The «Plaiting» on the Lithuanian and Lithuanian-Rus Coins of the XIV Century

Abstract

The article is devoted to the problem of the «plaiting» presence on the Lithuanian, Lithuanian-Rus and the Golden Horde coins of the 14th century. The coins with portrait and the beast lion (or the leopard) with a «plaiting» over its head and the coins with the beast lion (or the leopard) with a «plaiting» and Arabic (or Cyrillic legend (?)) are analyzed. The Kyivan Rus coins of Vladimir Olgerdovich (1362—1394) with princely sign and «plaiting» (around which is the inscription with the name of the prince) and the Golden Horde coins with «plaiting» are also examined. Many researches associate the «plaiting» with the Tatar «tamga», and the coins with such a symbol might have indicated the Golden Horde dependence. However, this ornament («ornamentum monetale» by Ch. M. Fraehn) may have a special meaning related to the Juchid monetary coinage. The Golden Horde coins with «plaiting» were the most important instrument of payment and taxation realization on the greater part of the Lithuanian and Lithuanian-Rus principalities. After the Syni Vody River battle of 1362 many the Golden Horde centers and trade routes in the basins of the Dnipro, Dnister and Southern Buh rivers were significant sources of the monetary silver arrival. Many qualitative (also with «ornamentum monetale» — «plaiting») silver coins of Abdallah Khan (1363—1370) and Muhammad Bulaq Khan (1370—1380), were minted in the western mints of the Mamai Horde (Azak, Ordu, Shehr al-Jedid). The silver coins of the Golden Horde were the source for the oldest Lithuanian and Lithuanian-Rus coins and bars of Olherd (1345—1377) and his sons. The oldest Lithuanian and Lithuanian-Rus coins made of approximately 900-standart silver corresponded to silver coins of the Golden Horde. The Golden Horde silver coins (also with «ornamentum monetale» — «plaiting») are one of the most constant parts of money circulation in Ukrainian territories of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania from the 1360-ies till the first quarter of the 15th century.