A milestone in medieval European coinage is the gold coin issued by Frederick II of Staufen, ruler of the Holy Roman Empire. The augustalis (or augustale) came to revive the limited tradition of gold coinage in Western Europe and to be the precursor to the powerful gold coins of the Italian cities that appeared a little later, after the mid-13th century. The gold augustalia had a theoretical weight of around 5.3 g. and a purity of 20 ½ carats. The mints used were Messina in Sicily and Brindisi in Apulia: in the present case it is the latter, as this is indicated by the presence of two dots on either side of the eagle’s head. The epigraphs (IMP ROM CESAR AVG / FRIDERICVS) and the iconography of the coins, especially that of the obverse with the laurel-crowned imperial bust, clearly refer to Roman models. Any Christian reference is almost non-existent, limited to the occasional presence of a small cross at the beginning of the royal name. With its relatively high relief and classicist mood, the augustalis is essentially a Roman imperial aureus in its evolution.
Frederick II Staufen, 1194-1250)
Son of the German emperor Henry II and Constance, daughter of the Norman king of Sicily Roger II. The House of Staufen originated from the region of Swabia (SW Germany). Frederick ascended the throne of Sicily as early as 1198, was proclaimed “King of the Romans” in 1212, and was crowned Holy Roman Emperor in 1220 in Rome. In 1225 he married Hollande de Brienne and was named King of Jerusalem and Cyprus. In almost constant conflict with the Holy See, he was considered to have broken his promise to lead a crusade, and in 1227 he was excommunicated for the first time by Pope Gregory IX. The following year the emperor led the Sixth Crusade, an ultimately bloodless undertaking that led to negotiations. In 1229, the Ayyubid sultan of Egypt, al-Kamil, ceded Jerusalem and part of the Holy Land. Despite this success, imperial and papal relations deteriorated, exacerbating the long-standing Ghibelline-Guelph conflict in Italy. Pope Innocent IV proved to be the emperor’s most relentless opponent, managing to coordinate significant attacks against him. In 1250, Frederick died of dysentery and was buried in Palermo Cathedral. The rule of the Staufens ended with the defeat of his grandson Conradin at Tagliacozzo (1268), while his son Enzio, the last of the Swabian house, died a prisoner in 1272. Tolerant of pagans and possibly an atheist himself, the emperor was called a “heretic” and even “Antichrist” by the papists. At a time when some rulers were illiterate, Frederick is said to have spoken nine languages and could read and write seven. For his entire work, he was quite rightly given the nickname Stupor Mundi (“Stupor of the World”).
Gold coins of Western Europe
After the Great Migration of Peoples and the establishment of the so-called Barbarian Kingdoms (5th century AD), the minting of gold coins in Western Europe was mainly limited to subdivisions (trimissia) with late Roman and Byzantine standards. From the 6th century AD onwards, the minting of large gold coins (solidos) in the West was gradually limited and discontinued: until 520/525 by the Merovingian Franks and Burgundians, until about 540 by the Visigoths and Ostrogoths. Thereafter, the issuance of solidi is occasional, with few exceptions – e.g. to 839 in the Lombard Duchy of Benevento. The gold trimissia gradually disappeared: the Suebian to c. 585, the Merovingian to c. 675, the same as the Anglo-Saxon shillings, the Visigothic trimissia to 710, while the Loggibardian to 774. Since then, the known gold coins, mancusi or deniers, are rare, such as those of the Carolingians (late 8th – 9th centuries) or other isolated ones: Duchy of Salerno (839-849), four cases in England (late 8th – 11th centuries) and two ecclesiastical coins of the 11th century. For the period from the 8th to the 11th centuries. the dominance of silver is undisputed for most of the European continent, except for the Byzantine Empire. The reappearance of gold monetary issues will initially occur under the influence of the Islamic world. In this way, the gold tari of N. Italy (11th century) and Norman Sicily (1072 onwards) appeared, corresponding to 1/4 of the dinar. A little later, the Almoravids invade Iberia (1086-1094) and with them enter the peninsula their gold coins that will become the standards for the morabitini or marabotini or maravedi issued in Spain (1158-1214) and in Portugal (c. 1200 onwards).