Constantine

Intro ...

(1042-1055)

X

l

CONSTANTINOPLE

Constantine IX (1042-1055). AV Histamenon nomisma. Constantinople mint. Sear 1828.

Obv: + ıҺs xıs ʀєx ʀєςɴᴀɴᴛınm. Christ enthroned facing, wearing nimbus cruciger, pallium and colobium, and raising right hand in benediction; in left hand, book of Gospels; triple border.

Rev: + cωnsτᴀnτn ьᴀꜱıⳑєч ʀm (or very similar). Bust facing, bearded, wearing crown, loros and saccos, and holding cruciform scepter (with tendril-ornament) and globe surmounted by patriarchal cross; triple border.

Notes: thin, spread fabric, usually, but not always, scyphate.

…

Constantine IX (1042-1055). AV Histamenon nomisma. Constantinople mint. Sear 1828ᴀ.

Obv: + ıҺs xıs ʀєx ʀєςɴᴀɴᴛınm. Christ enthroned facing, wearing nimbus cruciger, pallium and colobium, and raising right hand in benediction; in left hand, book of Gospels; triple border.

Rev: + cωnsτᴀnτn ьᴀꜱıⳑєч ʀm (or very similar). Bust facing, bearded, wearing crown, loros and saccos, and holding cruciform scepter (with tendril-ornament) and globe surmounted by cross resting on crescent; triple border.

Notes: thin, spread fabric, usually, but not always, scyphate.

…

Constantine IX (1042-1055). AV Histamenon nomisma. Constantinople mint. Sear 1829.

Obv: + ıҺs xıs ʀєx ʀєςɴᴀɴᴛınm. Christ enthroned facing, wearing nimbus cruciger, pallium and colobium, and raising right hand in benediction; in left hand, book of Gospels; triple border.

Rev: + cωnsτᴀnτn ьᴀꜱıⳑєчs ʀm (or very similar). Bust facing, bearded, wearing crown, loros and saccos, and holding labarum (sometimes vertically, sometimes at an angle) and globus cruciger; triple border.

Notes: thin, spread fabric, usually, but not always, scyphate.

…

Constantine IX (1042-1055). AV Histamenon nomisma. Constantinople mint. Sear 1830.

Obv: + ıҺs xıs ʀєx ʀєςɴᴀɴᴛınm. Bust of Christ facing, wearing nimbus cruciger, pallium and colobium, and raising right hand in benediction; in left hand, book of Gospels; triple border.

Rev: + cωnsτᴀnτn ьᴀꜱıⳑєчs ʀm (or very similar). Bust facing, bearded, wearing crown and loros, and holding long cross and globe surmounted by pelleted cross; triple border.

Notes: thin, spread fabric, usually, but not always, scyphate.

…

Constantine IX (1042-1055). AV Histamenon nomisma. Constantinople mint. Sear 1831.

Obv: + ıҺs xıs ʀєx ʀєςɴᴀɴᴛınm. Bust of Christ facing, wearing nimbus cruciger, pallium and colobium, and raising right hand in benediction; in left hand, book of Gospels; triple border.

Rev: + cωnsτᴀnτnᴏs ьᴀꜱıⳑєчs ʀm (or very similar). Bust facing, bearded, wearing crown and jewelled chlamys, and holding globus cruciger and hilt of sword; in field, on either side, large star; triple border.

Notes: thin, spread fabric, usually, but not always, scyphate.

…

Constantine IX (1042-1055). AV Tetarteron nomisma. Constantinople mint. Sear 1832.

Obv: + ıҺs xıs ʀєx ʀєςɴᴀɴᴛınm. Bust of Christ facing, wearing nimbus cruciger, pallium and colobium, and raising right hand in benediction; in left hand, book of Gospels; single border.

Rev: + cωnsτᴀnτn ьᴀꜱıⳑєчs ʀm (or very similar). Bust facing, bearded, wearing crown and jewelled chlamys, and holding scepter (with trefoil top) and globe surmounted by pelleted cross; single border.

…

Constantine IX (1042-1055). AV Tetarteron nomisma. Constantinople mint. Sear 1833.

Obv: + ıҺs xıs ʀєx ʀєςɴᴀɴᴛınm. Bust of Christ facing, wearing nimbus cruciger, pallium and colobium, and raising right hand in benediction; in left hand, book of Gospels; single border.

Rev: + cωnsτᴀnτnᴏs’ ⳑє ʀm (or similar). Bust facing, bearded, wearing crown and chlamys (with jewels around neck), and holding labarum and globe surmounted by pelleted cross; single border.

…

Constantine IX (1042-1055). AR Miliaresion. Constantinople mint. Sear 1834.

Obv: + Δєcⲡᴏıɴᴀ cωᴢᴏıc. The Virgin orans, nimbate, standing facing on footstool, wearing pallium and maphorium; in field to left, ᴍᴘ; to right, ⲑᴠ. [lines above ᴍᴘ ⲑᴠ]; double border.

