Ravenna coins catalog
Archbishopric of Ravenna
The oldest find indicating the presence of
Christians in the Ravenna area is an inscription on a funeral
stele found in Classe and dating back to the end of the 2nd
century. Probably the first Christians in the Ravenna area were
naval soldiers recruited in the countries of early
Christianization, that is, in the Middle East. The first bishop
whose existence is reliably established is Severus, who
participated in the Council of Sardica in 343.
The diocese was located in Classe from its founding until the
election of Ravenna as the capital of the Roman Empire (402). In
anticipation of the transfer of the imperial court, construction
of a new cathedral began. Built in the city center, it was
consecrated on April 3, 407 and dedicated to the Resurrection of
Jesus.
Pope Celestine I (422-432) elevated the throne of Ravenna to the
metropolis. The first metropolitan was San Pietro Crisologo
(433-450). At the end of the 5th century, the metropolis of
Ravenna extended its jurisdiction to all the bishops of western
Emilia. Ravenna was one of the three metropolitan centers of
northern Italy, along with Milan and Aquileia. The Bishop of
Ravenna received his consecration directly from the Bishop of
Rome, but the popes respected the traditional autonomy of
Ravenna - the clergy of Ravenna themselves chose the new
archbishop.
In 540, the Archdiocese of Ravenna was liberated from the
Ostrogoths. Considered by the emperors to be a stronghold of the
Orthodox faith, located on the border with territories where
Arianism was still widespread, in 546 Ravenna was elevated to
the rank of archbishopric. In 554, Justinian appointed Ravenna
as the capital of the Byzantine possessions in Italy.
The increased importance of Ravenna caused some concern in Rome.
In 569/70, Pope Benedict I broke for the first time the ancient
custom by which the clergy of Ravenna chose the archbishop by
appointing the Roman prelate John.
In the Exarchate of Italy (c. 584), Ravenna was the capital. The
administration was headed by an exarch, appointed directly by
the emperor. Constantinople also gave the archbishop important
civil powers, such as control of city finances, weights and
measures, annona, and full civil and criminal jurisdiction over
the clergy. The economic weight also increased - the Ravenna
Church owned lands and buildings in all the dioceses of the
province, as well as in Pentapolis, Umbria, Istria and even
Sicily.
In 666, the Byzantine Emperor Constant II granted autocephaly to
the Ravenna Church.
Pope Vitaliano and the Archbishop of Ravenna exchanged mutual
anathema and a real schism occurred (671). Archbishop Mauro,
supported by Constans II, joined the Monothelite heresy. His
successor Reparato (671-677) did not go to Rome for his
consecration.
Autocephaly was abolished in 680-682 by Emperor Constantine IV,
who had reasons for rapprochement with the Roman Church - he
felt a debt of gratitude to Pope Dono, who helped him regain his
rightful throne. Despite this, Ravenna and Constantinople
continued to maintain close relations.
In 751, the Byzantine Exarchate collapsed as a result of the
Lombard conquest. The archbishops of Ravenna tried to create
their own secular dominion, similar to that of the popes. The
basis for the exercise of secular power was land holdings, just
like the popes.
In the will of Charlemagne (814), Ravenna appears as the second
capital seat of the Carolingian Empire after Rome. In 878, the
see of Ravenna was among the main episcopal seats of the kingdom
of Italy, together with the patriarch of Aquileia, the
archbishop of Milan and the bishop of Pavia. During the 9th-10th
centuries, the city of Ravenna was considered the “moral
capital” of the Carolingian Empire.
On 25 December 983, the heir to the German throne, Otto III,
still an infant, was consecrated Archbishop of Ravenna at
Aachen, confirming the special ties that united Ravenna with the
Ottonian dynasty. In 997, the first foreign bishop in Ravenna
was the Frenchman Herberto di Aurillac, former mentor of Otto
III and abbot of the Bobbio monastery. The pope gave the prelate
civil jurisdiction over the city and over the entire coastal
strip from the mouth of the Po di Primaro to Cervia.
The Holy Roman Emperor in 1080 opposed Pope Gregory VII to the
Archbishop of Ravenna, Guiberto, who became the antipope with
the name Clement III (1080-1100). Ravenna was part of the
emperor's special plan, being the cornerstone of German
dominance in northern Italy. On October 22, 1106, Pope Pasquale
II, presiding at the Council of Guastalla, deprived Ravenna of
ecclesiastical jurisdiction over all the dioceses of Emilia:
Bologna, Modena, Reggio, Parma and Piacenza. Pressure from the
Holy See had an effect: just ten years later, Archbishop
Gualtiero restored Roman obedience in Ravenna, and Pope Gelasius
II returned five dioceses to the Metropolitan See of Ravenna (7
August 1118). Gualtiero was the last Archbishop of Ravenna to
sign official documents with the expression “slave of the
Servants.” God, by the grace of God, Archbishop of the Church of
Ravenna."
In 1157, the archbishops of Ravenna stopped giving themselves
the title of exarch of the city. In the twelfth century, the
emergence of municipal institutions led to the fact that during
the next century all the cities of Romagna were freed from
subordination to the archbishop, becoming free municipalities.
In 1278, when Romagna finally came under papal rule, the
province of Romandiolæ et Exarchatus Ravennæ was created. The
capital was Bologna, and Ravenna became the seat of the second
office of the provincial president. The papal legate and rector
assumed the powers and rights hitherto possessed by the
Archbishop of Ravenna.
Benedetto Accolti in the 16th century was the last archbishop to
have a difficult relationship with the popes, so much so that
Pope Clement VII imprisoned him for ruling the March of Ancona.
The decline of the Archdiocese of Ravenna was accelerated by the
emergence of the Bolognese episcopate. A number of dioceses of
Ravenna came under the jurisdiction of the See of Bologna.
Denar
Anonymous coinage
denar no date (13-14 century)
silver
DE RAVENA
ARCIEPISCO / PVS
Value - 20-30 USD
Coins of Ravenna in the catalog are presented divided by historical periods, indicating the main characteristics and differences by type.
Inside the sections, the coins are sorted by denomination - from large to small.
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