Digital museum showcasing the collection of worldwide legends over the years! 千古不朽博物館展示多年來收藏的世界傳奇故事!
Kingdom of Sicily
Tancred
Gold Tari
西西里王國
坦克雷迪
黃金塔里
Item number: A216
Year: AD 1189-1194
Material: Gold
Size: 12.6 x 11.7 x 1.7 mm
Weight: 2.14 g
Provenance: Künker 2022
This coin is a gold tarì minted during the reign of Tancred(AD 1189-AD 1194), King of Sicily.
The obverse of the coin features multiple concentric circles with inscriptions in Kufic script around the perimeter, encircling a small orb at the centre. The reverse depicts a cross, accompanied by the inscription “IC-XC NI-KA”, where IC-XC is an abbreviation for Jesus Christ in Greek, and NI-KA translates to “victory” or “conquest”.
Kufic script: Kufic script is the earliest Islamic style of calligraphy, originally used by early Muslims to transcribe the Quran. Named after the ancient Iraqi city of Kufa, this font spread across the Arabian Peninsula as Islam expanded.
Tarì: The tarì was a small medieval coin minted approximately between the 10th and 13th centuries in Italy, Sicily, and Malta. It served as a significant denomination and unit of account in the medieval Kingdoms of Naples and Sicily, cast in both gold and silver.
Tancred served as the King of Sicily from AD 1189 to AD 1194. Despite being an excellent soldier, his unremarkable appearance earned him the nickname ‘The Monkey King,’ which posed some initial challenges to his reign. Although his tenure was brief, it was marked by significant political turbulence. This included the crusade led by King Richard I of England and claims to the sovereignty of the Kingdom of Sicily made by the Empress of the Holy Roman Empire.