.INIODERN NUNIISMATOLOGY.
We propose to discuss this branch of our subject with great brevity, as it does not possess nearly so much in terest as that which we have just been considering.
With regard to the Italian coinage, besides some coins of the Gothic princes, cite exarchs of Ravenna struck money with the inscription, FELtx RAVENNA, S:C. The papal coinage originated with Hadrian I. consisting of silver pennies, with the pope's name on one side, and Scos PETItus on the other. There are no coins from 975 to 1099, excepting of Leo IX. There are groats of Clement V. with his portrait ; but the be gins with Sixtus V. in 1470. Gold was first coined by John XXII. in 1316. The coins of Alexander VI. Ju lius II. and Leo X. are remarkable for their elegance ancl beauty. The coinage of Milan begun with Charle magne ; that of Naples in 840 and 880, with Duke Ser gius and Bishop Athanasius. Gold was first coined at Venice in 1280, and copper in 1471 ; but the silver groats are as eld as 1192. Silver was coined at Florence in the 12th century, or before. In 1252, the first gold coins struck in Europe, after the eighth centui y, made their appearance here, and were calledflorins, front the flower of the lily upon thelm—an emblem WhiCh WaS afterwards adopted by France.
The most early series of Spanish coins consists al most entirely of tricntes, finely executed. On one side they have the head of the king, with his name, and on the other a cross, with the name of the town, common ly in Bcctica, or thc southern part of Spain. The Mo resque coins of Spain have nothing but insipid inscrip tions on both sides. The inscriptions on the ancient Spanish coins are in the Cufic or old Arabic characters.
It would lead us into a wide, and by no means a very interesting field of research, were we to attempt a dc scription of the coins of Germany, and the northern kingdoms of Europe ; we shall therefore conclude with an account of the coins of France, England, and Scot land.
The French coins during the:race of Clovis, from 490 to 751, are chicfly gold %Hewes, with some solidi and semisscs. The former are of good execution, hav
ing the heads of the kings on the obverse, and a cross, with the name of the town where they were struck, on the reverse. The coins of the second race, from Pepin, in 751, to Hugh Capet, in 987, are of inferior work manship. Those of Charlemagne arc generally rude ; those of Louis lc Debonnaire are better done. With regard to the third race, beginning with Ilugh Capet in 987, it may be observed, that the coinage did not beg,in to improve until the introduction of the grosse, or groat, under St. Louis, in 1226. Many base coins were cir culated after the conquest of France by the English; and copper was first introduced into the French coinage in the time of Ilenry III. in 1574. The ccu a la cottronne, or gold crown, was struck by Charles VI. in 1384, and by Ann of Bretagne in 1498 ; the teston, with the king's head, by Louis XII.; the Henri, with Gaul sitting in armour, and a Victory in her hand, by Hen ry II. There arc many coins of Cardinal Bourbon, in 1589 ; and in 1642, Louis XIV. assumed the title of Catalonix Princeps. The first Louis d'or appeared in 1640. The inedals of Louis XIV. arc also remarkable.
The coins of the Heptarchy were of two sorts ; the skeatta, or penny of silver, and the styca of copper. Few of the pennies appear till after the year 700; though some are found as old as 560, which bear the name of Ethelbert I. king of Kent. At first they had only rude figures of serpents, but in latter times legends were also added. The tyca was coined only in Northum berland, being a very small piece, about the value of half a farthing. The coins of the monarchs in England form almost a complete series from the time of Egbert, in 832, to that of Edgar, who reigned in 959 : the only monarch of whom there are no coins is Ethelbald, who reigned in 857. Most of these coins have rude por traits ; but the reverses are sometimes curious and in teresting. There arc also ecclesiastical coins of the archbishops of Canterbury ; Walfred in 804, Coolnoth in 830, and Plegmund in 889.