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Denier Tournois

Denier Tournois

The denier tournois is a small billon coin usually weighing less than 1 gram and with a dimeter of around 17-20 mm. They were minted by various rulers in Frankish/Latin occupied territories of the Byzantine empire after the Fourth Crusade.

The denier tournois takes its design from the deniers minted in the city of Tours (France) during the 11th and 12th centuries. Why they used as a model the deniers from Tours instead of any other French city?    ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Note that this webpage is sort of a quick cheat sheet to help with identifying the different deniers tournois. The rulers of the Principality of Achaea, Duchy of Athens etc also minted other coins.

Principality of Achaea

Principality of Achaea. William II of Villehardouin (1245-1278). 
Bl Denier (- mm // - g)
Obv: + G PRINCEPS; cross pattée inside a circle.
Rev: + CLARENTIA; château tournois.

Principality of Achaea. William II of Villehardouin (1245-1278). 
Bl Denier (- mm // - g)
Obv: + G PRINCE ACh; cross pattée inside a circle.
Rev: + CLARENTIA; château tournois.

Principality of Achaea. Charles I of Anjou (1278-1285). 
Bl Denier (19 mm // 0.77 g)
Obv: + K R PRINC ACh; cross pattée inside a circle.
Rev: + CLARENTIA; château tournois.

Charles 1 d'Anjou had quite a few titles to his name. He was King of Sicily, Count of Anjou and Maine, Count of Provence, King of Albania, and Prince of Achaea. He got the Principality of Achaea because William 11 died without any (male) heirs.

Principality of Achaea. Charles II of Anjou (1285-1289).
Bl Denier (19 mm // 0,93 g)
Obv: + K R PRINC ACh; cross pattée inside a circle.
Rev: + CLARENTIA; château tournois.

Principality of Achaea. Florent of Hainaut (1289-1297).
Bl Denier (19 mm // 0.71 g)
Obv: + FLORENS P ACh; cross pattée inside a circle.
Rev: + DE CLARENTIA; château tournois.

Principality of Achaea. Isabelle of Villehardouin (1297-1301).
Bl Denier (19 mm // 0.84 g)
Obv: + YSABELLA P ACh; cross pattée inside a circle.
Rev: + DE CLARENCIA; château tournois.

Isabelle de Villehardouin was the eldest daughter of William 11 of Villehardouin. She married Florent of Hainaut (above), and they ruled the Principality of Achaea together. 

After Florent died Isabelle married Philip of Savoy (below).

Principality of Achaea. Philip of Savoy (1301-1306). 
Bl Denier (19 mm // 0.77 g)
Obv: + PHS D SAB P ACHE; cross pattée inside a circle.
Rev: + DE CLARENCIA; château tournois.

I noticed that usually there’s a star bellow the castle on the deniers of Philip of Savoy, not sure if that’s always the case though.

Principality of Achaea. Philip I of Taranto (1306-1313).
Bl Denier (20 mm // 0,72 g)
Obv: + PHS P ACH TAR D R; cross pattée inside a circle.
Rev: + DE CLARENCIA [sometimes D’ CLARENCIA]; château tournois.

Note that this Philip is Philip 1 of Taranto who is Philip 11 of Achaea, because Philip of Savoy (above) was the 1st Philip who ruled Achaea. AHs sometimes get this confused and say Philip 1 of Achaea.

Principality of Achaea. Ferdinand de Majorca, pretender (1315-1316).
Bl Denier (20 mm // 0.84 g)
Obv: + IFAhS F D mAIORK; cross pattée inside a circle.
Rev: + DE CLARENCIA [sometimes D’ CLARENCIA]; château tournois.

Principality of Achaea. Matilda of Hainaut (1316-1318). 
Bl Denier (19 mm // 0.84 g)
Obv: + mAhAVTA P ACh; cross pattée inside a circle.
Rev: + DE CLARENCIA; château tournois.

Matilda of Hainaut, daughter of Florent of Hainaut and Isabella of Villehardouin, was also called Mathilde, Mahaut, and Maud.

Principality of Achaea. Louis of Burgundy (1316).
Bl Denier (18 mm // 0.92 g)
Obv: + LODOVIC D B P ACHE; cross pattée inside a circle.
Rev: + DE CLARENCIA; château tournois.

Louis was the husband of Matilda

Principality of Achaea. John of Gravina (1318-1333).
Bl Denier (17 mm // 0.84 g)
Obv: + IOANS PAChI [or IohS PAChE]; cross pattée inside a circle.
Rev: + DE CLARENCIA; château tournois.

Principality of Achaea. Robert of Taranto (1333-1364).
Bl Denier (- mm // 0.84 g)
Obv: + ROBT P AChAIE; cross pattée inside a circle.
Rev: + CLARENTIA; château tournois.

these are quite rare and usually in awful condition

Duchy of Athens

Duchy of Athens. William I de la Roche (1280-1287).
Bl Denier. Thebes mint. (18 mm // 0.84 g)
Obv: + G:DVX ATENES; cross pattée inside a circle.
Rev: + THEBE CIVIS; château tournois.

William in French is Guillaume, so sometimes his name shows up as Guillaume 1 de la Roche. Not to be confused with Guy 1 de la Roche, who was also a duke of Athens (1225-1263).

Duchy of Athens. Guy II de la Roche (1294-1308).
Bl Denier. Thebes mint. (19 mm // 0.85 g)
Obv: + GVI DVX ATЄNЄS; cross pattée inside a circle. 
Rev: + THEBANI CIVIS; château tournois.

... other frankish deniers tournois

Lepanto. Philip I of Taranto (1306-1313). 
Bl Denier (18 mm // 0.87 g)
Obv: + Ph'S P TAR DЄSP cross pattée inside a circle.
Rev: + NEPANTI CIVIS; château tournois.

Despotate of Epirus. John II Orsini (1323-1335).
Bl Denier. Arta mint. (17.5 mm // 0.81 g)
Obv: + IOhS DESPOTVS; cross pattée inside a circle.
Rev: + DE ARTA CASTRV; château tournois.

Note on the illustrations and fonts

All the illustrations in this page were made by me (Koko) on canva. If you want to use them wherever you’re very welcome to do so :) and if you could give this website a shoutout that would be awesome.

Regarding the font on the illustrations, I used “Goudy Thirty” made by Dieter Steffmann. I know it’s not a super close match to the lettering on the actual coins, but hopefully it’s good enough for the purposes of identification. If you know of a font that’s more suitable please let me know, and if you have experience using the Numismatica Medievalis font  please please contact me, I’d love to give it a try.

Dieter Steffmann (​https://www.1001fonts.com/users/steffmann/)

Numismatica Medievalis font (http://www.numisbel.be/NumisMed_GB.htm)