13
(this specimen).
The sudden reduction to 18 carats was
apparently
made
by
Leo-
vigild
when he introduced his earliest
"
regal"
series,
that
bearing
his
name but not the name of a mint
(Miles 1-8).
A
specimen
of this
series in the British Museum has a
density
of
15-08,
and a fineness
therefore of
67,
or rather over 16 carats. This is
exceptionally
low,
for
the two other coins of
Leovigild
for which
figures
are
available,
one
belonging
to his
"
second series"
(with profile
bust and
mint-name)
and the other to his
"
third series"
(with facing busts),
both have a
fineness
approaching
18 carats. It seems therefore
likely
that the
British Museum
figure
is an individual
aberration,
and that 18 carats
was the fineness which
Leovigild
ordered that his
gold coinage
should be.17
The fineness was stabilized at 18 carats
during
the
long reign
of
Reccared,
the observed
figures fluctuating
between 70 and 75-5. The
only
coin in the list that
requires
comment is no. 9
(Miles 91, 1).
The
authenticity
of this
piece
has been
suspected
on various
grounds,
but
Dr.
Miles,
after
discussing
the matter at some
length (pp. 222-3),
17
Hermenegild apparently
reverted to the full
imperial standard,
for the
one
specimen
of his
coinage
in the British Museum has a
density
of
19-08,
and
a fineness therefore of 98-5.
Table III
Densities
of "Regal"
Coins
Miles Wt. in Wt. in
No. Ruler Mint
reference
air water
Density
Fineness
1
Leovigild
Evora
36(a)3
1-2813 1-2008 15-88 74-5
2

Toledo
29(a)3
1-5196 1-4223 15-61 72
3 Reccared
81(c)27
1-5281 1-4289 15-40 70
4
81(c)28
1-4722 1-3800 15-97 75-5
5
(a)
Seville
85(d)l
1-4202 1-3304 15-82 73-5
6
86(b)4
1-4960 1-3998 15-55 71-5
7
86(e)4
1-5486 1-4481 15-42 70
8

Evora
90(b)6
1-5149 1-4184 15-70 72-5
9
()
91 1 1-4051 1-3071 14-34 59
10

Merida
94(d)2
1-4920 1-3966 15-65 72-5
11

Coimbra
96(d)l
1-4796 1-3797 15-81 73-5
12 Liuvall Seville
120(b)3
1-4858 1-3910 15-67 72-5
13 Witteric Merida
143(g)l
1-5098 1-4104 15-19 68
14 Gundemar Eliberri
168(b)2
1-4531 1-3565 15-04 66-5
15 Sisebut
Tarragona 178(b)-
1-4277 1-3292 14-49 60-5
16

Merida
192(b)5
1-4575 1-3623 15-31 69
17 Swinthila Barbi
224(c)-
1-4363 1-3371 14-46 60
18

Martos
229(i)2
1-1879 1-1031 14-01 55
19

Merida
235(a)35
1-4368 1-3383 14-59 61-5
20
235(i)2
1-4001 1-3072 15-07 66-5
21 Sisenand Cordova
267(d)3
1-2583 1-1639 13-33 48
22
(c)
Merida
273(a)21
1-4173 1-3175 14-20 56-5
23
273(f)3
1-4980 1-3871 14-41 59-5
24 Chintila Toledo
285(d)5
1-4903 1-3938 15-44 70
25

Merida
293(b)2
1-4132 1-3101 14-68 62-5
26 Chinda-
330(a)7
1-2676 1-1752 13-94 54
swinth
27 Recce- Toledo 359-3 1-5801 1-4798 15-75 73
swinth
(
d
)
28

Cordova
364(f)3
1-4043 1-3108 15-02 66
29

Seville 366-1 1-4576 1-3623 15-29 68-5
30 Wamba Toledo
386(b)ll
1-5892 1-4788 14-40 59-5
31

Merida
374(a)8
1-4999 1-3927 14-26 58
32
394(b)
1 1-3828 1-2879 14-57 61
33
Erwig (e)
Toledo
399(a)14
1-4313 1-3303 14-17 56-5
34

