Hyperpyron

Hyperpyron Manuels I.

The Hyperpyron (also Hyperpyron nomisma ; Greek Greek ὑπέρπυρον "Super Refined", plural Hyperpyra ) was since the currency reform of 1092 under Emperor I. Alexios Komnenos as Skyphat (bowl-shaped coin) embossed Byzantine gold coin , which succeeded the Histamenon (also Stamenon nomisma called ) appeared as the standard gold coin.

Histamenon of the emperor Alexios I Komnenos (1081–1118). Due to the hyperinflation, the gold content went to zero before the coin reform in 1092.

The solidus in the form of the histamenone and tetarteron was of relatively constant purity until the beginning of the 11th century. The gold content was consistently between 955 and 980 thousandths (23 to 23.5  carats ). From Emperor Michael IV (1034-1041), who came from a humble background and was a money changer before his coronation , the slow devaluation of the Byzantine gold standard began by gradually reducing the gold content. The devaluation was slow at first and then accelerated rapidly: approx. 21 carats (87.5% purity) during the reign of Emperor Constantine IX. (1042-1055), 18 carats (75%) under Emperor Constantine X. (1059-1067), 16 carats (66.7%) under Emperor Romanos IV. (1068-1071), 14 carats (58%) under Michael VII. (1071-1078), 8 carats (33%) under Nikephoros III. (1078–1081) and 0 to 8 carats during the first eleven years of the reign of Emperor Alexios I (1081–1118).

Under Alexios I, the deteriorated solidus or histamenon was abolished and the hyperpyron, a new gold coin with a gold content of initially 900 to 950 thousandths (21.6–22.8 carats), was introduced. It weighed between 4.0 and 4.4 g, almost as much as the solidus (4.5 g) and later had a fineness of 21  carats, corresponding to an alloy ratio of 21 parts of gold to 3 parts of other metal (875/1000) . The first Hyperpyra minted under Alexios after the reform in 1092 had a very large diameter of around 32 mm, were very thin and only slightly curved. Alexios' successors had Hyperpyra minted with ever smaller diameters, stronger curvature and greater thickness. The last under Andronikos III. , John V. and John VI. embossed hyperpyra had a diameter of around 25 mm. One hyperpyron corresponded to 3 electron aspron trachea or 48 billon aspron trachea.

The hyperpyron remained in circulation until the conquest of Constantinople (1453) , but lost its value due to the falling gold content. Under the dual rule of John V and John VI. (1347-1353) the hyperpyron was struck for the last time. This ended the Roman-Byzantine gold currency of the solidus, which had existed for over a millennium since its introduction under Constantine the Great .

Under the sole rule of Emperor John V (1354-1391), the 7.4 to 8.5 gram silver stavraton ( Greek σταυράτον ; plural Stavrata ) finally replaced the hyperpyron. Since the stavraton was worth half of the hyperpyron, the stavraton is also called the half hyperpyron.

As early as the 13th century, in addition to the Byzantine currency, there were English sterling , French deniers tournois and, due to the strong presence of the Venetians, especially Venetian ducats and grossi . From 1353, Venice created its own silver coin, the Tornesello, for its colonial empire . The Byzantine gold currency, which had not been minted since 1354, was primarily replaced by the Venetian ducat.

literature

• Philip Grierson : Byzantine Coins , Methuen & Co., London / Berkeley / Los Angeles 1982.
• Philip Grierson: Byzantine coinage , Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, Washington DC 1999. ISBN 0-88402-274-9 (PDF, 703 kB)
• David R. Sear: Byzantine Coins and Their Values , 1987. ISBN 978-0900652714
• Andreas Urs Sommer : The coins of the Byzantine Empire 491–1453 . With an appendix: The coins of the empire of Trebizond, Battenberg Verlag, Regenstauf 2010.
• Andreas Urs Sommer : Catalog of the Byzantine coins in the coin collection of the Georg-August-Universität Göttingen. Universitätsverlag Göttingen, Göttingen 2003. ISBN 3-930457-30-X (PDF file; 1.56 MB)

Web links

Commons : Hyperpyron  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Remarks

1. ↑ Kenneth W. Harl: Early Medieval and Byzantine Civilization: Constantine to Crusades. ( Memento of the original from October 5, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. History / Medieval Studies 303. 
2. ↑ Philip Grierson : Byzantine Coinage , Dumbarton Oaks Byzantine Collection Publications, 1999, ISBN 978-0-88402-274-9 , p. 10
3. ^ Andreas Urs Sommer: Catalog of the Byzantine coins in the coin collection of the Georg-August University of Göttingen. (PDF; 1.6 MB) p. 16
4. ↑ David R. Sear, Byzantine Coins and Their Values , 1987, ISBN 978-0900652714 , Sear No 2526
5. ^ Andreas Urs Sommer , The Coins of the Byzantine Empire 491-1453. With an appendix: The coins of the kingdom of Trebizond . Regenstauf: Battenberg Verlag, 2010, coin description 84.1.
6. ↑ Philip Grierson Byzantine Coinage , Dumbarton Oaks Byzantine Collection Publications, 1999, ISBN 978-0-88402-274-9 , pp. 16, 17
7. ↑ Tommaso Bertelè : L'iperpero bizantino dal 1261 al 1453 , in: Rivista Italiana di Numismatica 59 (1957) pp 70-89.
8. ^ Alan M. Stahl : The Venetian Tornesello. A medieval colonial coinage , New York 1985, p. 5.