D.

Nicol Simon Bendall

Anna of Savoy in Thessalonica : the numismatic evidence

In: Revue numismatique, 6e srie - Tome 19, anne 1977 pp. 87-102.

Rsum 4 4b 10 12 13 14 Abstract 4 4b 10 12 13 14

Citer ce document / Cite this document : Nicol D., Bendall Simon. Anna of Savoy in Thessalonica : the numismatic evidence. In: Revue numismatique, 6e srie - Tome 19, anne 1977 pp. 87-102. doi : 10.3406/numi.1977.1764 http://www.persee.fr/web/revues/home/prescript/article/numi_0484-8942_1977_num_6_19_1764

D.

NIGOL and

S. BENDALL

ANNA OF SAVOY IN THESSALONICA THE NUMISMATIC EVIDENCE (PL IX)

A hoard of eight copper coins found at or near Pella in the mid-1960s has thrown new light on the history of Thessalonica in the middle years of the fourteenth century and necessitated the reconsideration of Longuet's "Salonica" hoard. The Historical Background. John V Palaiologos became heir to the Byzantine throne when his father Andronikos III died in June 1341. He was barely nine years old. The regency was disputed between his late father's friend and counsellor, John Cantacuzene, and the Patriarch of Constantinople, John Kalekas, who had the support of the widowed Empress and mother of John V, Anna of Savoy. John Cantacuzene felt compelled to fight for what he believed to be his rights. But his action provoked widespread rebellion in the cities of Thrace and Macedonia. In Thessalonica it took the form of an uprising against the ruling aristocracy led by a faction calling themselves the Zealots, who seized power in the summer of 1342. They professed loyalty to the house of Palaiologos and the Emperor John V and they denied the claims of Cantacuzene. But in effect they ruled Thessalonica as a virtually independent commune. John Cantacuzene, after a war lasting almost six years, finally fought his way into Constantinople in February 1347. The Empress Anna of Savoy yielded ; the Patriarch was deposed; and it was agreed that the young John V should reign together as co-Emperor with John Cantacuzene. Cantacuzene

88

D. NICOL AND S. BENDALL

was crowned as John VI by a new Patriarch in Constantinople in May 1347 and gave his daughter in marriage to John V.1 The Zealot regime in Thessalonica lasted for another three years. In the summer of 1350 its leaders, Alexios Metochites and Andrew Palaiologos, fell out among themselves. The die-hard Zealots then abandoned their show of loyalty to the Emperor John V and negotiated the surrender of their city to Stephen Duan of Serbia, who had assumed the name of Emperor in 1346 and at whose court Andrew Palaiologos had taken refuge. Duan, whose armies had already overrun most of Macedonia, now laid siege to Thessalonica.2 The news of these events was brought to John Cantacuzene in Constantinople by Alexios Metochites and his supporters, with an urgent plea for help lest Thessalonica should fall to the Serbians and the Empire be 'deprived of the sight of one of its eyes'. Cantacuzene at once prepared an expedition to go to the rescue of the city, calling for assistance from his son-in-law Orchan, emir of Bithynia, who provided a large force of cavalry. Cantacuzene himself went by ship, leaving Constantinople in September 1350. He took with him his other son-in-law, the co-Emperor John V; for he intended, once he had taken control of Thessalonica, to instal John as its ruler. The Empress Anna of Savoy disputed the wisdom of this plan. Her son was only eighteen years old. But Cantacuzene assured her that John's presence in Thessalonica might deter potential traitors from betraying the city to the Serbians during the winter, until such time as he himself returned there in the spring with a larger garrison.3 The expedition was a success, despite the defection of Cantacuzene's Turkish allies. Cantacuzene fought his way into Thessalonica from the sea. There was little opposition. Many of the inhabitants seem to have welcomed the arrival of 'the two Emperors', John V and John VI. The ringleaders of the Zealot faction were arrested and deported to Constantinople or sent into exile. The Serbian troops, who had been powerless to prevent a landing from the sea, lifted their siege of the city and withdrew. 1. General accounts of these events are given by G. Ostrogorsky, History of the Byzantine State (Oxford, 1968), pp. 509-22; D. M. Nicol, The Last Centuries of Byzantium, 1261-14-53 (London, 1972), pp. 191-223. 2. John Cantacuzenus, Historiae, ed. L. Schopen, III (Bonn, 1832), pp. 104-5, 108-10. 3. Cantacuzenus, III, pp. 112-14.

