12. Figura et potentia Coin and Power in the Visigothic Kingdom

The coins issued by the Germanic peoples during late antiquity and the early Middle Ages initially shared an iconographic repertoire, borrowed from imperial Rome. The evolution these coins underwent, however, reveals characteristic features that served as the basis of the coinage of the later Germanic kingdoms, and then of the medieval states that followed. This work analyses their prominent aspects as symbols of authority and power, such as typology - including references to historical events - the degree of romanitas claimed by each of these peoples, and religious distinctions, as well as the extent to which these features responded to matters of political expediency.