Coinage magazine12/21/2023 ![]() Instead, Charlemagne used the title "Emperor Governing the Roman Empire," according to Britannica (opens in new tab).įinally, in 812, the Byzantine Empire recognized Charlemagne's emperorship, so he started using the title found on the coin, making this a possible date for the coin's minting, Pilekić said. "It had something to do with his diplomatic connections with Byzantium," also known as the Byzantine or Eastern Roman Empire. "Although he was already crowned in 800, he didn't use that title 812," Pohle said. After being crowned Roman emperor, he didn't immediately use the title "Emperor Augustus" found on the coin. Museum experts have determined that the 0.5-ounce (1.5 grams) coin was likely minted in Aachen due to the city's importance, as that's where Charlemagne was possibly born and later died. (Image credit: Stadt Aachen/Route Charlemagne) When was it minted? The back of the coin features a mix between a Roman temple and a church. The back of the coin features a building, which has a Christian cross on it and looks like a mix between a Roman temple and a church, Pohle said. "Most only have his name on it, no portrait," Marjanko Pilekić, a numismatist and research assistant at the Coin Cabinet of the Schloss Friedenstein Gotha Foundation in Germany, who is not involved with the newfound coin, told Live Science. There are only about 50 individual denarii coins bearing a portrait of Charlemagne created in his lifetime. "That type of coin is quite a good copy of what the Roman emperors did in their times … to use money as a piece of their own marketing purposes." Putting his portrait on the 0.7-inch-diameter (1.9 centimeters) coin "has something to do with his ambitions," Pohle told Live Science. The portrait also reveals that Charlemagne had a round face, a mustache and a short neck, the latter a detail noted by Charlemagne's biographer Einhard, Pohle said. He is wearing a dress like a Roman general." "He has the laurel on his hat, which is quite unusual for Frankish kings. ![]() So, perhaps it's no surprise that, in this coin portrait, Charlemagne "presents himself really as Roman emperor," Pohle told Live Science. Due to his political power, military might and close relationship with the Vatican, Charlemagne was crowned emperor of the Romans on Christmas day in A.D. 768 to 814), also known as Charles the Great, was king of the Franks and became the first ruler to unite Western and Central Europe after the fall of the Western Roman Empire in the fifth century A.D.
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