ANNA OF SAVOY IN THESSALONICA

89

Gantacuzene stayed in Thessalonica for nearly three months. During that time he recovered much lost ground from the Serbians, including the cities of Berroia and Edessa. Stephen Duan was so disturbed by the turn of events that he sent an embassy to negotiate and arrived in person to discuss terms with his former friend and protg John Cantacuzene at a meeting near Thessal onica. The set-back to Dusan's ambition was indeed only momentary, for he returned to the attack as soon as Cantacuzene had gone, recapturing Edessa.4 Even in Thessalonica the situation was far from stable. Gantacuzene went back to Constantinople about the end of December 1350 leaving John V as Emperor in Thessalonica under the guardianship of his elderly relative Andronikos Asen.5 John was Emperor only in name, with no realm or province and only a shadow of authority. It was easy for his less scrupulous adherents to foster his discontent and urge him to fight for his full rights as legitimate heir to the throne, thus precipitating a new round in the struggle for power between Palaiologoi and Cantacuzenes. They succeeded in detaching him from the tutelage of Andronikos Asen, who was sent off to Constantinople. They advised him to enlist the support of Stephen Duan. It was even proposed that he should divorce his Cantacuzene wife and marry Dusan's sister-in-law. The news of these developments was brought to Cantacuzene by Andronikos Asen in July 1351. At that moment the Emperor was wholly engaged in war against the Genoese. He had originally intended to return to Thessalonica in the spring of 1351 but events in Constantinople continued to make it imposs ible for him to leave the capital. He therefore begged the Empress Anna of Savoy to go to Thessalonica in his place, to reason with her son and above all to put a stop to his dangerous

4. Cantacuzenus, III, pp. 114-62. Nikephoros Gregoras, Byzantina Historia, ed. L. Schopen, II (Bonn, 1830), pp. 876-7. P. Schreiner, 'La chronique brve de 1352. Texte, traduction et commentaire. Quatrime partie', Orientalia Christiana Periodica, XXXIV (1968), 52, pp. 29-30,^46-9; idem, Die byzantinischen Kleinchroniken, I: Einleitung und Text (= Corpus Fontium Historiae Byzantinae, XII/1: Vienna, 1975), p. 86. Nicol, op. cit., pp. 235-7. 5. Cantacuzenus, III, p. 160. Andronikos Asen, the second son of John III Asen of Bulgaria, was the father-in-law of John VI Cantacuzene and the grandfather of Helena, John V's wife. Prosopographisches Lexikon der Palaiologenzeit, I, ed. E. Trapp (Vienna, 1976), no. 1489, p. 138. Cf. E. Trapp. 'Beitrge zu Genealogie der Asanen in Byzanz', Jahrbuch der sterreichischen Byzantinistik, XXV (1976), pp. 163-77, especially 167, 168, 177.

