Page:EB1911 - Volume 19.djvu/940

Rh medals supply the defects of the coinages of Florence and Rome, and in a less degree of Venice. The papal series is invaluable as a continuous chronicle, although artistically, after the earliest period, it is monotonous.

The money of Germany is, like that of Italy, far too various for it to be possible here to do more than sketch some of its main features. In the Frankish period mints were in operation at cities in the West, such as Mainz, Strassburg, Spires, Treves, Worms, Cologne. Pippin issued denarii from Strassburg and Mainz; under his successors denarii and

obols were also coined at other mints, as Bonn, Cologne, Spires, Treves. After the reign of Louis the Child (910–911) the Carolingian system was continued until the advent of the Swabians with Conrad III. (1138–1152). In the succeeding period, which ends with the introduction of the grossus and the gold coinage under Louis of Bavaria (1314–1347), the uniformity of the currency disappears. In the west (in Lotharingia, including the southern Low Countries, the Moselle and Rhine-lands, in Frisia, Bavaria, parts of Franconia and Swabia) the denier continues; but elsewhere we find the bracteate. The right of coinage is acquired in an increasing measure by the feudatories of the empire. These local coinages entirely dominated the system, so that even the imperial coinage is not uniform, but consists of denarii in the West and bracteates in the east. The earliest imperial bracteate is of Frederick I.; the large fine bracteates last but a short time, reaching their acme about the end of the 12th century (see Pl. III. fig. 18). The fine pieces of the bishops of Halberstadt and the abbesses of Quedlinburg are characteristic of this class. With the introduction of the regular gold coinage (chiefly florins) and the grossus in the 14th century, Germany enters on the modern period. From the 16th century the thaler (so called from Joachimsthal in Bohemia, where the counts of Schlick first struck the coin in 1518) dominates the silver currency (see Pl. V. fig. 6). The thalers and other large coins of the 16th and 17th centuries are often good and always vigorous in workmanship. By the convention of 1857 the thaler was recognized as the unit for Berlin and the north, the florin of 100 kreuzers for Austria, the florin of 60 kr. for the south. The present system, based on the gold reichsmark of 100 pfennigs, was established all over the German empire in 1876. Of particular currencies in Germany we must be content with the bare mention of some of the more important. Among the great rulers we note the dukes of Bavaria, who coined from Henry I. (948–955), and issued fine thalers in the 16th century. The Counts Palatine of the Rhine coined from 1294, their mints being at Heidelberg, Frankfort, &c. The Saxon coinage begins with Duke Bernard (973) and includes a large series of bracteates and thalers, the latter being especially famous. The Brunswick coinage begins in the 11th century; besides its bracteates we note the large mining-thalers of the 16th and 17th centuries (up to ten-thaler pieces). There are good bracteates and thalers of the margraves of Brandenburg; from 1701 they coin as kings of Prussia. In Austria there is a ducal coinage from the 12th century; the gold florin of Florentine character appears under Albert II. (1330–1358). The marriage-coin of Maximilian and Maria of Burgundy (a 16th-century reproduction of a medal made by the Italian Candida in 1479) is a striking piece, and in the 16th century there is a large series of fine thalers. The thalers of Maria Theresa had an enormous circulation among savage races, and those of the date 1780 were recoined for the purposes of the Abyssinian War of 1867. In Bohemia there is a ducal coinage from the early 10th century to 1192; then came the regal bracteates. Wenceslas II. (1278–1305) struck the first German grossus at Prague (see Pl. III. fig. 16). The gold florin appears under John of Luxemburg (1310–1347). In Hungary the regal coinage begins with St Stephen (1000). Charles I. of Anjou (1310–1342) introduced the florin and grossus. Of historical interest is the money of John Hunyady as regent (1441–1452). The abundance of gold about this time and later shows the metallic wealth of the land. The same is true of the rich gold coinage of the Transylvanian princes in the 16th and 17th centuries. Of ecclesiastical coinages the most important are at Münster, Cologne, Mainz, Treves,

