Scyphate (cup-shaped) hyperpyron minted under Manuel I Komnenos Under Alexios the debased solidus (tetarteron and histamenon) was discontinued and a gold coinage of higher fineness (generally .900–.950) was established in 1092, commonly called the hyperpyron at 4.45 grs. The hyperpyron was slightly smaller than the solidus. It was introduced along with the electrum aspron trachy worth a third of a hyperpyron and about 25% gold and 75% silver, the billon aspron trachy or stamenon, valued at 48 to the hyperpyron and with 7% silver wash and the copper tetarteron and noummion worth 18 and 36 to the billon aspron trachy.
|
|
Billon trachy of Andronicus I, 12th century During Andronicus II's reign he instituted a some new coinage based on the hyperpyron. They were the silver miliaresion or basilika at 12 to the hyperpyron and the billon politika at 96 per hyperpyron. along with the copper assaria, tournesia and follara The basilikon was a copy of the Venetian ducat and circulated since 1304 for fifty years. The hyperpyron remained in regular issue and circulation until the 1350s, remaining in use thereafter only as a money of account.
|
|
Under Alexius I Comnenus (1081-1118) the debased solidus (tetarteron and histamenon) was discontinued and a gold coinage of higher fineness (generally .900-.950) was established, commonly called the hyperpyron at 4.45 grs. The hyperpyron was slightly smaller than the solidus. It was introduced along with the electrum aspron trachy worth a third of a hyperpyron and about 25% gold and 75% silver, the billon aspron trachy or stamenon valued at 48 to the hyperpyron and with 7% silver wash and the copper tetarteron and noummion worth 18 and 36 to the billon aspron trachy.
|
|
Alexius reformed the coinage in 1092 and eliminated the solidus (histamenon nomisma) altogether. In its place he introduced a new gold coin called the hyperpyron nomisma at about 20.5k fine (85%). The weight, dimensions and purity of the hyperpyron nomisma remained stable until the fall of Constantinople to the Crusaders in 1204.
|
|
After that time the exiled Empire of Nicea continued to strike a debased hyperpyron nomisma. Michael VIII recaptured Constantinople in 1261, and the Byzantine Empire continued to strike the debased hyperpyron nomisma until the joint reign of John V and John VI (1347–1354). After that time the hyperpyron nomisma continued as a unit of account, but it was no longer struck in gold. From the 4th to the 11th centuries, solidi were minted mostly at the Constantinopolitan Mint, but also in Thessalonica, Trier, Rome, Milan, Ravenna, Syracuse, Alexandria, Carthage, Jerusalem and other cities.
|
|
The hyperpyron ( nómisma hypérpyron) was a Byzantine coin in use during the late Middle Ages, replacing the solidus as the Byzantine Empire's gold coinage.
|
|
In the early Komnenian period, the hyperpyron was the equivalent of three electrum trachea, 48 billon trachea or 864 copper tetartera, although with the debasement of the trachea it eventually came to rate 12 electrum trachea and 288 to 384 billon trachea.. In the 14th century, the hyperpyron equalled 12 of the new silver basilika, 96 tournesia, 384 copper trachea and 768 copper assaria..
|
|
These gold coins were commonly called bezants. The first "bezants" were the Byzantine solidi coins; later the name was applied to the hyperpyra, which replaced the solidi in Constantinople in the late 11th century. The name hyperpyron was used by the late medieval Greeks, while the name bezant was used by the late medieval Latin merchants for the same coin. The Italians also used the name perpero or pipero for the same coin (an abridgement of the name hyperpyron).
|
|
A hyperpyron, a form of Byzantine coinage, issued by Manuel. One side of the coin (left image) depicts Christ. The other side depicts Manuel (right image). Manuel forced the rebellious Serbs, and their leader, Uroš II, to vassalage (1150–1152).
|
|
They apparently form the continuation of the Byzantine tornese issue (known in Greek as tournesion) of Emperor Andronikos II Palaiologos (r. 1282–1328), and like them were probably rated at 96 to the gold hyperpyron.; . Some bear the name of Andronikos III Palaiologos (r.