90

D. NICOL AND S. BENDALL

negotiations with the Serbians. Anna of Savoy, who had plenty of political and diplomatic experience, having governed Constant inople during the years of civil war between 1341 and 1347, derived some satisfaction from reminding Cantacuzene that she had always said that it would be a mistake to leave her young son alone in Thessalonica at the mercy of ambitious intriguers. But she was prepared to do her best to rectify the consequences of that mistake.6 She arrived there to find that the plot was already far advanced. Duan was encamped near the city with his army. A party within Thessalonica was ready and eager to admit him, ostensibly as the champion of the disprized John V. Anna rose to the occasion in true imperial style. She reprimanded her son and those who had led him astray and herself went out to the Serbian camp to harangue Duan and his wife and persuaded them to withdraw their ill-judged offer of support.7 It was a diplomatic triumph worthy of a great Empress and it marked the beginning of a new phase in Anna's career, as well as in that of her son and in the history of Thessalonica. Anna never went back to Constant inoplethereafter. For some fourteen years, from 1351 until her death about 1365, she reigned as Empress in Thessalonica. The city was her 'portion' of Empire. Under the new arrangements made to prevent a further outbreak of civil war, Cantacuzene allotted Anna's son John V a portion over which he too could rule as Emperor in fact as well as in name. He was granted jurisdiction over the port of Ainos in Thrace, at the mouth of the Marica river, and the towns of the Thracian Chalcidice. He left Thessalonica in January 1352 and reached Constantinople in the first half of February.8 Thus for about six months, from August 1351 to January 1352, Anna of Savoy and her son John V reigned together in Thessalonica. One document survives to testify to this short period in the career 6. Cantacuzenus, III, pp. 200-07. Gregoras, III (Bonn, 1855), pp. 147-9. 7. Cantacuzenus, III, pp. 207-09. These events are analysed by Schreiner. 'La chronique brve...' (note 4 above), pp. 57-61. Cf. Nicol, op. cit., pp. 244-5, 8. Cantacuzenus, III, pp. 208, 237-8. Gregoras, III, p. 149, defines John V's portion as 'the towns west of Selymbria'. Chalcidice in this context must mean not the peninsula of Chalcidice in Macedonia but the district of Thrace which is elsewhere so called by Cantacuzene, of which Xanthe, Komotine and Gratianoupolis were among the principal towns. Cf. P. Lemerle, Vmiral Aydin. Byzance el VOccident (Paris, 1957), p. 170, n. 6; Catherine Asdracha, La Rgion des Rhodopes aux XIIIe et XIVe sicles. tudes de gographie historique (Athens, 1976), pp. 93ff.

ANNA OF SAVOY IN THESSALONICA

91

of John V. It is an imperial decree (prostagma) issued and signed by him as Emperor from Thessalonica in December 1351. 9 John V stayed only about a month in Constantinople before making for his new principality in Thrace, to which his father-inlaw had now added the city of Didymoteichon. It was not long before hostilities broke out between him and Gantacuzene's son Matthew who held the nearby city of Adrianople; and as a result, early in 1353, Cantacuzene felt obliged to remove John V and his family from Thrace and to settle them on the island of Tenedos. From here, in the middle of March 1353, John made a desperate but vain attempt to storm his way into Constantinople. He retired to Tenedos, collected his wife and family and sailed for Thessalonica to be comforted by his mother Anna.10 It is not clear how long he remained with her, but he was back in Tenedos possibly by November 1353, certainly by the beginning of 1354. John Cantacuzene now thought that he had been patient enough and that he had been given the pretext to disinherit John V and to proclaim his own son Matthew as Emperor in his place. The proclamation ceremony was held in April 1353; and though the name of John V was officially deleted, it was decreed that the names of his mother Anna as Empress and of his infant son Andronikos as Emperor should continue to be commemorated.11 John V therefore resided with his mother Anna in Thessalonica for two short periods: first, from August 1351 to January 1352, as an Emperor acknowledged by his senior colleague; second, from March to perhaps the end of 1353, as a refugee whose imperial title had been taken from him. In November 1354 he was to right what he and his supporters considered to be this wrong by staging a second and this time successful attempt to enter Constantinople from Tenedos. Less than a month later John VI Cantacuzene abdicated and John V Palaiologos became Emperor in the full sense of the word.12 9. Greek text with exhaustive commentary in A. K. Eszer, Das abenteuerliche Leben des Johannes Laskaris Kalopheros (Wiesbaden, 1969), pp. 162-6. 10. Cantacuzenus, III, pp. 237-56. Gregoras, III, pp. 92-9, 147-72, 176-83. Nicol, op. cit., pp. 245-6; idem, The Byzantine Family of Kanlakouzenos (Cantacuzenus) ca. 1100-1460 (Dumbarton Oaks Studies, XI: Washington, D.C., 1968), pp. 79-81. 11. Cantacuzenus, III, pp. 256-70. Gregoras, HI, pp. 187-8. Nicol, Last Centuries of Byzantium, pp. 246-7. 12. Cantacuzenus, III, pp. 284-308. Gregoras III, pp. 241-4. Nicol, op. cit., pp. 250-53. On the exact date of John Cantacuzene's abdication (9 December 1354) see most recently A. Failler, 'Nouvelle note sur la chronologie du rgne de Jean Cantacuzene', Bvue des tudes byzantines, XXXIV (1976), pp. 119-24.

