Image: Carolus Magnus denarus Tarvisii

Description: Carolingian Kingdom of Italy. Charlemagne. 768-814.

AR Denier or Denaro (1.27 g). 771-793/4. Treviso mint.

KRLS around O represented by central lozenge, chevron in lozenge representing A; two pellets in fields +TARVISO around central rosette.

Depeyrot 1079b; M&G 216; MEC -; Prou 911 var. (legend, ornaments). Toned, good VF, thin flan crack barely visible. Rare.

Treviso was exceptional in using Charlemagne's actual signature monogram for the obverse design of its deniers. All other mints of the class 2 period used CARO LVS in two lines. Charles, once he had consolidated his empire and imposed his single currency, summoned to his court clerical intellectuals from all over Europe such as the Anglo-Saxon Alcuin in 782, the Lombard Paul the Deacon and the Hispano-Visigoth Theodulf. Pope Hadrian did not shrink from coupling the sovereign’s name with the imperial Roman epitaph Magnus, which has been attached to it ever since. The road to the empire of the West was now open.
Author: CNG
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