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 Replies: 7 / Views: 999 |
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Pillar of the Community
2087 Posts |
This question is out of curiosity rather than criticism. I am intrigued that the title and description of this Forum is: Quote:
Ancient, Greek, Roman, and Medieval Coins
Ancient, Greek, Roman, and Medieval Coins up to 1600 AD. In particular I am looking at the implication included in the forum description; that the middle ages ended in 1600AD. There is no clear line delineating the end of the middle ages and the start of the early modern period however, I believe most historians would agree the middle ages ended with the close of the 15th century( 1400's). To illustrate further, there are usually three different dates used to mark the end of the medieval period; 1. 1453 ( the fall of Constantinople) 2. 1492 (Discovery of the New World) 3. 1500 (appears to be no historical reason for this but its a nice "round" date to use as a cut off. It doesn't really matter which of these dates is used as all three dates point to the Middle ages ending in the closing stages of 15th century. This also matches my understanding of the evolution of modern coins. In the late 15th century early-modern-coins( certainly not medieval) are first seen. The key marker coins are the, Milanese testone (approx 1470 and regarded by many as the first modern coin), The Venetian Lira Tron(1472), and of course the Hall mint Guildiner/Guldengroschen the first Dollar sized coin (1486) Its not a big deal but in my mind coins of the 16th century(1500-1599) are not medieval. Edited by austrokiwi
07/16/2016 12:37 am
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Pillar of the Community
United States
9395 Posts |
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In particular I am looking at the implication included in the sub title, that the middle ages ended in 1600AD Perhaps it's based on the Krause catalogs starting (for the most part, anyway) at 1601. For coins before that (except for 1500s German ones and some gold), you need more specialized references on medieval coins. A lot of these are hard to use (at least for me), because they're not in English. I suppose the real middle ages in the West are from 500/501 to 1500/1499? |
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Pillar of the Community
 2087 Posts |
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Perhaps it's based on the Krause catalogs....... Hadn't thought of that. |
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Pillar of the Community
United Kingdom
2624 Posts |
Pre 1600 most coins were hammered, it seems natural to try and include as many as possible before milled coinage comes along.
The line has to be drawn somewhere...
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Pillar of the Community
Russian Federation
5177 Posts |
I used to joke that the middle ages corresponded to the sixth millenium of the Byzantine (later Russian) AM calendar. That would make them 492-1492 in our calendar.
I'm now a proponent of 498-1486 as the boundary of middle ages when it comes to numismatics (Anastasius reform to Guldengroschen).
Of course I'm happy that the 1600 boundary allows me to put at least some Russian wire coins as "medieval", which is really where they belong (at least in terms of being hammered and irregular shaped).
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Moderator
 United States
23731 Posts |
In truth the Medieval period ended in 1500 when the Renaissance began. The moderators decided to extend it to 1600 just to allow a wider range of early modern coinage to be included. The coins from 1600 and beyond we consider to be modern coins and be place in that section of the forum.
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Pillar of the Community
2087 Posts |
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In truth the Medieval period ended in 1500 when the Renaissance began This reply is meant in good fun: In truth it all depends on which truth you hold to be true. Some hold that the Renaissance started in the 14th century. We could throw in the commercial revolution ( 13th century until the industrial revolution) and argue the middle ages ended in the 12th century. It really depends on the perspective you take. |
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Moderator
Australia
16857 Posts |
There are all kinds of boundary-points one could choose from in determining the mediaeval-modern boundary. The invention of the printing-press (1440), the fall of Constantinople (1453), the discovery of the Americas (1492), the Protestant Reformation (1517). Numismatic-themed boundaries might include the introduction of machine-struck coinage or the introduction of AD dates on the coins. Or an arbitrary date such as 1500 or 1600 might be chosen. Personally, I use 1450.
Don't say "infinitely" when you mean "very"; otherwise, you'll have no word left when you want to talk about something really infinite. - C. S. Lewis
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Replies: 7 / Views: 999 |
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Posted 07/16/2016 12:39 am