92

D. NICOL AND S. BENDALL

His mother Anna remained in Thessalonica. During the troubled years between 1352 and 1354, when relationships between her son and his father-in-law were at their most strained, Nicholas Kabasilas, who had a foot in both camps, composed a Eulogy of Anna which he addressed to her in Thessalonica.13 He praises her, among other things, for having restored peace and tranquillity to his own native city, which she now rules with imperial authority (kratos) as her appanage or portion (meros) of the Empire. For him, as for all the natives of Thessalonica and its suburbs (which Kabasilas rather optimistically calls 'Macedonia'), she is 'the Empress' (megist basilis).u During her years as regent in Constantinople Anna had been styled as Augusta and Autokratorissa; such was the legend on her seals of office.15 The evidence suggests that she retained her style and title in Thessalonica after 1351. She was not the first imperial lady to do so. Other Empresses of the fourteenth century had preferred Thessalonica to Constantinople. Eirene of Montferrat, the second wife of Andronikos II, held court there from 1303 until her death in 1317, running her own chancellery and issuing imperial ordinances. So also did Rita-Maria, the wife of Michael IX, who spent her widowhood from 1320 to 1333 in Thessalonica as a somewhat worldly nun with the name of Xene.16 Only two reminders of the personal reign of Anna of Savoy in Thessalonica seem to have survived. One is an inscription in a gateway in the acropolis of the city recording its construction by 13. M. Jugie, 'Nicolas Cabasilas, Pangyriques indits de Mathieu Cantacuzne et d'Anne Palologine', Izvestija russkago archeologieskago Instituta v Konstantinopole, XV (1911), pp. 112-21 (Greek text: pp. 118-21). The end of the text, missing from the manuscript edited by Jugie (Bibl. Nat. gr. 1213) is printed (from Cod. Meteor. Barlaam 202) by V. Laurent, in Hellenika, IX (1936), pp. 203-04. Cf. R.-J. Loenertz, 'Chronologie de Nicolas Cabasilas 1345-1354', Orientalia Christiana Periodica, XXI (1955), pp. 205-31, especially 216-20, 224-6 (reprinted in Loenertz, Byzantina et Franco- Graeca (Rome, 1970), pp. 303-28 (especially 313-16, 320-2)). 14. Jugie, op. cit., pp. 118-19; Loenertz, op. cit., p. 225 (321-2). On Anna's reign in Thessalonica see also F. Barii, 'Povelje vizantijskich carica (Les chartes des impratrices byzantines)', Zbornik Radova Vizantolokog Instituta, XIII (1971), pp. 143-202, especially 180-2. On the apportionment of appanages to members of the imperial family in the fourteenth century, see J. W. Barker, 'The problem of appanages in Byzantium during the Palaiologan period', Byzantina, III (Thessalonike, 1971), pp. 103-22; Lj. Maksimovi, 'Geneza i karakter apanaa u Vizantiji (Gense et caractre des apanages dans l'empire byzantin)', Zbornik Radova Viz. Inst., XIV/XV (1973), pp. 103-54. 15. F. Dlger, 'Zum Kaisertum der Anna von Savoyen', Byzantinische Zeitschrift, XXXVIII (1938), pp. 193-6 (reprinted in Dlger, PARASPORA (Ettal, 1961), pp. 208-21). Bariic, op. cit., p. 180. 16. Bariic, op. cit., pp. 158-165, 165-75.

ANNA OF SAVOY IN THESSALONICA

93

decree (horismos) of the despoina Anna Palaiologina in 1355.17 The other is a reference in a later document to the decree (horismos) by which, probably in 1360, she made a donation to the monastery of the Anargyroi in Thessalonica.18 Anna died there about 1365. The long-cherished belief that she died as an initiate of the third order of Franciscans, and further that she was buried at Assisi, is no more than a pious myth generated by hopeful western historians.19 Were it true, Anna Palaiologina of Savoy would hardly receive the honourable mention that she does in the Synodikon of Orthodoxy. It is clear that she died in Thessalonica as an Orthodox nun with the name of Anastasia.20 The Coins. Before turning attention to the new "Pella" hoard, it is necessary to reconsider the "Salonica" hoard. The "Salonica" hoard, comprising 73 late Byzantine copper coins, was found near Salonica in about 1937 and was unfortunately lost during the second world war. It was published from his remaining notes by H. Longuet in the Revue Belge de Numismatique for I960.21