Rev: єᴠcєʙʜ ᴍᴏɴᴏᴍᴀxᴏɴ. Constantine, bearded, standing facing, wearing crown and military attire (cuirass, tunic, cloak and high boots), and holding long cross in right hand, the left hand is resting on sheath containing sword; double border.

Notes: sometimes scyphate.

…

Constantine IX (1042-1055). AR ⅔ Miliaresion. Constantinople mint. Sear 1835.

Obv: ʜ ʀᴧᴀxєᴘɴıᴛıcᴀ. Facing bust of the Virgin orans, nimbate, wearing pallium and maphorium; in field to left, ᴍᴘ; to right, ⲑᴠ. [lines above ᴍᴘ ⲑᴠ]; sometimes with uncertain wedge-shaped symbols in field to left and right; double border.

Rev: ⲑᴋє ʀ ⲑ / ᴋωɴcᴛᴀɴ / ᴛıɴω Δєc / ⲡᴏᴛʜ ᴛω / ᴍᴏɴᴏᴍᴀ / —x— (or ፠ x ፠) in six lines; above — — — or ፠ — ፠; double border.

…

Constantine IX (1042-1055). Æ Follis. Constantinople mint. Sear 1836.

Obv: No legend. Christ seated facing on throne with back, wearing nimbus cruciger, pallium and colobium, and holding book of Gospels with both hands; to left, ıc; to right, xc. [ıc and xc have lines above]

Rev: ıꜱ xꜱ / ьᴀꜱıⳑє / ьᴀꜱıⳑ in three lines; above — + —; beneath — ◡ —.

Notes: Anonymous Follis Class D.

…

BACKGROUND AND CHRONOLOGY

Constantine Monomachus, unlike the two Michaels, was a member of one of the great families of the city, and had married, as his second wife, a niece of Romanus III. His good looks, affable manners, and easy going disposition made him popular at court, and he was viewed as a possible successor to Romanus. Michael IV, regarding him as a potential rival, promptly exiled him to Mitylene, where he was still living, as a middle-aged widower, in 1042. Zoe, with the approval of the Senate, recalled him to court and married him on 11 June. Since there were canonical difficulties over a third marriage the coronation could not take place at the same time; the marriage was blessed by a priest of the Nea, and the coronation by the patriarch followed the next day. Zoe continued to play a fairly prominent role in affairs until her death in 1050, Theodora, while retaining her imperial title, seems gradually to have gone again into retirement, but when Constantine died on 11 January 1055 without having satisfactorily settled the succession, it was to her that the throne naturally reverted.

Constantine was in many ways fortunate, for two serious revolts against him came to nothing, a major attack on Constantinople by the Russians was beaten off, and he was able to enjoy the charms of two successive mistresses without any serious hindrance from Zoe. He played a beneficent role in the culture of the capital, patronizing scholars and refounding the university of Constantinople. But he took no interest in government, neglected the army, and wasted on senseless extravagance the great treasure ofBasil IT. His reign, as Psellus admits, was a disaster for the Empire, and marks a turning point initsfortunes inthe eleventh century.

COINAGE: Main Features

Constantine's coinage is more complicated than that of his immediate predecessors. This was in part due to the greater length of his reign, in part to his revival of the tetarteron, and in part to continued debasement. The tetarteron was now for the first time struck in great quantities, so that it must have played a role in currency comparable to that of the histamenon itself. The coins vary in fineness between twenty-two and nineteen carats, the tendency being naturally for them to decline, and the poor quality of the gold is often visible to the eye. Classes II-IV of his histamena are markedly concave, as are also his miliaresia. A novelty was the introduction of military types, most conspicuously on the silver but also on Class IV of the gold. Although Constantine celebrated triumphs after the suppression of the revolts of Maniaces and Tornikes, he was quite unwarlike by nature and never led an army in the field.

GOLD COINAGE. Four classes of histamena and two of tetartera were struck during the reign, but the accepted list of attributions requires some revision. One of his issues of histamena was attributed to Constantine VIII by Wroth, but the portraiture shows it to belong to Constantine IX, as can also be inferred by the fact of its being slightly debased. Three other types sometimes given to him must on the contrary be disallowed. One of Sabatier’s attributions is really a solidus of ConstantineVII; another, cited by Wroth, with some hesitation, from the Photiadès catalogue (no. 483), is evidently a misread piece of John II Comnenus. The third is apparently a mistake of Sabatier, or rather of the artist who illustrated his work, for it is a badly designed histamenon of Constantine VIII.

The main characteristics of the varying types of nomismata are set out in Table 25, and little comment on them is required. The portraiture is extremely uniform, and no obvious significance can be attached to the changes in imperial costume. The use of the traditional loros on Clases I and II of the histamenon was a curious revival of the past; it was the last time that this was to appear on Byzantine gold nomismata. The crown on coins of Class IV is more elaborate than usual, and it is surprising to see the emperor wearing a chlamys and at the same time grasping a sword. The varieties of scepter borne by the emperor are discussed elsewhere. Class III of the histamenon revives the Christ type of the last coinage of Basil II and that of Constantine VIII, with the two half-moons in the upper quarters of the cross nimbus. The histamenon types are very uniform, but some varieties are found in the tetartera. The details are noted in the text of the catalogue, though they do not seem to be of any great significance.

