The find and the coins

Abstract

The Rådved Treasure: The find and the coins

In the spring of 1976 Mr. A. P. Tjerrild, master smith of Rådved, a village c. 7 km northwest of Horsens, had a new machine-hall built. During the work he observed various remains, and on 4th May he found a three-legged bronze pot, lying upside down in the earth, and next to it a black earthenware jug. Both objects were somewhat damaged by the heavy traffic to and from the site. The jug was full of coins and pieces of jewellery. The pot and the jug were removed with the utmost care by Mr. Tjerrild, who brought them to Bent Sylvest of Urup. Poul Kjærum, keeper of the Prehistoric Museum, Moesgård, was sent for, and he took the treasure to the Museum.

The next day Hans Jørgen Madsen, assistant keeper of the same Museum, made a small excavation at the site, but nothing could be said about the context in which the treasure was originally deposited.

A preliminary cleaning was made at the conservation department of Moesgård, where it emerged that the bronze pot covered a spherical earthenware jug, the mouth of which was protected by a glazed potsherd. Below this sherd was a folded cloth.

As treasure trove ("danefæ") the objects were taken to the National Museum in Copenhagen, where they were investigated and cleaned at the Department for Conservation of Archaeological Finds by Birthe Gottlieb. Of great importance were the X-ray photographs of the two vessels. Treasure trove is rarely the objects of such an examination, because it is usually found by non-archaeologists, who cannot withstand the temptation to take a closer look. The unusual care which Mr. Tjerrild showed when he found the objects has made the examination possible (cf. X-ray pictures p. 60-62).

The bronze pot only covered one object, a spherical pot full of coins, part of which were in a purse of bladder or gut. The coins of the jug were partly in a linen purse and partly in a purse like the one in the pot. In the upper part of the jug there were some separate coins and some pieces of silver ornaments.

The examination and conservation are described by Birthe Gottlieb on p. 61, while the silver ornaments and textiles are discussed by Fritze Lindahl (pp. 47). Niels-Knud Liebgott describes the jug, the round pot and the bronze pot, which has its origin in Stralsund (p. 40).

Roughly speaking the coins are of the same type as the ones from the great hoard of Kirial, which was found in 1967 and comprised more than 80.000 pieces (see Nordisk Numismatisk Årsskrift 1970). This hoard was deposited c. 1365. In the Rådved hoard nearly all the coins are bracteates from Northern Germany; only a few (25) are sterlings.

A preliminary survey gives the following distribution:

I Jug

Sterlings

Bracteates

Weight

a. Textile purse

23

899 21/2

377,3g

b. Bladder purse

0

499 14/2

192,0g

c. Separate at top

1

48 1/2

20,1g

Total Jug

24

1436 36/2

589,4g

The geographical origin of the North German bracteates is as follows:

 

Hamburg

Holstein

Lüneburg

Lübeck

Mecklenburg

Others

Total

1. Jug

             

a. Textile purse

529

30

81

41

150

58

889

b. Bladder purse

214

49

31

28

134

43

499

c. Separate at top

24

3

2

3

14

2

48

Spherical pot covered

             

by the bronze pot

             

a. Separate

813

103

33

23

183

58

1213

b. Bladder purse

333

52

9

9

51

64

518

Total

1913

237

156

104

532

225

3167

The complete list refers to the Kirial hoard, when the coin in question is found in that hoard, and in such cases the description is rather brief. Coins which were not found in the Kirial hoard are described in greater detail. The place of the coins in the five parts of the hoard (I Jug: a) textile purse, b) bladder purse, c) separate at top - and II Round pot covered by bronze pot: a) separate, b) bladder purse) is indicated by ciphers connected by a »+«.

The date of deposition of the Rådved treasure is probably the latter part of the 1360's. The youngest coin which can be dated with certainty is a somewhat worn sterling from Durham, c. 1351-52 (no. 19), while a hitherto unknown Continental imitation, probably an unofficial issue from the Aachen area, is perhaps a few years younger (no. 21).

There are no North German Wittens in the hoard, a coin type which was struck in rather large quantity from c. 1365, and this makes a date of deposition later than 1370 rather unlikely.

The bracteates of the Rådved hoard are often of the same types as in the Kirial hoard, and the geographical distribution is more or less the same. Most of them are from Hamburg (60.3%, as against 49% in Kirial). Of great importance are the differences, first and foremost the imitations of the Hamburg type, which are probably from Holstein (nos. 103-129), and comprise 237 pieces, c. 12% of the number of Hamburg coins. The attribution of these types is discussed; written sources from the late 1360's indicate that the towns Kiel, Flensburg (in Schleswig) and Itzehoe were striking coins, which were disliked by the Hanseatic cities of the Wendian quarter. These coins are found in other Danish hoards, too; Tved in Funen, Hornumkær near Vejle in Jutland, and Frøslev in Zealand. As the coins are not found in the Kirial hoard, which is supposed to be representative of the coins circulating in the early part of the 1360's, it is suggested that they were struck after 1365. Consequently, the hoard must have been deposited between 1365 and 1370.

Among the three other hoards mentioned above, only the one from Frøslev has Wittens. The Frøslev hoard is therefore thought to be one of the oldest hoards with Wittens.

It is argued that the Rådved treasure was deposited during the war of 1368 and 1369 between the counts of Holstein and some rebellious squires in Jutland on one side and the Danish king Valdemar IV Atterdag on the other side. It is certain that it was hidden in a hurry, because the silver ornaments were cut from the garments and placed at the top of the jug. The original owner may have lived at the manor of Rådved, which is mentioned in the 14th Century (from 1355 on). The manor may have belonged to the king in 1368, but it is not known for certain.

The treasure was equivalent to c. 17 Lübeck mark. We do not know too much about Danish worth and prices in the 14th Century, but the amount is comparable to the one which the town church of Assens in Funen had in cash in the 1370's (which is seen from the annual church accounts, the oldest ones preserved in Denmark).

Jørgen Steen Jensen