17. . Tafrali, Topographie de Thessalonique (Paris, 1913), p. 49. Text re-edited by Loenertz, op. cit., pp. 217-18 (314-15). Bariic, op. cit., p. 181. On the meaning of the term horismos, see F. Dlger and J. Karayannopulos, Byzantinische Urkundenlehre, I: Die Kaiserurkunden (Munich, 1968), pp. 109-12. 18. P. Lemerle, 'Autour d'un prostagma indit de Manuel II. L'aul de Sire Guy Thessalonique', Silloge Bizantina in onore di Silvio Giuseppe Mercati (= Studi Bizantini e Neoellenici, IX: Rome, 1957), pp. 271-86, especially 274-6; G. T. Dennis, The Reign of Manuel II Palaeologus in Thessalonica, 1382-1387 (Orientalia Christiana Analecta, 159: Rome, 1960), p. 101; Barii, op. cit., pp. 181-2. 19. Cf. G. Golubovich, Biblioteca bio-bibliografica dlia Terra Santa e dell'Oriente francescano, III (Quaracchi, 1919), pp. 291ff.; IV, p. 262; D. Muratore, Una principessa sabauda sul trono di Bizanzio Giovanna di Savoia, impratrice Anna Palaeologina (Chambry, 1906), pp. 243ff.; O. Halecki, Un empereur de Byzance Rome (Warsaw, 1930; reprinted London, 1972), p. 43. 20. This was first observed by G. Mercati, Notizie di Procoro e Demetrio Cidone, Manuele Caleca e Teodoro Meliteniota (Studi e Testi, 56: Vatican City, 1931), p. 150, n. 4. The text of the Synodikon concerning Anna is printed in J. Gouillard, 'Le Synodikon de l'Orthodoxie, dition et commentaire', Travaux et Mmoires, II (1967), pp. 100-103, lines 869-73. That Anna died in Thessalonica is confirmed by a letter of Demetrios Kydones, ed. R.-J. Loenertz, Demetrius Cydons, Correspondance, I (Studi e Testi, 186: Vatican City, 1956), p. 128, no. 94 line 17f. For the date of her death see Loenertz, 'Nicolas Cabasilas...', pp. 218-19, 224-6. 21. H. Longuet, 'Une trouvaille de monnaies des Palaologues', Revue Belge de Numismatique, vol. CVI, 1960, pp. 243-266.

94

D. NICOL AND S. BENDALL The "Salonica" Hoard. After reconsideration. Andronicus II Andronicus III Andronicus III Andronicus II (Gerasimov 1969, 3822) Andronicus III Andronicus III Andronicus III (Gerasimov 1969, 40/4123) Andronicus III Andronicus II (Gerasimov 1969, 1824) Anna and John V Andronicus III and John V Possibly the same as No. 10. Andronicus III (Gerasimov 1969, 3625) Andronicus III Andronicus III } the same type Andronicus III

After Longuet. Type li 2i 2 42 51 6i 710 8i 91 10 Anna and John VI II4 121 John V and VI 136 \ Andronicus III

143 i 155 f I61 John V, after 1354 171 183 Andronicus III 197 J Andronicus III Uncertain 201 Michael VIII and Andronicus II 20-37 (R. 223426; Bertel, Dossier27). 211 Andronicus II 22-37 Uncertain. The indices represent the number of specimens of each type present in the hoard. 22. T. Gerassimov, 'Monnaies des Palologues avec des reprsentations d'toiles', Byzantinobulgarica III, Sofia, 1969 pp. 23. T. Gerassimov, op. cit. 24. T. Gerassimov, op. cit. 25. T. Gerassimov, op. cit. 26. R. Ratto, 'Monnaies Byzantines et d'autres pays contemporaines l'poque Byzantine', Lugano, 1930. 27. T. Bertel, Dossier An album kept by Bertel containing photographs of his own coins, those in certain museum collections and certain private collections or catalogues. Photocopies exist in the British Museum, the Bibliothque Nationale and the Hermitage, Leningrad.

