Item number: A254
Year: AD 565-578
Material: Gold
Size: 15.0 x 11.2 x 0.5 mm
Weight: 0.9 g
Provenance: Coincraft 2018
This is a tremissis gold coin minted by the Merovingian dynasty, the first Frankish regime established in Gaul during the Dark Ages following the fall of the Western Roman Empire. The gold coins of the Merovingian dynasty largely followed and imitated the coinage of the Western Roman and Byzantine empires. The obverse features a left-facing portrait of the Byzantine (Eastern Roman) Emperor Justinian II, while the reverse depicts an abstract image of the Victory goddess, with a laurel wreath on the left and a cross on the right.
The coin features Latin legends on both sides, though due to the degradation of minting techniques and the coin’s incomplete condition, the exact date of minting is indeterminable. However, by comparing it with similar types of coins, it is likely that the obverse inscription reads “D N IVSTINIANVS PP A,” which stands for “Dominus Noster Justinianus Perpetuus Augustus” (Our Lord Justinian, Eternal Augustus). The reverse typically features the inscription “VITORIA AVCCC,” meaning “Victoria Augustorum” (Victory of the Augusti).
Even in AD 476, when the invading barbarians expelled the last Roman emperor, Romulus Augustulus, marking the fall of the Western Roman Empire, coins from the Roman period continued to play a significant role in the economy of Western Europe during the Dark Ages. For example, various barbarian kings of the Merovingian dynasty minted only a few new coins, primarily to assert royal authority.
The Merovingian dynasty, established by the Franks around AD 457, was the first kingdom considered a precursor to modern France. The kingdom adopted a feudal system, granting local lords significant autonomy. In AD 751, the last Merovingian king was deposed by the powerful mayor of the palace, Pepin the Short, who then established the Carolingian dynasty. This shift had profound implications for the interactions between the church and monarchy in Western Europe during the medieval period.