Seville
409(b)2
1-4087 1-3061 13-74 52
35
410(a)4
1-4635 1-3586 13-95 54-5
36
(/)
410(a)3
1-4729 1-3679 14-03 55
37
Egica
Toledo
436(i)2
1-4888 1-3764 13-25 46
38

Merida
438(a)l
1-3755 1-2780 14-03 55
39
Egica/Wit-
Toledo
468(d)l
1-4736 1-3870 17-02 83-5
tiza
(g)
40

Merida
486(h)l
1-1963 1-0913 11-39 17
41
(h) 486(k)l
1-3774 1-2674 12-52 35
(a) Analysis gives
74-3
gold,
23*3 silver.
(b) Contemporary
counterfeit.
(c) Analysis gives
52-8
gold,
43-5 silver.
(d) Pierced,
and
partially plugged. (e) Pierced,
but no metal
gone.
(/) Analysis gives
62-0
gold,
36-1
silver,
the rest
copper.
(g) Broken, repaired,
and
regilded.
The
consequent figure
for fineness is
meaningless.
(h)
Broken and
repaired. Analysis gives
36-9
gold,
57-5 silver.
86 PHILIP GRIERSON
came with some hesitation to the conclusion that it was
genuine.
The
fineness settles the
question beyond
a doubt. It is so out of
keeping
with that of the other coins of Reccared that the
piece
must be written
off as
false,
though
it is a
contemporary
counterfeit and not a
modern one.
It is difficult to make
any generalizations regarding
the
quality
of
the
gold
under Witteric and his
successors,
since the
only figures
available
diverge substantially
between
themselves,
and it
may
well
be that different mints
departed
in
varying degrees
from whatever
prescriptions
were laid down
by
law.
Only
an
examination,
mint
by
mint,
of the rich material available in the Museum of the American
Numismatic
Society
would
clarify
the matter.
Failing
it,
one can
only
record a
general tendency
to
decline,
with
figures
for fineness
fluctuating
between 14 and 16 carats.
Under Chindaswinth and Recceswinth the mint of Toledo
appa-
rently
returned to the old fineness of 18 carats as established
by
Leo-
vigild, though
the
figure
for
Recceswinth is not
wholly
reliable,
since
the coin from which it comes has been
partially plugged.
Elsewhere
the fineness seems to have reverted to about 16
carats,
with an
anomalous coin of Merida of
only
13 carats. Whether this is
typical
of the mint we cannot
say.
Under
Wamba,
Erwig,
and
Egica,
the
normal
figure
is about 14
carats,
with a
tendency
to
fall,
reaching
1 1 carats in
Toledo,
traditionally
a
good
mint,
under
Egica. By
the
end of the
century,
under
Egica
and
Wittiza,
the fineness ceases to
follow
any recognizable pattern, just
as the coin
weights
were be-
ginning
to do.
While this
summary
does not
greatly change
our
general picture
of the evolution of
Visigothic coinage
-
stability
under
Reccared,
irregular
decline under his successors in the first half of the seventh
century, temporary improvement
under Chindaswinth and Recce-
swinth,
then renewed decline
reaching complete currency
chaos
by
the end of the
century
-
it does
modify
it in one
important respect.
It is clear that
Visigothic
"
regal" ooinage
was
always
of much baser
metal than
anyone
had heretofore
supposed.
Far from the
early
coins
being "very
fine",
they
were
only
18 carats or less. This initial
reduction in
fineness,
carried out
by Leovigild,
must have been the
result of definite directions on his
part,
as were the
changes
in
weight
and
type
which he made. But it is less clear how far the later
changes
were ordered
by
the central
government
or were due to
irregularities
in the
working
of the
mints,
as the variations in the
weights
of the
coins between mint and mint
undoubtedly
were. This is a
question
that could
only
be determined
by
the
analyses
of a much
greater
number of coins than have been available to me for examination.
Philip Griebson

Visigothic Metrology / (Philip Grierson)

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