ANNA OF SAVOY IN THESSALONICA

95

As can be seen from the above table, Longuet, with the general date of the coins fixed in the mid-fourteenth century by their style and content, was able to give a more accurate assessment basing his arguments on the fact that a certain number of coins were overstruck on coins of John Orsini, despot of Epirus (13231328), and the fact that he judged type 10 to belong to Anna of Savoy and John VI and types 11 and 12 to John V and VI. Thus Longuet considered that the coins in the hoard covered the period v. 1328-c. 1360. However, it can now be seen that while correct in essence, Longuet erred in detail. Type 20. This appears to represent R.2234 which Bertel has shown in an appendix to the French translation of Lineamenti entitled 'Le co-empereur sur les monnaies des Palologues'28 to be an issue of Michael VIII and Andronicus II. It could there fore date from as early as 1272. Types 1, 4, 9 and 21 are all issues of Andronicus II. Nos. 4 and 9 were published as such by Gerasimov, while No. 1 is placed under Andronicus II in Dumbarton Oaks' trays. Type 10 cannot be an issue of Anna and John VI for at no time were the political arrangements such that these two could appear together without John V. This coin must represent Anna and John V and thus date to 1341/2. Type 12 was, judging from the illustration, struck weakly on an irregular flan. The design is exactly similar to No. 10. The crown of the left hand figure is the only feature which could determine whether the two types are the same, and it is too poorly preserved to make a judgement. Type 11 depicts a large and a small emperor. Longuet21 and Bertel29 considered them to be John V and VI. This cannot be so for a variety of reasons. John V and VI do not appear together on the coinage until after the end of the civil war in 1347. By that time, however, John V was a man and appears on the Gonstantinopolitan coins as a similar size as John VI. Also, a coin of John V and VI could not have been struck in

28. T. Bertel, Numismatique byzantine, d. fr. mise jour et ill., par C. Morrisson, d. Numismatique Romaine, Wetteren, 1978 pp. 142/3. 29. T. Bertel, 'L'imperatore Alato nella Numismatica Bizantina', Rome, 1951, p. 37, no. 62.

96

D. NICOL AND S. BENDALL

Thessalonica between 1342 and 1350 as the city was in the hands of the Zealots who were nominally anti-Cantacuzene and would not have placed his portrait on the coinage. In fact there seems little doubt that there was a cessation of minting under the Zealot rule. There are contenders for the post-1352 issues of Thessalonica in the "Pella" hoard and under these circumstances the representation of an adult and a child can only refer to Andronicus III and John V and thus date to 1340. Protonotarios has shown30 that there is indirect literary evidence that John V held the legal status of ftaodev during his father's lifetime. For this and other reasons, Protonotarios postulates that all the gold and silver coins struck at Constant inople showing Andronicus III with John V and Anna of Savoy were in fact issued in Andronicus Ill's lifetime, so that the appearance of John V on his father's coins should not provoke comment. Types 2, 3, 5-8 and 13-19 remain as issues of Andronicus III. Thus the hoard now commences with a single issue of Michael VIII and Andronicus II, continues with four types of Andronicus II and slowly swells to a peak with the bulk of the issues belonging to Andronicus III, including four of his last type with John V, and ends with one or two specimens of the first issue of John V with his mother. The reason for the closure of the hoard at this point is not hard to seek the Zealot revolt of 1342. The various overstrikes do not disturb the new arrangement. Types 2 and 3 are overstruck on coins of Andronicus II and Michael IX (1294-1320); type 13 is overstruck possibly on types 3 and 4 (?) and on coins of John Orsini (1323-1335), as is No. 14. Longuet did note that one specimen of type 11 was overstruck on type 10. Fortunately he illustrated all four specimens of type 11 and prolonged scrutiny of them does not reveal any features of type 10. Longuet also noted that type 4 was very similar to a coin of Michael Shishman (1323-1330). As it will not be doubted that the Bulgarians copied the Byzantine coinage and not viceversa, it is much more reasonable to have the prototype (type 4) moved back a reign, thus allowing a longer period for the transmission of the design. 30. P. Protonotarios, RN, supra pp. 80-81.

