17 May 2025 The Future is the Product of the Past

A coin of Queen Fastrada and Charlemagne found – First of its kind

A coin purchased by the Charlemagne Center in Aachen, Germany, bears the name of Queen Fastrada. This is the first known example of a queen being named on a Carolingian coin.

The coin represents the first known example of a queen, indeed of any woman (other than the virgin Mary) being named on a Carolingian coin, and because the coin type was only introduced in 793 and Fastrada died in August 794, it can be very precisely dated.

The dating of numismatic remains from the Carolingian period is difficult when it is not frankly conjectural. The coinage reflects both Charlemagne’s affection for Fastrada and the power he was willing to share with her.

The third wife of the great Carolingian king Charlemagne, Fastrada played a critical role in her husband’s reign. She was born around 765, the daughter of powerful East Frankish Count Rudolph. In 783, only five months after the death of his second wife, Himiltrude, Charlemagne married her to cement an alliance with her father in his war against the Saxons. They would have two daughters over 11 years of marriage before Fastrada’s death in 794.

Monogram denier of Charlemagne, Reims, 1.99 g, 22 mm. Single find, Wijk bij Duurstede, 1989. Photo: National Numismatic Collection, Dutch National Bank
Monogram denier of Charlemagne, Reims, 1.99 g, 22 mm. Single find, Wijk bij Duurstede, 1989. Photo: National Numismatic Collection, Dutch National Bank

Minted between 793 and 794, likely in Aachen, the coin is inscribed on the obverse side with +CARoLVSREXFR[ancorum], (‘Charles, king of the Franks’), and on the reverse +FASTRADA REGIN[a], (‘Queen Fastrada’), around the royal monogram of Charlemagne (KAROLVS). It is a silver denier of a type known as the monogram denier after the KAROLVS monogram.

As a result of their infrequent appearance in contemporary writings, historians of today can generally say little about the Carolingian queens. Fastrada is an exception, with a “uniquely well-documented queenly career” in terms of early medieval annalistic records, according to Janet Nelson. According to contemporary sources, Charlemagne had a genuine affection for Fastrada, which this coin also bears witness to.

Wandalgarius codex, St Gallen Stiftsbibliothek, Cod. Sang. 731, p. 111: www.e-codices.unifr.ch/de/csg/0731/111
Wandalgarius codex, St Gallen Stiftsbibliothek, Cod. Sang. 731, p. 111: www.e-codices.unifr.ch/de/csg/0731/111

King Offa of Mercia, who had a penny minted in 792 bearing the name of his wife Queen Cynethryth, must have inspired Charlemagne. They had extensive trade contacts and were actively planning a marriage between Charles’ son and Offa’s daughter at one point. It can’t be a coincidence that the silver denier uses the same syntax as the Cynethryth penny, with the Latinate title ‘REGIN(a)’ for Fastrada.

Despite the parallels between these Mercian and Carolingian coinages, three significant differences are also evident from the discussion above. The first is the scale: as was noted earlier, there are more than fifty recorded examples of Cynethryth’s coinage, from numerous different dies, but this is the first and to date only specimen of a coin of Fastrada.

https://doi.org/10.1111/emed.12640

Cover Photo: Monogram denier of Charlemagne and Fastrada, 1.63 g, 21 mm. Holger Hermannsen, Centre Charlemagne, Aachen

Related Articles

Archaeologists found gold coins from the time of Justinian the Great in Northern Bulgaria

3 September 2024

3 September 2024

Archaeologists have discovered five gold coins dating from the reign of Justinian the Great (483-565) in Debnevo, the largest village...

Jordan’s mysterious ancient wall “Khatt Shebib”

22 October 2022

22 October 2022

The accomplishments of ancient civilizations are typically woefully underappreciated because we stereotype them as primitives who only wore loincloths, and...

Archeologists Unearth Spectator snacks from the Roman Period in Colosseum

28 November 2022

28 November 2022

An excavation of the Colosseum’s sewer systems has uncovered a selection of spectator snacks from the Roman Period. It appears...

1st Century BCE Medusa Mask Mold Discovered in Ancient Finziade, Sicily

24 January 2025

24 January 2025

At the Finziade archaeological site in the Sicilian town of Licata, archaeologists have discovered a mask mold that could represent...

Rare Ancient Stamps Found in Falster May Show Way to an Unknown King’s Home

27 July 2023

27 July 2023

In the center of Falster, southeast of Denmark, a man with a metal detector has made an important discovery. The...

A 2900-year-old collection of fossilized shark teeth found in the City of David, one of Jerusalem’s oldest Parts

5 July 2021

5 July 2021

Scientists discovered an inexplicable collection of fossilized shark teeth at a 2900-year-old archaeological site in Jerusalem’s City of David, one...

Most important Discovery in New Zealand Archaeology: Ocean Waka

5 March 2025

5 March 2025

What began as a routine search for wood by Vincent and Nikau Dix on Rēkohu (Chatham Islands) has led to...

A 1,300-year-old necklace is the ‘richest of its type ever uncovered in Britain’

6 December 2022

6 December 2022

Museum of London Archaeology (MOLA) archaeologists have found a “once-in-a-lifetime” 1,300-year-old gold and gemstone necklace dating back to 630-670 AD...

Roman-era chambers and clay offering vessels found in Antiocheia Ancient City, in southern Turkey

24 October 2022

24 October 2022

During excavations in southern Turkey’s ancient city of Antiocheia, archaeologists discovered late Roman-era chambers and clay offering vessels. Antakya, better...

Archaeologists uncover intact 16th-century quayside in the Belgium town of Leper

24 March 2022

24 March 2022

Excavations at Leper (Ypres), located in the West Flanders province of Belgium, have uncovered a 16th-century quayside. The find was...

A 4,000-year-old treasure map of France’s

17 October 2023

17 October 2023 1

Overlooked for millennia, a rock fragment adorned with enigmatic inscriptions has emerged as a valuable “treasure map” for archaeologists. After...

Beautiful’ Water-Nymph Marble Statue Found in Amastris ancient city

8 September 2023

8 September 2023

Excavations in the ancient city of Amastris, located in the Black Sea province of Bartın’s Amasra district, have unearthed a...

40 Skeletons in Giant Jars Found in the Corsica Necropolis

16 May 2021

16 May 2021

Archaeologists working on the French island of Corsica discovered around 40 ancient graves where persons were buried inside gigantic jars...

Polish researchers reveal what ancient Egyptian faience has to do with gold

31 December 2022

31 December 2022

Powdered quartz used to make faience vessels discovered by Polish archaeologists during excavations in the ancient city of Athribis in...

A rare medieval Christogram Tattoo from Ghazali, Sudan

22 October 2023

22 October 2023

A Polish-Sudanese research team investigating the medieval African monastery of Ghazali discovered a rare medieval religious tattoo in a tomb...