Articles

De muntfibula van een Almohadische dobla uit Scheemda: vondstomstandigheden, parallellen en historische context

Authors

  • J.P. Koers
  • J.N. Lanting
  • J. Molema

Abstract

A gold coin made into a brooch, found in 1967 at the cemetery of medieval Scheemda, was identified as an Almohad dobla minted in Spain or North Africa during the caliphate of Abu Yusuf Yaqub al-Mansur (1184-1199). The coin is reinforced on one side with gold wire and brackets of sheet gold. A total of nine such brooches has been found in the coastal area of the northern Netherlands and northern Germany. Formerly these brooches were connected with the so-called Frisian Crusade of 1217, during which several Moorish towns on the SW coast of Spain were sacked. It is shown in this paper that no evidence for such an connection can be brought forward. Coin brooches occur regurlarly in the northern Netherlands and northern Germany from the 7th to the mid 15th century. The relatively large number of brooches made of Almohad gold coins seems to be related to the increased export of West African gold to western Europe by way of Almohad North Africa and Spain during the 12th century.

Published

1990-12-15

Issue

Section

Articles