MEROVINGIANS. Limoges (as Lemovicum), Église, circa 560-620. Triens (Gold, 12 mm, 1.26 g, 3 h), Maurus, moneyer. ✠ RACIO ECL-I Highly stylized diademed and draped male bust to right. Rev. ✠ MAVRO MOΠETΛ- Cross on three steps; in the angles of the cross, E - R. Belfort -, cf. 3705 (different types, but with a moneyer of the same name). Depeyrot IV, -, cf. p. 22.1 and p. 23, 9 (different types, but with a moneyer of the same name). Apparently unpublished. Sharply struck and beautifully preserved. Minor flan fault on the obverse, otherwise, good extremely fine.



Lemovicum (Limoges) emerged during the Migration Period on the Puy Saint-Étienne as a fortified refuge for the city of Augustoritum. Its name derives from the Celtic tribe of the Lemovici, who once inhabited the region. In Merovingian times, Lemovicum became an important minting center. As our Triens shows, gold coins were struck her, possibly during one of the many Merovingian civil wars. Around 573, the Neustrian king Chilperic tried to reclaim the city he had once given to his bride Galswintha, following her murder at his command in 567/8. However, our coin was not minted by the civitas of Lemovicum, but rather on behalf of the Church, which had maintained a bishopric here since Late Antiquity.