|
|
Nevertheless, the coin continued in common use in the Sicilian theme until the fall of Syracuse in 878. The trachy, introduced in the 11th century, was equivalent in value to the old tremissis. Although it was not made of gold, it was one third of the standard golden hyperpyron. It was not, however, called tremissis.
|
|
The name remained in use thereafter solely as a money of account, divided into 24 keratia.; . The name was adopted in various forms by Western Europeans (, ) and the Slavic countries of the Balkans (perper, iperpero, etc.) designating various coins, usually silver, as well as moneys of account.. More often in the West the hyperpyron was called the bezant, especially among Italian merchants.
|
|
Hyperpyron of Emperor Manuel I Komnenos (r. 1143–1180), showing its typical scyphate (cup-shaped) form. The traditional gold currency of the Byzantine Empire had been the solidus or nomisma, whose gold content had remained steady at 24 carats for seven centuries and was consequently highly prized. From the 1030s, however, the coin was increasingly debased, until in the 1080s, following the military disasters and civil wars of the previous decade, its gold content was reduced to almost zero.. Consequently, in 1092, Emperor Alexios I Komnenos ( 1081–1118) undertook a drastic overhaul of the Byzantine coinage system and introduced a new gold coin, the hyperpyron (meaning "super-refined"). This was of the same standard weight (4.45 grams) as the solidus, but of less gold content (20.5 carats/4.1 grams instead of 24/4.8 grams) due to the recycling of earlier debased coins.
|
|
It has, however, also been suggested that its name derives from it being worth one quarter of the late, debased follis of the 1080s.; ; . The new coin, flat, weighing circa 4 grams and valued (at least initially) at 864 to the gold hyperpyron, was struck in great quantities and in a large variety of designs, especially in the 12th century. A half-tetarteron was also minted.
|
|
The tax on each bushel (mozo) of grain, of the weight used in Constantinople, was set at one hyperpyron. # Süleyman's ships would not be allowed to leave the Dardanelles without permission from the Byzantine emperor and the Christian league. # All Byzantine prisoners held by Süleyman or any of his subordinate lords were to be released. # All Genoese prisoners held by Süleyman or any of his subordinate lords were to be released.
|
|
He debased the hyperpyron currency and heavily taxed the military elite of the pronoiarioi, thereby further reducing Byzantium's military capability. While these solved some problems that Michael VIII had left for his son, it unraveled his father's attempts at restoring the power of the Byzantine Empire; where Michael VIII had attempted to deal with problems outside the Empire, Andronikos aimed to solve the internal problems resulting from his father's reign.
|
|
In order to ensure that all taxes were paid in full, and to halt the cycle of debasement and inflation, he completely reformed the coinage, issuing a new gold hyperpyron (highly refined) coin for the purpose. By 1109, he had managed to restore order by working out a proper rate of exchange for the whole coinage. His new hyperpyron would be the standard Byzantine coin for the next two hundred years. The final years of Alexios's reign were marked by persecution of the followers of the Paulician and Bogomil heresies—one of his last acts was to burn at the stake the Bogomil leader, Basil the Physician, with whom he had engaged in a theological controversy; by renewed struggles with the Turks (1110–1117); and by anxieties as to the succession, which his wife Irene wished to alter in favour of her daughter Anna's husband Nikephorus Bryennios, for whose benefit the special title panhypersebastos ("honored above all") was created.
|
|
Copper tetarteron of Emperor Manuel I Komnenos (r. 1143–1180). In 1092, Alexios I Komnenos (r. 1081–1118) reformed the imperial coinage, introducing the hyperpyron gold coin instead of the devalued histamena and tetartera.. Alexios also instituted a new copper coinage (although many of the first examples were struck of lead) to replace the old follis. Apparently due to its similar dimensions and fabric to the gold tetarteron, it was also named tetarteron or tarteron.
