At its peak, the Carolingian Empire stretched from the Basque Pyrenees and Lombard Lazio to the eastern marches of Germania and the quiet course of the Elbe. However, it is more than 600 km east of this river border that archaeologists have discovered a beautiful treasure of 118 Carolingian coins from the 9th century, in the region of the Mazurian lakes which extends in the north of the Poland. What was this quite exceptional sum doing in the middle of this wild region then occupied by the Polanes and the Prussians? Was it the lost cargo of a traveling noble? The spoils of war of a Frankish expedition? The reserves of a wealthy merchant? Nothing of the sort. According to Polish archaeologists, it is not impossible that it is actuallya tribute or a viking ransom. Originally from the Frankish space, this wealth of wealth could even be associated with a particularly famous historical event: the first siege of Paris.
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Identified by approved detectorists in the rural outskirts of Biskupiec last fall, then excavated until March by archaeologists from the Ostróda museum, the treasure site contained a monetary set made up of silver denarii. effigy of Louis the Pious (778-840), the son and heir of Charlemagne, as well as an obolus dated from the reign of Charles II the Bald (823-877). The archaeological context of its discovery corresponded to a completely virgin and isolated natural terrain, without the slightest built-up area or the slightest neighboring cemetery. Buried rather than lost, the proximity of two tributaries of the Vistula and the presence of the Viking counter of Truso, about sixty kilometers to the north, however, suggests that it was buried there by the Scandinavians.
"Truso and the Viking activity associated with it are currently the preferred avenue for determining how this treasure ended up in the territory of ancient Prussia,"
the archaeologist told Polish news agency PAP Łukasz Szczepański, who took part in the workcamp.
1/3 - Part of the Biskupiec treasury, made up of 117 deniers and an obolus.
Muzeum w Ostródzie
2/3 - The obverse of a Carolingian denarius in the name of Louis le Pieux.
Muzeum w Ostródzie
3/3 - The reverse of a denarius was struck with an ancient temple in the middle of which sat a cross.
The circular inscription, "Christiana Religio" gave its name to this type of currency.
Muzeum w Ostródzie
The booty of a raid in Frankish land
Unlike other finds of Carolingian coins in the region, however, the Biskupiec treasure did not yield any Abbasid dirhams, to the astonishment of Polish archaeologists. However, their circulation seems to have been very important in the south of the Baltic area around the 8th-9th century, so much so that we find it in Truso and also in various places in northern Poland, alongside Frankish coins. . Better still, the funds of the treasury are very well preserved, and appear not to have been put in circulation for very long, if at all.
"We therefore suspect a relatively rapid deposit of the treasure, probably shortly after its arrival in Prussia,"
argued Łukasz Szczepański in an article published in the Polish journal
Archeologia
.
But if they do not come from commercial exchanges, these Carolingian currencies must have been looted somewhere in the empire of the sons of Charlemagne.
But where ?
And when ?
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The presence of a single obolus of Charles the Bald seems to date from his reign the Scandinavian excursion which would be at the origin of the treasure of Biskupiec. However, as archaeologists have recalled, the middle of the 9th century was precisely marked by an unprecedented intensification of Viking pressure, both along the coasts and along the great rivers of Western Europe, in particular in Francie and England. The Loire and the Seine thus saw an increase in expeditions, as did Brittany, Frisia and Aquitaine. During these raids, the payment of ransoms or tributes became commonplace: in 857, Charles the Bald paid a huge ransom for the return of the Abbot of Saint-Denis, just a few years after the payment of a monstrous tribute. of 2.8 tons of silver, in 845,in order to spare Paris. By extension, the tribute paid to Scandinavian navigators became widespread in the 9th century, in order to prevent the passage to violence.
However, Polish archaeologists have noticed that several coins of this type did indeed come from Paris, which reinforces the hypothesis that it was the tribute of Charles the Bald. A track that is possible, but no more considered than another, for the moment.
"If a larger number of coins can be attributed to Paris, then yes, it would be possible,"
Polish archaeologist and numismatist Mateusz Bogucki cautiously agreed in an interview with LiveScience.
"But it is still far too early to be clear on such an interpretation"
. As Łukasz Szczepański has also stated with philosophy, the research on this treasure has only just begun: typological comparisons, the inspection of the provenance of the coins, and the possible continuation of field research could, one day perhaps , bring new details to this patient investigation.