Abbo of Limoges

Abbo (also Abbon , Abbone , Abboni or Ebbon ) was the late sixth and early seventh century during the reign of the Merovingian in Limoges active goldsmith and Master of the Mint .

Abbo, who worked for the Franconian kings Chlothar II and Dagobert I , is said to have had such a great reputation in his art that the father of St. Eligius sent his son to learn the goldsmith's trade with him. The mint master is undoubtedly identical to Abbo, whose Limoges coins, some of which have survived , are signed with the name Abbone . The same name appears on some of the coins of Chalon-sur-Saône , so that Abbo may have worked in both cities in succession around 600. In the British Isles made Cuerdale Hoard coins were discovered, bearing the name Abbo Monet or Abbo Manet and a Merovingian portrait appears. This is interpreted in such a way that Abbo either belonged to the Frankish entourage of Augustine of Canterbury , who traveled with him for proselytizing purposes to Heptarchy England around 596 , where Abbo would have been active, or that the English coins assigned to the Abbo were concerned Imitations of Merovingian coins.

literature

• M. Spiller: Abbon . In: General Artist Lexicon . The visual artists of all times and peoples (AKL). Volume 1, Seemann, Leipzig 1983, ISBN 3-598-22741-8 , p. 61 f.
• J. Balteau and M. Prou: Abbon 18) and Abbon 19) . In: Dictionnaire de biographie française (DBF). Vol. 1 (1932), Col. 89f.