|
|
Franz-Josef, c. 1910 The ducat () was a gold or silver coin used as a trade coin in Europe from the later Middle Ages until as late as the 20th century. Many types of ducats had various metallic content and purchasing power throughout the period. The gold ducat of Venice gained wide international acceptance, like the medieval Byzantine hyperpyron and the Florentine florin, or the modern British Pound sterling and the United States dollar.
|
|
After a period of relative stability in circa 1055–1070, the gold content declined dramatically in the period of crisis in the 1070s and 1080s.. During the first eleven years of the reign of Alexios I Komnenos (r. 1081–1118), the last gold/electrum tetarterons were issued. Alexios reformed the whole Byzantine coinage in 1092 and eliminated the gold/electrum tetarteron and gold/electrum histamenon. In its place he introduced a new gold coin called the hyperpyron.
|
|
Thus, in 1092, Alexios I carried out a comprehensive monetary reform, replacing among others the debased gold coins, both the histamenon and the tetarteron, with a new high- quality gold issue, the hyperpyron. Henceforth, and for the duration of the Komnenian monetary system (12th–13th centuries), the term stamenon, due to its association with scyphate coins, came to be applied as a blanket term to the similarly concave billon and copper coins (trachea) issued by the Byzantine Empire.
|
|
Hyperpyron of Michael VIII In 1261, while the bulk of the Latin Empire's military forces were absent from Constantinople, the Byzantine General Alexios Strategopoulos used the opportunity to seize the city with 600 troops. Thrace, Macedonia and Thessalonica had already been taken by Nicaea in 1246. Following the capture of Constantinople, Michael ordered the blinding of John IV in December 1261, so as to become sole emperor. As a result, Patriarch Arsenios excommunicated Michael, but he was deposed and replaced by Joseph I.
|
|
The similarity was reinforced by the name of the new coin: the ducato, the "coin of the doge", became the basilikon, the "coin of the basileus", although the contemporary Greek sources usually call both . The basilikon was of high-grade silver (0.920), flat and not concave (scyphate) as other Byzantine coins, weighing 2.2 grams and officially traded at a rate of 1 to 12 with the gold hyperpyron or two , the traditional rate for Byzantine silver coinage since the days of the hexagram and the miliaresion.; .
|
|
Golden coin (hyperpyron) issued by Michael VIII Palaeologus to celebrate the liberation of Constantinople from the Latins, and the restoration of the Roman/Byzantine Empire. The Bitola inscription from 1017 reveals that Tsar Samuil and his successors considered their state Bulgarian,Dennis P. Hupchick, The Bulgarian-Byzantine Wars for Early Medieval Balkan Hegemony: Silver-Lined Skulls and Blinded Armies, Springer, 2017, , p. 314. and they had incipient Bulgarian ethnic consciousness.Michael Palairet, Macedonia: A Voyage through History, Volume 1, Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2016, , p. 245.
|
|
The actual rate, however, was usually lower, and fluctuated depending on the changing price of silver: contemporary sources indicate actual rates of 12.5, 13, or 15 basilika to the hyperpyron.; . Examples of half-basilika are also known to have been minted.. In the 1330s and 1340s, however, the basilikons weight was much reduced, as a result of a silver shortage affecting all of Europe and the Mediterranean, falling to 1.25 grams by the late 1340s. It ceased to be struck in the 1350s, and was replaced circa 1367 with the new, heavier stavraton.
|
|
The elimination of Theodore by Ivan Asen II of Bulgaria in 1230 put an end to the danger posed by Thessalonica, and John III made an alliance with Bulgaria against the Latin Empire. Gold hyperpyron of John III Vatatzes In 1235 this alliance resulted in the restoration of the Bulgarian patriarchate and the marriage between Elena of Bulgaria and Theodore II, respectively Ivan Asen II's daughter and John III's son. In that same year, the Bulgarians and Nicaeans campaigned against the Latin Empire, and in 1236 they attempted a siege of Constantinople.
