Coinage and Coin Use in Medieval Italy: (Variorum Collected Studies)

The volume gathers together seventeen articles dedicated to the monetary history of medieval Italy, most of them newly translated into English. The articles in the first section of the volume trace the development of monetisation in Italy from the Lombard period until the rise of the communes, taking Rome, Lazio, Tuscany, and several cities and regions in north-central Italy as case studies. The articles in the second section analyse different aspects of monetary production and circulation in Byzantine Italy, while the third gathers together studies on various aspects of Carolingian coinage: the transition from the Lombard system and the problem of furnishing an adequate supply of silver; mints and royal administration; and the activity and inactivity of mints operating at the edges of the Regnum Italiae. All of the articles share the author’s characteristic concern with setting the evidence from written sources against the wealth of new data emerging from recent archaeological research.

Table of Contents:
Contents: Introduction; Part I Coin Use in Medieval Italy: Residuality, non-residuality, and continuity of circulation: some examples from the Crypta Balbi; Coin hoards; Monetary circulation and notarial formulas in early medieval Italy; Coinage in the early medieval documentary record from Rome and Lazio; Monetary circulation in Byzantine and Carolingian Rome: a reconsideration in the light of recent archaeological data; Some considerations on the coinage of Lombard and Carolingian Italy; Coins and trade in early medieval Italy; The denaro of Pavia in the early Middle Ages (8th to 11th century); Patrimonium Beati Petri. Coin issue and circulation in northern Lazio (11th-14th centuries); New mints and coin circulation between the 10th and 13th centuries: the example of Lazio and Tuscany. Part II Coins and Coin Circulation in Byzantine Italy: Un tremisse di GiustinianoII da San Vincenzo al Volturno. Osservazioni sulle emission auree dell’Italia bizantina; Naples, ville et atelier monétaire de l’empire byzantin: l’apport des fouilles récentes. Part III Coins and Coin Circulation in Carolingian Italy: Money and coinage in the Campione dossier; 774. The mints of the Kingdom of Italy: a survey; Émission monétaire et administration dans le royaume d’Italie. À propos des analyses des derniers carolingiens du cabinet des médailles; The Carolingian denaro in southern Italy: reopening the debate; The deniers of Charlemagne with the legend +CARLVSREXFR ETLANGACPATROM and the Greek monogram; Addenda and corrigenda; Index.

About the Author :
Alessia Rovelli is Docente di Numismatica antica, Università degli Studi della Tuscia, Italy.

Review :
'This helpful volume, part of the well-known Variorum series, collects a selection of her most important articles (in this case amounting to a generous seventeen items), with the usual addenda and corrigenda, as well as a consolidated index ... Rovelli’s work is important for specialists working in many areas of early medieval archaeology, history and numismatics, including those whose interests are not primarily Italian. At the heart of her approach is close engagement with coin-finds and their archaeological context, but also with an eye to the testimony of contemporary documents - an exemplary methodology.' Early Medieval Europe 'This work offers more than a mere snapshot of the field or a rigid unitary perspective. We now possess not only a useful collation of Rovelli’s detailed work but also a body of material that can be easily accessed by Anglophone readers. ... This comprehensive collection, which also addresses a wide range of pertinent fields and problems that affect not only Italy in the early medieval period but also the wider Mediterranean and European worlds, is a valuable addition to our libraries.' Al-Masaq: Journal of the Medieval Mediterranean