Bracteate from Funen, Denmark (DR BR42).jpg
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A bracteate (from the Latin ''bractea'', a thin piece of metal) is a flat, thin, single-sided gold medal worn as jewelry that was produced in
Northern Europe The northern region of Europe has several definitions. A restrictive definition may describe Northern Europe as being roughly north of the southern coast of the Baltic Sea, which is about 54th parallel north, 54°N, or may be based on other g ...
predominantly during the
Migration Period The Migration Period was a period in European history marked by large-scale migrations that saw the fall of the Western Roman Empire and subsequent settlement of its former territories by various tribes, and the establishment of the post-Roman ...
of the Germanic Iron Age (including the Vendel era in Sweden). Bracteate coins are also known from the medieval kingdoms around the Bay of Bengal such as Harikela and Mon city-states. The term is also used for thin discs, especially in gold, to be sewn onto clothing in the ancient world, as found for example in the ancient Persian
Oxus treasure The Oxus treasure (Persian: گنجینه آمودریا) is a collection of about 180 surviving pieces of metalwork in gold and silver, most relatively small, and around 200 coins, from the Achaemenid Persian period which were found by the Oxus ...
, and also later silver coins produced in central Europe during the Early Middle Ages.


Gold bracteates from the Migration Period

Gold bracteates commonly denote a certain type of jewelry, made mainly in the 5th to 7th century AD, represented by numerous gold specimens. Bead-rimmed and fitted with a loop, most were intended to be worn suspended by a string around the neck, supposedly as an
amulet An amulet, also known as a good luck charm or phylactery, is an object believed to confer protection upon its possessor. The word "amulet" comes from the Latin word amuletum, which Pliny's ''Natural History'' describes as "an object that protects ...
. The gold for the bracteates came from coins paid as peace money by the Roman Empire to their Northern Germanic neighbors.Poul Kjærum, Rikke Agnete Olsen. ''Oldtidens Ansigt: Faces of the Past'' (1990),


Motifs

Many of the bracteates feature ruler portraits of Germanic kings with characteristic hair that is plaited back and depictions of figures from Germanic mythology influenced to varying extents by Roman coinage while others feature entirely new motifs. The motifs are commonly those of Germanic mythology and some are believed to be
Germanic pagan Germanic paganism or Germanic religion refers to the traditional, culturally significant religion of the Germanic peoples. With a chronological range of at least one thousand years in an area covering Scandinavia, the British Isles, modern Germ ...
icons giving protection or for divination. Often depicted is a figure with a horse,
birds Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweigh ...
and sometimes a spear – that some scholars interpret as a representation of the Germanic god Wodan – and aspects of the figure that would later appear in 13th century depictions as
Odin Odin (; from non, Óðinn, ) is a widely revered Æsir, god in Germanic paganism. Norse mythology, the source of most surviving information about him, associates him with wisdom, healing, death, royalty, the gallows, knowledge, war, battle, v ...
such as the Poetic Edda. For this reason the bracteates are a target of iconographic studies by scholars interested in Germanic religion. Several bracteates also feature
runic alphabet Runes are the letters in a set of related alphabets known as runic alphabets native to the Germanic peoples. Runes were used to write various Germanic languages (with some exceptions) before they adopted the Latin alphabet, and for specialised ...
inscriptions (a total of 133 inscriptions on bracteates are known, amounting to more than a third of the entire
Elder Futhark The Elder Futhark (or Fuþark), also known as the Older Futhark, Old Futhark, or Germanic Futhark, is the oldest form of the runic alphabets. It was a writing system used by Germanic peoples for Northwest Germanic dialects in the Migration Peri ...
corpus). Numerous Bracteates feature
swastika The swastika (卐 or 卍) is an ancient religious and cultural symbol, predominantly in various Eurasian, as well as some African and American cultures, now also widely recognized for its appropriation by the Nazi Party and by neo-Nazis. It ...
s as a common motif.