The order of issue is clear, the evidence of declining fineness coinciding with the natural evolution of types and the increasing concavity of the coins. Precise dating, on the other hand, is impossible. The first three classes of histamena and both classes of tetartera are common; only the histamena of Class IV, which because of the stars in the reverse field were termed sfelatiinItaly, are rather rare. Hendy has suggested to me that this very conspicuous and unusual feature of Class IV was suggested by one of the most outstanding celestial events in recorded history, the appearance of a supernova in the constellation Taurus on 4 July 1054. Recent research has shown that this immense stellar explosion, which gave rise to the Crab Nebula, probably eclipsed in brilliance even Brahe’s supernova of 1572 and Kepler's of 1604; the new “guest-star,” as the Chinese astronomers termed it, could be seen in broad daylight, and did not disappear til April 1056. Though it is primarily known to us through Chinese astronomical records, and certainly did not make the profound impression on the general public that Halley's comet was to do twelve years later, it could not have escaped the attention of any person interested in astro-nomical phenomena”! and may conceivably have found its way onto the coins. The dates, at all events, seem to agree.

SILVER COINAGE. Two denominations of silver coins were struck during the reign, the full miliaresion of c. 3.g and the two-thirds of c. 2g. The full miliaresion has on the obverse the standing figure of the Virgin and on the reverse that of the emperor. The two-thirds miliaresion has a bust of the Virgin and on the reverse an inscription in six lines across the field. The inscriptions on both denominations include the emperor's family name Monomachus, so their attribution is not in doubt.

The full miliaresia belong to the rather restricted group of Byzantine coins which have inscriptions running from one side of the coin to the other, ΔЄCΠOINA CωZOIC || ЄVCЄBH MONOMAXON, Δεσποινα σωζοις ευσεβη Mονομαχον, “O Lady, preserve the pious Monomachus”. The general types were evidently suggested by the large silver coins of Romanus III, but the emperor here wears military costume—scale armor and a military cloak which is fastened at the throat by a circular brooch and hangs to halfway down theleg—and holds a long cross and the hilt of a sheathed sword, which rests with the point of the scabbard on the ground. They may perhaps have been struck when the rebel Leo Tornikes appeared before the walls of Constantinople in September 1047, but there were too many other occasions in the reign when Constantine must have felt the desirability of the Virgin’s protection for this to be more than a conjecture.

There are two varieties of this miliaresion, one only slightly concave, frequently flattened, and large in flan, about 30mm at its largest or 24mm within the inner circle, the other more strongly concave and smaller, about 25mm diameter or 20mm within the inner circle. The letters of the obverse inscription on the smaller series are widely spaced, so that they extend above the level of the Virgin’s outstretched arms and almost reach her nimbus. The distinction is most easilysen intheleftfield,where on thelarge series her hand almost touches the I of the word ΔЄCΠOI, while on the small ones it touches the Π. The distinction is not absolute, for there are specimens whose precise class is not easy to determine, but it seems to have meant something and been recognized by the public. The best evidence of this comes from the Oxarve hoard, found in Sweden, which included what appears to have originally formed a single payment of one hundred of these miliaresia in proportions of exactly half and half, there being forty-nine specimens of one group and forty-eight of the other. Since gold payments in this period were sometimes made half and half in tetartera (flat) and histamena (concave), it looks as if the same were being done here, which if correct would carry with it the implication that there must have been a slight difference in value between the two varieties. Unfortunately the coins have usually survived in too damaged a condition for one to be sure of their weights, and the brittle state of the silver, coupled with the concave fabric, suggests that they may be somewhat debased. No clear deductions regarding their values can consequently be drawn.

The two-thirds miliaresia, which are rather rarer than the full miliaresia, are all flat coins. They form two groups. On one there are no ornaments in the obverse field, while the inscription on the reverse is surmounted by ╼ — ╾ , the middle stroke being an abbreviation mark, and has the terminal X’ (of MONOMAX’) flanked by ╼ and ╾ . On the other the head of the Virgin is flanked by two pear-shaped objects of uncertain significance—they occur also on other series—and the inscription is surmounted by and the X’ flanked by ⁘ ⁘ , i.e. croses made with pellets. The meaning of these differences is unknown.

Sabatier cites a further silver coin on the authority of Tanini. It is described as having on the obverse a standing emperor holding a long cross and a globus cruciger, with the inscription ]MONOMAX, and on the obverse a seated Christ. It is probably a misread coin of some kind, but I am at a loss for a precise identification.

COPPER COINAGE. There are no copper coins bearing the name of Constantine IX. The Anonymous Folles of Classes C and D were probably being struck during his reign, but no precise dating is possible. Wroth attributed to him the Anonymous Folles of Classes G and K, which Miss Thompson subsequently transferred to the periods of Romanus IV and Alexius I.

(from DOC vol. lll)

Coinage