CHARLEMAGNE, SWITZERLAND, AND NUMISMATICS

Denarius with the portrait of Charlemagne

Education and coinage – these were the fields where Charlemagne’s deeds have lasted particularly. And in both of them he bet on standardisation. To achieve that everyone who was able to read understood what his emperor wished him to do, Charles established a standardised, easily legible script, known as the Carolingian minuscule.

With regard to the coins it is really unnecessary to repeat another time that the Carolingian coin system with a pound of 20 shillings or 240 denarii had lasted until after World War II. In this matter Charles followed his father Pippin, who had again monopolised for the king the right to issue coins.

In contrast to the bronze statue of Charlemagne this coin on display is genuine, although we must admit that it was not issued in his lifetime but under his son Louis the Pious.

It is a shame that Codex 731 from the St Gall abbey library is not exhibited. The pattern of the wall decoration in the coin section comes from that book. In this ‘Lex Romana Visigothorum’ penned by the clergyman Wandalgarius in Lyon a man is depicted raising a denarius with Charles’s monogram as to show it clearly to all readers.

To read the complete article, see: Charlemagne and Switzerland (www.coinsweekly.com/en/News/4?&id=2304)

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