Typology

The typology for bracteates divides them into several letter-named categories, a system introduced in an 1855 treatise by the Danish numismatist Christian Jürgensen Thomsen named ''Om Guldbracteaterne og Bracteaternes tidligste Brug som Mynt'' and finally defined formally by the Swedish numismatist Oscar Montelius in his 1869 treatise ''Från jernåldern'': *A-bracteates ( ~92 specimens): showing the face of a human, modelled after antique imperial coins *B-bracteates (~91 specimens): one to three human figures in standing, sitting or kneeling positions, often accompanied by animals *C-bracteates (best represented, by ~426 specimens): showing a male's head above a quadruped, often interpreted as the Germanic god
Woden Odin (; from non, Óðinn, ) is a widely revered Æsir, god in Germanic paganism. Norse mythology, the source of most surviving information about him, associates him with wisdom, healing, death, royalty, the gallows, knowledge, war, battle, v ...
. *D-bracteates (~359 specimens): showing one or more highly stylized animals *E-bracteates (~280 specimens): showing an animal triskele under a circular feature *F-bracteates (~17 specimens): as a subgroup of the D-bracteates, showing an imaginary animal *M-'bracteates' (~17 specimens): two-sided imitations of Roman imperial medallions


Corpus

More than 1,000 Migration Period bracteates of type A-, B-, C-, D-, and F are known in total (Heizmann & Axboe 2011). Of these, 135 (ca. 11%) bear
Elder Futhark The Elder Futhark (or Fuþark), also known as the Older Futhark, Old Futhark, or Germanic Futhark, is the oldest form of the runic alphabets. It was a writing system used by Germanic peoples for Northwest Germanic dialects in the Migration Peri ...
inscriptions which are often very short; the most notable inscriptions are found on the Seeland-II-C (offering traveling protection to the one who wears it), Vadstena (giving a listing of the Elder Futhark combined with a potential magical inscription) and Tjurkö (featuring an inscription in scaldic verse) bracteates. To these can be added the ca. 270 E-bracteates (Gaimster 1998), which belong to the Vendel Period and thus are slightly later than the other types. They were produced only on Gotland, and while the earlier bracteates (apart from a few English pieces) all were made from gold, many E-bracteates were made from silver or bronze. The German historian
Karl Hauck Karl may refer to: People * Karl (given name), including a list of people and characters with the name * Karl der Große, commonly known in English as Charlemagne * Karl Marx, German philosopher and political writer * Karl of Austria, last Austrian ...
, Danish archaeologist
Morten Axboe Morten Axboe (born 1946) is a Danish archaeologist and till 30.4.2019 a curator at the National Museum of Denmark, notable for his study of bracteates. Axboe is also known for theorizing a connection between finds of 6th century Scandinavian gold h ...
and German runologist Klaus Düwel have worked since the 1960s to create a complete corpus of the early Germanic bracteates from the migration period, complete with large scale photographs and drawings. This has been published in three volumes in German named ''Die Goldbrakteaten der Völkerwanderungszeit. Ikonographischer Katalog''. A catalogue supplement is included in Heizmann & Axboe 2011.


