Object type
coin
Culture/period
Medieval
Materials
bronze
Technique
minting
Mint
València
Production date
1247 / 1271
Current location
Centre Interpretació
Archaeological site
Olèrdola. Font de l'Avellaner
Township
Olèrdola (Europa, Espanya, Catalunya, Barcelona, Alt Penedès)
Dimensions
16 mm
Description
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Coin in the medieval Catalan series, mint: Valencia. Obverse: crowned effigy of King James I of Aragon surrounded by the legend IACOBUS REX. Reverse: a simplified tree with branches implanted at the bottom (distinctive element of the Valencia mint) surrounded by the legend + VALE-CIE. Valencia made two coinages of ternal money, one in 1247-1249 and the other in 1271.
It comes from the area of Coves de la Vall, more specifically in the vicinity of the Font de l'Avellaner and entered the museum in 1971. This is one of the thirteen coins of the ‘tern' of James I from the Barcelona and Valencia mints found in Olèrdola and often by chance.
In 1222, James I was forced to make an issue of low-grade coins, known as doblenc or quatern (16% silver) to liquidate debts and deal with the difficulties of the royal finances. This was the first coin with the shield of Catalonia. Later, increasing military power and the commercial growth would soon create the conditions for a more stable financial footing. This favoured the creation of issued coins, a currency stronger and of law and three pence (25% silver). This coin was first introduced in Aragon, in 1236, and later, in 1247, in Valencia and Mallorca. Finally, to introduce it in Catalonia he had to ask the Pope for the dispensations of an oath not to alter the doblenc. Once the permission was received, in compensation, he promised that neither he nor his successors would vary the new currency, in addition to authorising the notables of Barcelona to name two guardians of it and to renounce the monedatge tax. Towards the middle of the thirteenth century, the currency was a fact and the ‘tern' money was in use in Catalonia, Aragon, Valencia, Mallorca and the counties Roussillon and Cerdanya with different dies depending on the mint but with the same value.
© Museu d'Arqueologia de Catalunya - Olèrdola
Omeka ID
1994