Augsburg, Magdeburg, Spires, Würzburg, Salzburg. The Cologne series of coins is almost continuous from the Frankish period; the archbishops first received the right from Otto I., Bruno (953–965) being the first to coin; from Pilgrim (1021–1036) the series, issued at various mints in the Rhineland, is very complete down to 1802. The series of Treves ranges from Theodoric I. (965–975) to Clement Wenceslas (1794). The archiepiscopal coinage of Mainz begins with Willigis (975) and lasts until 1802; its mints included Erfurt, Bingen and many other places. The Salzburg series (beginning 996) is remarkable for its fine thalers (especially of Mathias Lang, 1519–1540). The patriarchs of Aquileia, who may be mentioned here, acquired the right of coinage from Louis II. in the 9th century, but the first who can be identified on the coins is Godfrey (1184); thence onwards there is an interesting series of denarii and smaller coins down to the early 15th century. Of cities with large coinages it is sufficient to mention Aix-la-Chapelle (from the time of Frederick I. to 1795), Frankfort-on-the-Main, Hamburg (with great gold pieces of the 16th and 17th centuries, up to 10 ducats) and Nuremberg. Lastly, we may mention the coins of the grand-masters of the Teutonic Order, issued in Prussia from 1351 to 1512.

German medals perhaps rank next to Italian, although they lack the higher artistic qualities. They are the work of craftsmen—jewellers, wood-carvers, workers in hone-stone—and show great facility of minute workmanship and chasing and decorative design (the last is especially clear in the heraldic reverses); the faults of these qualities are to some extent redeemed by the native German vigour and directness of the portraiture. The original models from which the medals were cast were in many cases made in hone-stone or box-wood, which did not, like the favourite wax of the Italian artists, give much scope for subtlety. The chief centres of the art were Nuremberg and Augsburg. Many medals have been attributed to Albrecht Dürer; whether he did more than design them is uncertain. Among other medallists may be mentioned Hans Schwarz (working 1516–1527), Ludwig Krug, Friedrich Hagenauer (working 1525–1546, see Pl. V. fig. 8), Peter Flötner (c. 1538, although it is doubtful whether this artist, whose plaquettes are famous, made any of the portrait-medals ascribed to him), Mattes Gebel, Hans Reinhardt the Elder, &c. Some other good artists are known only by their initials, or quite unidentified. After the middle of the 16th century the art declines, although we still have skilful artists like Valentin Maler (1568–1593). In this later period striking gradually supersedes casting.

The earliest Polish coins are of the 10th century; the types are copied from English, German and Byzantine sources. In the 12th and 13th centuries there is a bracteate coinage. The grossus was introduced about 1300. In later times the town of Danzig, while belonging to the kingdom, issued remarkable gold pieces, thalers, &c., down to its restoration to Prussia (1793).

The origin of the coinage of the Scandinavian states: Norway, Denmark and Sweden, is clearly English and due to the Danish conquest of England. The runic alphabet is employed, though not by any means exclusively, on many of the early coins of Denmark and Norway. The Norwegian series begins with Hakon Jarl (989–996), who copies the pennies of

Æthelred II. In the second half of the 11th century begins a coinage of small, thin pennies, which develop into bracteates. Magnus IV. (1263–1280) restores the coinage, more or less imitating the English sterlings of the time. Norway and Denmark were united under Eric of Pomerania in 1396. The money of Denmark begins with pennies of Sweyn (985–1014) which are copied from the coinage of Æthelred II.; the coins of Canute the Great (1014–1035) and Hardicanute (1036–1042) are mainly English in character. With Magnus (1042–1047) other influences, especially Byzantine, appear, and the latter is very strong under Sweyn Æstrithson (1047–1076). Bracteates come in in the second half of the 12th century. The coinage is very difficult of classification until the time of Eric of Pomerania (1396). There are important episcopal coinages at Roskilde and Lund in the 12th and 13th centuries. Sweden has very few early coins, beginning with imitations by Olaf Skötkonung (995) of English pennies and showing the usual bracteate coinage. The money was restored by Albert of Mecklenburg (1363–1387). The thaler is introduced by Sten Sture the younger (1512–1520). The money of Gustavus Adolphus is historically interesting. Under Charles XII. there is highly curious money of necessity. The daler is struck as a small copper coin, sometimes plated. The types include