The Byzantine World Money, Coins and the Economy
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This article was downloaded by: 10.2.98.160 On: 25 Sep 2021 Access details: subscription number Publisher: Routledge Informa Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954 Registered office: 5 Howick Place, London SW1P 1WG, UK The Byzantine World Paul Stephenson Money, Coins and the Economy Publication details https://test.routledgehandbooks.com/doi/10.4324/9780203817254.ch3 Cécile Morrisson Published online on: 15 Feb 2010 How to cite :- Cécile Morrisson. 15 Feb 2010, Money, Coins and the Economy from: The Byzantine World Routledge Accessed on: 25 Sep 2021 https://test.routledgehandbooks.com/doi/10.4324/9780203817254.ch3 PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR DOCUMENT Full terms and conditions of use: https://test.routledgehandbooks.com/legal-notices/terms This Document PDF may be used for research, teaching and private study purposes. 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British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data A catalog record for this book has been requested ISBN 0-203-81725-7 Master e-book ISBN ISBN: 978–0–415–44010–3 (hbk) Downloaded By: 10.2.98.160 At: 22:07 25 Sep 2021; For: 9780203817254, chapter3, 10.4324/9780203817254.ch3 CHAPTER THREE MONEY, COINS AND THE ECONOMY Cécile Morrisson n early medieval Europe some large territories had hardly any money at all, while Iothers relied on barter, ingots or extraneous coins traded as metal and often cut for the purpose. In the former provinces of the Western empire the Roman tradition gradually evolved into several diverging patterns: monometallic silver coinage in Francia, gold and sometimes silver surviving in the Visigothic and Lombard king- doms in the south.1 Byzantium was alone in maintaining, albeit with the necessary adaptations, the main characteristics of the late Roman coinage, which was to remain the basic form of money through the nine centuries considered in this volume. Its pivot and cornerstone was the gold solidus/nomisma. Created in 312 as the out- come of the reforms of Diocletian and Constantine which checked the third-century crisis of the Roman silver denarius, the new system remained relatively stable over some six centuries. It was a multi-metallic and multi-denominational scheme of vary- ing complexity, which adapted well to extremely varied exchanges. Coined money derived from an elaborate financial and fiscal organization that made a powerful contribution to the economic integration of a huge territory, as it had done in the Roman period. We will first outline its evolution, then the conditions of its produc- tion (mints and imperial finances) before considering its role in the economy and the variations in monetization.2 COINS AND COINAGE (SIXTH TO FIFTEENTH CENTURIES) The coinage of the seventh century retained the three traditional gold denominations 1 3 that had existed since the fifth century: the solidus struck at 72 of a Roman pound, the semissis and the tremissis, which all remained very pure (c. 98 per cent). The silver coinage which had been limited in the sixth century to small issues of cere- monial pieces used for distributions was revived under Herakleios with the creation of the hexagram in 616 whose name was derived from its weight of six grammata or scripula (scruples), but which declined swiftly at the end of Constantine IV’s reign, and became in its turn a “ceremonial” coinage that was struck with solidus dies.4 The situation of Byzantine bronze coinage in the mid-seventh century cannot be 34 Downloaded By: 10.2.98.160 At: 22:07 25 Sep 2021; For: 9780203817254, chapter3, 10.4324/9780203817254.ch3 –– chapter 3: Money, coins and the economy –– understood without a short glance at a major monetary event of the previous period. Anastasius’ reform of the bronze coinage (in 498) put an end to a long period of inflation in the smallest denomination, the nummus, whose relative value to the 1 1 gold solidus had fallen from to 7,200 in 445 to 16,800 in 498. Anastasius created a series of multiples of this minute coin (of 0.6–0.5 g, or even 0.2 g), the follis of 40 nummi, the half-follis of 20 nummi, the dekanoummion and the pentanoummion, all bearing their mark of value and the name of the mint, a system which was to last until the eighth century. This innovative reform struck contemporaries enough for it to be related in several sources: Malalas, a Syriac chronicle and Marcellinus Comes.5 The stabilization of the small currency however did not last forever. The weight of the follis which had remained constant at 18 g from 512 to 538 and from 542 to 565, following the episode of the large folles dated by regnal years XII–XV, declined progressively until it reached 11–12 g under Maurice and in the first years of Herakleios’ reign. This inflation went on continuously during the seventh century and the decline in the purchasing power of the follis is illustrated by the progressive disappearance of its fractions in excavation finds: the pentanoummion, like the dekanoummion, becomes increasingly rare as of the 580s. Finally fractions ceased being struck: the last known examples of pentanoummia are under Constantine IV, with one single example under Constantine V; the dekanoummion disappeared under Constantine V; and the half follis disappeared for good under Theophilos. The monetary system of the Isaurians and the Macedonians emerged from this process as much simpler, though still pluri-metallic, where each metal, gold, silver and copper was embodied in one denomination only. Constantinopolitan gold suffered, starting in the 680s, a reduction in its gold content and weight (from 98 per cent and 4.41 g, which prevailed in the period 491–668, to 96 per cent and 4.36 g on average). Only half of the weight reduction was due to the presence in the alloy of metals less valuable and less dense than gold. In terms of the fine gold content, the savings effected were small (2.7 per cent, being 0.12 g saved on 4.32 g), but not negligible. Further slight variations are observed in the eighth and ninth centuries but have not been studied in detail.6 They did not affect the overall quality of the metropolitan gold which remained always higher than 90 per cent. Silver was now represented by the emblematic iconoclastic coin, the miliaresion created in 721. The coin’s broad, thin fabric, triple border of dots and use of a figured type with an inscription that covers the whole of one face of the coin may have been copied Table 3.1 The Byzantine monetary system in the eighth to tenth centuries Gold* Silver Copper Solidus Nomisma Miliarèsion Follis (~ 4.50 g 98% Au) (2.27 g to 3.0 g 98% Ag) (» 14 g to 3 g) 1 12 288 124 12 * Semisses and tremisses are very rare after 741. The last ones were struck under Basil I (867–86). 35 Downloaded By: 10.2.98.160 At: 22:07 25 Sep 2021; For: 9780203817254, chapter3, 10.4324/9780203817254.ch3 –– C é cile Morrisson –– from the contemporary Arab dirham as well as inspired by the inscriptions on earlier seals. This iconography is typical of the Iconoclasts’ exclusive insistence on the cross with the choice for the inscription around the cross of the invocation of Constantine: Iesus Christus Nika, “Jesus Christ Conquers.”7 The miliaresion was probably intended to compete with the dirham on the political level, by confronting it with a profession of faith by the Christian empire, under the protection of God and the victorious Cross. Although originally ceremonial in nature, since it was only issued in the name of the megas basileus in association with his son and heir, the silver coinage soon exceeded this function and, as will be seen, played an active part in tax payments and private transactions as attested in several sources or the archaeological record. It had become the intermediary coinage par excellence, replacing the frac- tions of the nomisma. The bronze follis knew two short-lived reinforcements of its weight: one after Herakleios’ victory in 629, the other under Constantine IV (d.