Carolingian: Charlemagne

The portrait coin is an excellent example of an emperor’s personal propaganda. Charlemagne may have had these coins minted immediately after his coronation in Rome, in accordance with a tradition from Antiquity. The individually designed head-and-shoulder portrait shows Charlemagne with the imperial laurel wreath and imperial cloak. The circumscription is a calculated declaration of his new status: D(ominus) N(oster) KARLUS IMP(erator) AUG(ustus) REX F(rancorum) ET L(angobardorum). The mention of Charlemagne’s title asking of the Franks and Lombards suggests that the coins were minted in the Italian part of his domain. The reverse of the coin is different from that of classical coins: instead of a temple or the image of a god, it shows a building whose two crosses clearly identify it as a church, together with the inscription XPICTIANA RELIGIO. Christianity is visibly taken as the basis for the new emperor’s status. The coin has a so-called ‘nine o’ clock’ stamp: i. e. the reverse was stamped at a 270 degree angle to the obverse. (MW)