2020-01-28 Tue

On this day 28th January, in the year 814, Charlemagne, also known as Charles the Great or Charles I died. He became the King of the Franks in 768 and united most of Western Europe to lay the foundations for modern France and Germany.

From 774 he became King of Italy and from 800 he became the first Holy Roman Emperor. With this title, he became the first recognized emperor in Western Europe since the fall of the Western Roman Empire three centuries earlier. He also got the divine legitimacy to rule his empire without the pope in the eyes of his contemporaries. His expanded kingdom was called as the Carolingian Empire. He is nicknamed the "Father of Europe" as he united most of Western Europe for the first.

During his regime, many coins were issued featuring the portrait of this legendary and powerful King. The above shown Aachen Penny of Charlemagne, a Carolingian silver coin, was found during archaeological work in the northeastern bay of the hexadecagon. This is the first discovery of coinage from the time of Charlemagne at Aachen.

The obverse of the coin features a cross in the center, surrounded by the Latin inscription. On the reverse, the famous monogram of Charlemagne is in the center, with the v-shaped execution line.

Image Source: wikipedia.org