Augustal, august ( lat.Augustalis ) - a gold coin of the Kingdom of Sicily , minted since 1231 by King Federigo (Frederick) , who since 1220 also bore the title of emperor of the Holy Roman Empire . By design, it is an imitation of the ancient Roman aureus , in terms of gold content (about 4.5 grams) it corresponds to the Byzantine solid . In Italian literature it is called "agostaro" ( ital. Agostaro ) or augustale .
The coin of the 857th sample with a total weight of 5.24 g was minted in Brindisi and Messina . On the obverse is the profile of the emperor, the legend is CESAR AVG IMP ROM. On the reverse - an eagle, a legend - FRIDE RICVS [1] [2] [3] .
Formally, August was equated to 1 ⁄ 4 Sicilian ounces of gold, or 7 1 ⁄ 2 tariffs . In fact, the gold content in the coin was less, but in 1232 it was ordered to carry out calculations in August at the official exchange rate, while the tariffs were not canceled:
... novam monetam auri, que augustalis dicitur [...] distribuendam [...] ut ipsa monetam utantur homines in emptionibus et venditionibus suis, iuxta valorem ei ab imperiali providentia constitutum, ut quilibet nummus aureus recipiatur et expendatur pro quarta penarta quant et rerum in imperialis litteris ...
- Riccardo di San Germano, 1936-1938, pp. 181-182 [4] .
Appearing as an imitation of the aureus, August later itself became a role model. Around 1278, the King of Naples and Sicily, Charles I of Anjou, began minting gold carlino , which in accordance with the gold content (4.4 grams) corresponded to August. The second name of this coin is " ". In her model, but with a lower gold content (3.85 grams), the King of France Charles VI (1380-1422) minted a French saludor . Later even lighter (3.8 and 3.43 grams of pure gold) imitations of the French coin were already issued by the English kings Henry V (1387-1422) and Henry VI (1422-1461, 1470-1471) [5] [6] .
Notes
Literature
- Numismatic Dictionary / [Author: Zvarich VV ]. - 4th ed .. - Lviv: Higher school, 1980.
- Dictionary of numismatists / [Authors: Fengler H., Girow G., Unger V.] / Per. with him. M. G. Arsenyeva / Resp. ed. V.M. Potin. - 2nd ed., Revised. and additional .. - M .: Radio and communications, 1993. - ISBN 5-256-00317-8 .
- Encyclopedic Handbook for Numismatists / [Author: Krivtsov V.]. - M .: Obverse (No. 7), 2005 .-- 830 s.