The Norman-Swabian state “in hac civitate Neapolis”: sovereign, institutions, mint and coins

Abstract

After having attributed the coins introduced by Roger II's reform (1140) to the mint of Naples and after having proposed a classification of the coins produced in this mint during the reign of Frederick II in some recent studies, it seemed appropriate to contextualise the elusive ins-titutional role of Naples between the 12th and 13th centuries, since local monetary production could not ignore a prominent role within the Kingdom of Sicily. This study, which begins by commenting on the current state of the art regarding Norman and Swabian coinage and denouncing its total in-consistency, then develops through a bibliographical reconstruction, which takes into account nu-merous recently identified sources, as well as through the critical analysis of the structural ele-ments of two diplomas relating to the period under examination. The examination of the materials fully certifies the institutional presence of the Norman-Swabian state in the city of Naples, almost ignored, like the coinage, by the reference bibliography. In particular, the study focuses on the evo-lution between the time of Roger II, when the city was already pre-eminent over the others on the continental part (1130), and the time of Frederick II, when the city had already risen to the status of capital and seat of all possible institutions, illustrating at the same time the authenticity of the sour-ces transcribed in the appendix, which have given us the original archival signature of the Great Archive of Naples, hitherto unknown to the collations of Norman and Swabian diplomas. From them we deduce the presence of the treasury and the chancellery in Naples, institutions that represent the two main terms of connection between the exercise of the sovereign's power and local mone-tary production, as well as fundamental data for the period. From the former in particular, albeit exegetically, we deduce the production of tarì, which are expressed in marabottini, gold coins not yet documented for Naples in the Norman era. Finally, two tables, one for each period, analytically summarize the presence of sovereigns, institutions, the mint and coins.