|
|
In the 13th century, the Venetians imported goods from the East and sold them at a profit north of the Alps.Coins In History, John Porteous, page 86. They paid for these goods with Byzantine gold coins but when the Byzantine emperor Michael VIII Palaiologos backed a rebellion called the Sicilian Vespers in 1282, he debased the hyperpyron.Coins of Medieval Europe, Philip Grierson, page 110 This was just one more in a series of debasements of the hyperpyron and the Great Council of Venice responded with its own coin of pure gold in 1284.
|
|
In the Middle Ages, the term bezant (Old French besant, from Latin bizantius aureus) was used in Western Europe to describe several gold coins of the east, all derived ultimately from the Roman solidus. The word itself comes from the Greek Byzantion, ancient name of Constantinople, the capital of the Byzantine Empire. The original "bezants" were the gold coins produced by the government of the Byzantine Empire, first the nomisma and from the 11th century the hyperpyron. Later, the term was used to cover the gold dinars produced by Islamic governments.
|
|
The financial state of the Empire improved throughout the Komnenian period; while Alexios I in the early part of his reign was reduced to producing coin from church gold and silver plate, his successors were able to spend very great sums on the army.Birkenmeier, p. 155 One of the strengths of the Byzantine emperor was his ability to raise ready cash. After a period of financial instability, in 1092–1094 Alexios reformed the currency by introducing the high purity hyperpyron gold coin, created new high financial officials in the bureaucracy, and reformed the taxation system.
|
|
Gold hyperpyron of Michael VIII, shown (bottom left) kneeling before Christ (right), under the injunction of Archangel Michael (top left). On 22 February 1281 a new Pope was selected, Pope Martin IV, a Frenchman Geanaklopos describes as "blindly subservient" to Charles of Anjou.Geanakoplos, Michael Palaeologus, p. 340 Once again, Charles had no clear brake on his ambitions to conquer Constantinople, and he moved swiftly to prepare for this new offensive. One early move was taken by Pope Martin, who on 18 October 1281 excommunicated Michael without any warning or provocation, thus disrupting the union of Lyons.Geanakoplos, Michael Palaeologus, p. 341.
|
|
Hence it was made heavier than any previous Byzantine silver coin, or, for that matter, any contemporary European coin, weighing initially 8.5 grams but falling later to 7.4 grams. It still had only half the value of the hyperpyron however, which remained in use as a notional currency... The stavraton was complemented by fractions of 1⁄2 and 1⁄8, both in silver. The half-stavraton initially weighed 4.4 grams and gradually declined to 3.7; the one-eighth, known as the doukatopoulon (Greek: δουκατόπουλον, "little ducat", duchatelo in Italian sources) or aspron () weighed circa 1.1 grams. Quarter-stavrata were not minted, and the silver Venetian ducats (Greek: δουκάτον, doukaton) were used instead.
|
|
Manuel I Comnenus scyphate (cup-shaped) hyperpyron. Former money changer Michael IV the Paphlagonian (1034–41) assumed the throne of Byzantium in 1034 and began the slow process of debasing both the tetarteron nomisma and the histamenon nomisma. The debasement was gradual at first, but then accelerated rapidly. about 21 carats (87.5% pure) during the reign of Constantine IX (1042–1055), 18 carats (75%) under Constantine X (1059–1067), 16 carats (66.7%) under Romanus IV (1068–1071), 14 carats (58%) under Michael VII (1071–1078), 8 carats (33%) under Nicephorus III (1078–1081) and 0 to 8 carats during the first eleven years of the reign of Alexius I (1081–1118).
|
|
Andronikos II was also plagued by economic difficulties. During his reign the value of the Byzantine hyperpyron depreciated precipitously, while the state treasury accumulated less than one seventh the revenue (in nominal coins) that it had previously. Seeking to increase revenue and reduce expenses, Andronikos II raised taxes, reduced tax exemptions, and dismantled the Byzantine fleet (80 ships) in 1285, thereby making the Empire increasingly dependent on the rival republics of Venice and Genoa. In 1291, he hired 50–60 Genoese ships, but the Byzantine weakness resulting from the lack of a navy became painfully apparent in the two wars with Venice in 1296–1302 and 1306–10.