ANNA OF SAVOY IN THESSALONICA DESCRIPTION OF PELLA HOARD

97

1. Stamena. Obv. No legend. Emperor, wearing stemma, divitision and loros, riding on horseback to right; holding sceptre cruciger in right hand; in left field, star in right field. Rev. St. Demetrius, wearing tunic, breastplate and sagion, riding on horseback to right; two stars in upper field and an uncertain feature to right. Weight 1.81 gm&. Note The feature on the right-hand side of the reverse seems to be composed of irregular vertical lines and perhaps represents a gate or the walls of Thessalonica. The obverse is similar to Nos. 7 and 8 in Longuet's "Salonica Hoard". A second specimen is in the Ashmolean Museum. Plate IX, 1. 2. Stamena. Obv. No legend. Full length figures of emperor, left, and empress, right; between them, a star descending from a cloud above, Emperor and empress wear stemma, divitision and loros, and holding sceptres in right and left hands respectively; star in lower centre field; floral ornaments to left and right. Rev. St. Demetrius, beardless and nimbate, standing, wearing tunic, breastplate and sagion; holds spear in right hand and shield in left; star in right field; floral ornaments to right and left. Weight a. 1.12 gms. b. 1.16 gms. Note This type is not dissimilar in general design to a copper coin found in the excavations at Olynthus (Olynthus 966) 31. Plate IX, 4A and 4B. 3. Stamena. Obv. Full length figure of empress standing, wearing stemma, divitision and loros, holding in right hand sceptre cruciger, and in left, a model of city with towers; to left, g; to right g; above right, Manus Dei descending from cloud. Rev. Full length figure of John V, wearing stemma, divitision and loros, holding in right hand, labarum headed sceptre, and in left, anexikakia; to left, g, and star; to right, two stars. Weight 1.09 gms. Plate IX, 5. 31. D. M. Robinson, Excavation at Olynthos, Part III, 1931:

98

D. NICOL AND S. BENDALL

4. Stamena. Obv. Full length figure of empress, wearing stemma, divitision and loros; holding in right hand, sceptre, and in left, a model of city with towers; in lower right field, f\ . Rev. Full length figure of emperor, wearing stemma, divitision and loros; holding in right hand, anexikakia, and in left, labarum headed sceptre; in left field, ; above left, Manus Dei appearing frcm cloud. Weight 2.00 gms. Plate IX, 6. 5. Stamena. Obv. Full length figure of empress, wearing stemma, divitision and loros; holding in right hand, a model of city with towers, and in left, sceptre cruciger; in right field, two stars; in lower left field, f\ ; above left, Manus Dei appearing from cloud. Rev. Full length figure of emperor, wearing stemma, divitision and loros; holding in right hand, labarum headed sceptre, and in left, anexikakia; in left field, g ; in right field, two stars and g ; above right, Manus Dei appearing from cloud. Weight 1.03 gms. Plate IX, 7. 6. Stamena. Obv. Full length figure of empress, wearing stemma, divitision and loros; holding in right hand, a model of city with towers, and in left, sceptre; in left field, two ( ?) stars; in right field, pj. Rev. Full length figure of emperor, wearing stemma, divitision and loros; holding in right hand, sceptre cruciger, and in left, anexi kakia; in left field, g ; above right, Manus Dei appearing from cloud. Weight 1.22 gms. Plate IX, 8. 7. Stamena. Obv. Full length figure of empress, wearing stemma, loros; holding in right hand, a model of city with left, a sceptre; in left and right fields ft. Rev. Full length figure of emperor, wearing stemma, loros; holding in right hand, anexikakia, and in above left, Manus Dei appearing from cloud. Weight 1.38 gms. Note This type is found overstruck on John V and Anna Plate IX, 9. divitision and towers, and in divitision and left a sceptre; No. 2.

