Conveners
S77. MEDIEVAL AND MODERN TIMES 2. MONETA SACRA
- Cecilia von Heijne (National Historical Museums Sweden)
Whether found in a purse attached at the belt or resting on different parts of the body, coins found in graves suggest rites and customs associated with burial. Like the clothing of the deceased, are coins a mark of social status? Local coins have been found alongside more exotic issues, what can we deduce from this? Did foreigners bury their own in the diocese of Lausanne, did the members of...
In September 2017, an excavation survey at Cluny Abbey (France, Saône-et-Loire) led to the discovery of an exceptional hoard hidden in the 12th century. Composed of silver and gold artefacts, it includes more than 2160 deniers and obols minted in France (mostly in the name of the Cluny Abbey), 21 Almoravid dinars minted in the Western Islamic World (Spain and Morocco), a gold ring with a Roman...
Excavations of St. Michael church in Heitenried (Fribourg, Switzerland) brought in 440 coins and 32 religious medals.
Numerous graves were dug around and inside the church. One question that arises is whether a link can be established between the large quantity of small coins and the presence of numerous burials of perinatal deaths (respite sanctuary?). Indeed, most of the coins are small...
This paper aims to provide a broader understanding of money, its role and value as a material object in Renaissance culture. By recounting the material history of a specific artefact, the fifteenth-century Friulian ‘bell of Dante’ decorated with a tercet from Dante Alighieri’s Paradiso and fourteen impressions of gold and silver Italian coins, not only will it offer new insights into a...
