Money And Currency In Medieval Greece 231
of lower-value coinages such as soldini and torneselli. In a much earlier phase,
the 1220s–40s, exemplified by the cited hoard from Agrinio, there was a wave
of hyperpyron hoarding which also produced valuable assemblages. By con-
trast, the first decade of the 13th century was the period in which the values
of hoards were the most modest. Great values could be achieved in the most
advanced and sophisticated areas of medieval Greece, for instance in the west-
ern Peloponnese, but also in rather less populous and integrated stretches of
Epirus and Thessaly. This underlines some of the difficulties inherent in the
interpretation of hoarding patterns.
More so than the single finds, coin hoards can pinpoint the leading curren-
cies of medieval Greece in the different periods under analysis and, through
the negative evidence, those currencies which were relegated to a secondary
role. Initially, Byzantine-style copper tetartera, billon trachea, and to a more
limited degree electrum trachea, were dominant. Gold hyperpyron coins of
13th-century production represented a second level of monetisation. In the
period 1204–50s, in quick succession, English sterling pennies, French deniers
tournois, and Venetian grossi were introduced to Greece, and usually mixed
in hoards with these same hyperpyra. At the same time, hoarding of the lower
denominations of the Byzantine tradition largely ceased. In mid-century
there was a very brief wave during which the new petty denomination issues
of Latin Greece were hoarded, followed by a longer period in which the only
hoarded specimens were Greek silver-based deniers tournois and grossi (about
1270–1310). The medieval Greek coinage system was by far the most regular and
stable in exactly these years. The two currencies can be seen as an integrated
system, although they could also function independently from one another
and were kept apart in some hoards. The grosso currency largely consisted of
Venetian specimens, which were supplemented, in the years around 1300, by
some Serbian grossi which were treated on a par. Around 1310 new silver cur-
rencies were added to this mix: French gros tournois, Sicilian pierreali, and
gigliati of Naples-Provence. These might have managed to integrate them-
selves into the existing structures to a certain degree, as is suggested by some
hoards, although others show the parallel functioning of numerous systems.
The small Venetian soldino, by contrast, managed a smooth introduction to
the tournois system from the 1330s onwards, as we can witness from mixed
hoards. The tournois system itself faced a serious challenge by the complete
discontinuation of its issue in Greece (sometime in the years before or after
1350). Its designated successor, the tornesello of the Venice mint, nevertheless
had obvious teething problems in being accepted in Greece, due to its inferior
intrinsic value. In this way, throughout much of the second half of the 14th cen-
tury, there were three silver-based systems in place, exemplified by different