ANNA OF SAVOY IN THESSALONICA INTERPRETATION OF THE "PELLA" HOARD

99

The earliest and most worn coin in the hoard is that depicting the emperor on horseback (pi. IX, 1). The obverse is so similar to types 7 and 8 in the "Salonica" hoard (pi. IX, 2 and 3), that the identification of this coin as an issue of Andronicus III cannot be in doubt. The subsequent types are not only more freshly preserved but of a quite different form and style. All show an emperor and empress together on type 2 (pi. IX, 4) and on opposite sides of the coins on the subsequent five issues (pi. IX, 5-9). The overall style is cruder than on the earlier coins, with features of the emperor seemingly copied from Venetian grossi of the first half of the fourteenth century, or perhaps from Serbian silver coins of the same period. The emperor has a small short beard, downturned moustache and a stemma in the form of a small round skull cap (kamelaukion) instead of the wide flat crown of the earlier Palaeologan period. The Palaeologan has also changed to the square form: E. These features seem to indicate that a gap in product ion rather than a gradual development occured in the coinage. The interesting feature of types 3-7 is that the empress is the senior of the two figures. While the emperor is only identified by the Palaeologan "badge", the empress has the letter A identifying her on four of the types, and also holds a model of the city of Thessalonica, an attribute which had always been the particular preserve of the city's rulers since Theodore Comnenus-Ducas. These five types must postdate type 2 where the emperor and empress stand side by side, as types 5 and 7 are overstruck on type 2. The history of Thessalonica provides the answers which allow us to attribute the coins of the "Pella" hoard. The change in style represents the hiatus caused by the Zealot revolt, for it is almost certain that there were no coins struck in Thessalonica between 1342 and 1350. It is hard to escape the supposition that the A identifies the empress, standing perhaps both for Anna and Augusta or Autokratorissa, while the emperor John V is anonymous as the identity of the sole ruler of the empire would not have been in doubt. Thus the period of issue for types 3-7 should be between December 1354 and Anna's death in 1365. Type 2 must therefore predate December 1354 but postdate the summer of 1351 when John VI despatched Anna to Thessalonica. To the authors it seems likely that this type must have been issued between August 1351 and January 1352 when Anna of Savoy and her son reigned together in Thessalonica.

100

D. NICOL AND S. BENDALL

APPENDIX There are a number of public and private collections containing coins of the reign of Anna of Savoy in Thessalonica which are comparable to, but different from, those in the Pella hoard. These are listed below. Nos. A-G depict Anna on the obverse and John V on the reverse, similar to Pella hoard nos. 3-7. Type D has a similar figure of Anna on the obverse but two nimbate figures on the reverse. The final type E is somewhat dissimilar in style and content but linked to the others in having an empress on one side and an emperor on the other. It is not certain that this coin represents Anna of Savoy and John V but the type is included here for the sake of completeness. Type A. Obv. Full length figure of empress, wearing stemma, divitision and loros; holding in right hand, a model of a city with towers, and in left, a sceptre ; in right and left fields, f\. Rev. Full length figure of emperor, wearing stemma, divitision and loros; holding in right hand, sceptre cruciger, and in left, anexakakia; above right, Manus Dei appearing from cloud. Ref. . Coll. BM. ; DO. Plate IX, 10. Type B. Obv. Full length figure of empress, wearing stemma, divitision and loros; holding in right hand, a model of a city with towers, and in left, sceptre; a star (?) in lower left field.

ANNA OF SAVOY IN THESSALONICA

101

Rev. Full length figure of emperor, wearing stemma, divitision and loros; holding in right hand, labarum headed sceptre, and in left, anexikakia; g in left field; two stars in right field. Ref. Coll. DO. Plate IX, 11. Note. The flan of this coin is rather small and has been clipped, so that parts of the design may be missing. (Courtesy of the Dumbarton Oaks Collection, Washington, D.C.). Type Obv. Full length figure of empress, wearing stemma, divitision and loros; holding in right hand, a model of city with towers, and in left, sceptre ; in left field, f\; in right field, a cross (?). Rev. Full length figure of emperor, wearing stemma, divitision and loros; holding in right hand, sceptre cruciger, and in left, anexikakia; above right, Manus Dei appearing from clouds. Rf. Bertel, Dossier (Osman Bey Collection). Note. It is possible that the cross in the right obverse field is in fact another f\, and that the obverse is therefore the same as on type 5. Type D. Obv. Full length figure of empress, wearing stemma, divitision and loros; holding in right hand, anexikakia or model of city, and in left, sceptre; in left field, . Rev. Two standing nimbate figures; both hold a spear in their right hands (?); above, a cloud, from which descend two Manus Dei (?). Ref. . Coll. BM. Plate IX, 12. .

102 Type E.

D. NICOL AND S. BENDALL

Obv. Full length figure of emperor facing on left, wearing stemma, divitision and loros; holding in right hand, sceptre. On right, full length nimbate figure standing facing left, wearing military costume (St. Demetrius?), holding long cross before him. Rev. Full length figure of empress, wearing stemma, divitision and loros; standing beneath an arched canopy; stars in inner field. Ref. . Plate IX, 13 and 14.