|
|
Also, Karasids conquered Mysia-region with Paleokastron after 1296, Germiyan conquered Simav in 1328, Saruhan captured Magnesia in 1313, and Aydinids captured Smyrna in 1310. Gold hyperpyron of Andronikos II, kneeling before Christ The Empire's problems were exploited by Theodore Svetoslav of Bulgaria, who defeated Michael IX and conquered much of northeastern Thrace in . The conflict ended with yet another dynastic marriage, between Michael IX's daughter Theodora and the Bulgarian emperor. The dissolute behavior of Michael IX's son Andronikos III Palaiologos led to a rift in the family, and after Michael IX's death in 1320, Andronikos II disowned his grandson, prompting a civil war that raged, with interruptions, until 1328.
|
|
As the Ottoman Turks began taking land from the Empire, they were seen as liberators of Anatolians and many soon converted to Islam undermining the Byzantine's Orthodox power base. Andronicus' rule was marked by incompetence and short-sighted decisions that in the long run would damage the Byzantine Empire beyond repair. He began to debase the Byzantine hyperpyron, resulting in a reduction of the value of the Byzantine economy; taxes were decreased for the Powerful, i.e. landed aristocracy and instead placed upon the Knight-class Pronoia. To popularize his rule he repudiated the union of the Orthodox and Catholic Churches decreed by the Second Council of Lyon in 1274, thereby further increasing hostilities between the Latins and the Byzantines.
|
|
Morrisson, Byzantine Money, 919 Alongside this "real"-value gold coinage, and a slightly overvalued silver coinage, there was also a bronze coinage of a fiduciary nature that made up the second specific feature of the monetary system. At the end of the 10th and in the 11th centuries, money underwent a profound transformation, followed by a crisis; the denomination affected all metals at different dates, and according to different modalities.Morrisson, Byzantine Money, 930 The reform of Alexios I Komnenos put an end to this crisis by restoring a gold coinage of high fineness, the hyperpyron, and by creating a new system destined to endure for about two centuries.Morrisson, Byzantine Money, 932 Half stavraton issued by Manuel II (3.53 g).
|
|
Solidus of Constantine I, minted in 324 or 325 Solidus to victory issued under Clovis I (between 491 and 507 CE) The solidus (Latin for "solid"; solidi), nomisma (, nómisma, "coin"), or bezant was originally a relatively pure gold coin issued in the Late Roman Empire. Under Constantine, who introduced it on a wide scale, it had a weight of about 4.5 grams. It was largely replaced in Western Europe by Pepin the Short's currency reform, which introduced the silver-based pound/shilling/penny system, under which the shilling functioned as a unit of account equivalent to 12 pence, eventually developing into the French sou. In Eastern Europe, the nomisma was gradually debased by the Byzantine emperors until it was abolished by Alexius I in 1092, who replaced it with the hyperpyron, which also came to be known as a "bezant".
|
|
Stavraton of the Emperor Manuel II Palaiologos (r. 1391–1425). The name stavraton first appears in the mid-11th century for a gold histamenon showing the Byzantine emperor holding a cross-shaped scepter, but in its more specific sense, it denotes the large silver coins introduced by Emperor John V Palaiologos (r. 1341–1376, 1379–1391) in circa 1367 and used for the last century of Byzantine history..For an examination of the chronology of the stavraton and its introduction, see . The late Byzantine coin was probably named after the cross (Greek: σταυρός, stavros/stauros) that featured in its presumed model, the double gigliato of Naples and the Provence; alternatively, the name may have derived from the small crosses at the beginning of the coins' inscriptions, an unusual feature for Byzantine currency, although these are not very conspicuous... The coin was designed to replace the defunct gold hyperpyron as the highest-denomination coin in circulation.
|
|