OBOLE: COIN OF FRANCE
Obole, 1080-1120: County of Melgueil (France)
County of Melgueil (modern Southern France) — fief of first the Carolingian Emperor, then the King of France, and finally the Papacy during the Middle Ages.
The coin does not contain a date or any other reference to a specific historical period; therefore, it is impossible to date it clearly — therefore, different catalogs indicate different periods of minting within the 11th-13th centuries. I indicate the most probable date range from my point of view.
The primitively stylized inscription RAYMOND has been completely lost (for several centuries, these lands were ruled by counts with such names — Raymond IV, Raymond V, Raymond VI, Raymond VII...).
A stylized cross, probably formed by a combination of a crossed fascia and two battle standards (this is only one version of the description).
The primitively stylized inscription NARBONNE has been completely lost (a historic city in the South of France, in which, judging by the inscription, this obole was minted).
4 rings arranged in a cross-shaped pattern, with a dot or heraldic bezant in the center.
- Silver: 13 mm - 0.35 g
- Reference price: 21$
COIN OBOLE — WHERE & WHEN (coins catalog: by names & emitents)
- FRENCH STATES (County of Anjou, Duchy of Aquitaine, Archbishopric Arles, Lordship of Bourbon, Duchy of Brittany, Principality of Dombes, Archbishopric of Lyon, Viscounty of Narbonne, Principality of Orange, County of Provence, County of Melgueil...) + FRANCE, 8th-17th centuries: obole = 1/2 denier
OBOLE as coin name.
Obole — historical French small coin, equal to half a denier. It was issued until the 17th century inclusive.
During the early Middle Ages, an interesting situation arose in Western Europe with the naming of money (at that time, we could only talk about coins — usually small silver ones) for newly formed state formations. In some places, new unique denominations appeared, but still, for the most part, names were used that were derived either from the era of the Roman Empire (for example, the medieval denar, denier, denaro or dinero as an evolution of the Roman denomination denarius) or from Ancient Greece (as happened with obole, obolo or obulus — descendants of the Greek obol).
It was the ancient Greek heritage that probably inspired Charlemagne, who in the 8th century introduced a new coin — the obole that became popular in his newly created Carolingian Empire. Two such coins made up one denier. Later, this denomination became widespread in the lands of many French States.
Thus, the name of the coin obole is just a French-language spelling of the denomination obol, popular since ancient times. In fact, many numismatic catalogs often use the word obol for French coins of the obole denomination for simplification. I do not agree with this and consider it correct to separate this denomination into an independent full-fledged coin name, just like for the Italian obolo and the Silesian or Hungarian obulus.