Early medieval bracteates

Silver bracteates (in German ''Brakteat'', also called "hollow pennies": ''Hohlpfennige'' or '' Schüsselpfennige'') are different from the migration period bracteates. They were the predominant regional coinage type minted in German-speaking areas (with the exception of Rhineland, Westphalia and the Middle Rhine region) beginning at around 1130 in Saxony and Thuringia and lasted well into the 14th century. From a currency point of view, bracteates were a typical "regional penny" currency of the time. Medieval silver bracteates are one-sided, stamped ''pfennigs'' from thin silver sheet, with a diameter of 22 to 45 mm. The coin image appears in a high relief, while the back remains hollow. The large area left much room for artistic representations. Usual were three denominations, a two-''pfennig'' (''Blaffert'') with elaborate image, a one-''pfennig'' (''Hohlpfennig'') with coarse image and hollow coins worth half a ''pfennig'' (''
Scherf A ''Scherf'' (also ''Schärff'' or ''scharfer Pfennig'' = "sharp ''pfennig''") was a low-value silver coin used in Erfurt and other cities of the Holy Roman Empire from the Middle Ages to the 18th century. The name was later also given to a coppe ...
''). The bracteates were usually called back regularly, about once or twice a year, and had to be exchanged for new coins (''Renovatio Monetae''). For example, receiving three new coins for four old coins. The withheld 4th coin was called strike money and was often the only tax revenue of the coin mint-master. This system worked like a demurrage: People wouldn't hoard their coins, because they lost their value. So, this money was used more as a medium of exchange than for storing value. This increased the velocity of money and stimulated the economy. This disruption disturbed the business interests of all those who were involved in the then money economy, namely the merchants who dominated in the German city leagues. The city leagues then introduced from 1413 a so-called ''
Ewiger Pfennig The ''Ewiger Pfennig'' or eternal penny ( lat, denarius perpetuus) was a coin of the regional ''pfennig'' period (bracteate period), which was minted until the late medieval ''groschen'' time. These coins are mostly of the '' Hohlpfennig'' or "hol ...
'' ("eternal penny"). The last bracteates were "traveller bracteates", embossed medallions worn as a pendant, that served as a type of presence mark for pilgrims and were in use until the 17th century. In some
cantons of Switzerland The 26 cantons of Switzerland (german: Kanton; french: canton ; it, cantone; Sursilvan and Surmiran: ; Vallader and Puter: ; Sutsilvan: ; Rumantsch Grischun: ) are the member states of the Swiss Confederation. The nucleus of the Swiss Con ...
, bracteate-like rappen, heller, and angster were produced during the 18th century. File:HMF Brakteat 12Jhd.jpg, Medieval silver bracteates (hollow pennies), with depictions of
Frederick I, Holy Roman Emperor Frederick Barbarossa (December 1122 – 10 June 1190), also known as Frederick I (german: link=no, Friedrich I, it, Federico I), was the Holy Roman Emperor from 1155 until his death 35 years later. He was elected King of Germany in Frankfurt on ...
, 12th century, Frankfurt am Main File:Brakteat Dohna aus Hermann Grote, Tafel II., Bild 11.JPG, Medieval silver bracteate minted by the
Burgraves Burgrave, also rendered as burggrave (from german: Burggraf, la, burgravius, burggravius, burcgravius, burgicomes, also praefectus), was since the medieval period in Europe (mainly Germany) the official title for the ruler of a castle, especiall ...
of
Dohna Dohna is a town in the Sächsische Schweiz-Osterzgebirge district, Saxony, Germany. It is located south of Heidenau, in the Müglitz valley and lies at the northeastern foot of the Eastern Ore Mountains. It is accessed by the Pirna interchange ...
; the earliest minted from c. 1200 File:1371_Hohlpfennig.jpg, Medieval silver bracteate, hollow one-penny (''Hohlpfennig''), 15th century, Hamburg File:Bracteate hoard, about 600 Magdeburg bracteates, Trebbin, Brandenburg, 13th century AD - Bode-Museum - DSC02677.JPG, Hoard of 600 Magdeburg bracteates from the early 13th century (
Bode Museum The Bode-Museum (English: ''Bode Museum''), formerly called the Kaiser-Friedrich-Museum (''Emperor Frederick Museum''), is a listed building on the Museum Island in the historic centre of Berlin. It was built from 1898 to 1904 by order of Germa ...
)


References


Further reading

* *
Band 1:1
(1985), . *
Band 1:2
(1985), . *
Band 1:3
(1985), . *
Band 2:1
(1986), . *
Band 2:2
(1989), . *
Band 3:1
(1989), . *
Band 3:2
(1989), . * * * * * * * * * * Pesch, Alexandra: ''Die Goldbrakteaten der Völkerwanderungszeit – Thema und Variation'' (Berlin: de Gruyter, 2007).


External links



(archived 26 June 2006)

Canterbury Archaeological Trust (archived 24 November 2005)

(archived 4 May 2006)

(archived 3 December 2008)

(archived 13 February 2007)

(archived 30 October 2005)
"Evidence of the Jutes"
BBC

{{Authority control Early Germanic art Exonumia Art