THE MANCUSES ISSUED IN THE NAME OF THE ḤAMMŪDID CALIPHS: A CORDOBA–BARCELONA–KYIV CONNECTION. NEW PERSPECTIVES

Abstract

The aim of this study is to provide a new perspective on the Barcelona mancuses minted in the name of the Ḥammūdid caliphs of al-Andalus, in the 5th/11th century. It has traditionally been thought that both their dates and the choice of the types they imitate were random and that they were minted in response to mere economic issues. However, by considering the chronology of the model types and analyzing them in their unique historical context in which, unlike other Christian powers that issued imitation coins, the counts of Barcelona were vassals to the caliphs of Cordoba, we can conclude that neither the choice of model types nor the dates and known mint names are “the result of a whim”, as some have stated, but rather that they responded to the policy of alliances of the counts of Barcelona with the different powers of al-Andalus. They represent evidence of the recognition of the sovereignty of the Ḥammūdid caliphs, a recognition which has, at the very least, a legitimating value. Lastly, the coin hoards prove that the mancuses circulated not only in the territory of present-day Catalonia (the treasure of Odena), but also beyond its borders. This is evidenced by the treasure of Kyiv, which may well be a reflection of the relations between the Sephardic communities and those of the principality of Kyiv at a time when the interest in the ancient Khazar kingdom is reflected in the literature produced in Sepharad.