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IMC 2019: Sessions

Session 1019: Coins in Medieval Material Culture, I: The Iberian Peninsula

Wednesday 3 July 2019, 09.00-10.30

Organiser:James Todesca, Department of History, Armstrong Atlantic State University, Georgia
Moderator/Chair:William R. Day, Department of Coins & Medals, Fitzwilliam Museum, University of Cambridge
Paper 1019-aThe Currency of Power and Practicality in Visigothic Iberia
(Language: English)
Andrew Kurt, Department of History, Clayton State University, Georgia
Index terms: Archaeology - Artefacts, Economics - Trade, Numismatics
Paper 1019-bPower and Symbolism in the Visigothic Kingdom: Monarchical Propaganda through Monetary Typologies
(Language: English)
Ruth Pliego Vázquez, Departamento de Prehistoria y Arqueología, Universidad de Sevilla
Index terms: Archaeology - Artefacts, Economics - Trade, Numismatics
Paper 1019-cStriking Dissimilarities: The Latin Dinars of Leon and Portugal, c. 1172-1260
(Language: English)
James Todesca, Department of History, Armstrong Atlantic State University, Georgia
Index terms: Archaeology - Artefacts, Economics - Trade, Numismatics
Abstract

While medieval coins did not carry the high-relief portraits of their ancient predecessors, they nonetheless give us direct evidence of visual and textual messages promulgated by governments. This session examines the role of gold coinage in the Visigothic kingdom, c. 500-700 and in the later kingdoms of León, Castile, and Portugal. Collectively the papers ask to what extent did monarchs successfully employ coins as propaganda. Was the success of a coin dependent simply on its reliable fineness and weight or did the issuing authority proclaimed on the coin play a role in its acceptance?