French gold and silver treasure found in an old Abbey.

A hoard of hidden medieval treasure, a fortune in gold and silver coins, was unexpectedly discovered during an excavation at the site of the famed medieval Abbey of Cluny in Saône-et-Loire, eastern France.

Treasure in situ

The medieval loot included 2,200 deniers (or pieces of silver) mostly issued by Cluny Abbey itself as well as 21 gold dinar coins, originally from the Middle East which were stored in a canvas bag. 

The bounty also included a gold signet ring marked with the word “Avete” — a “word of greeting in a religious context” — as well as a folded 24-gram gold leaf and 21 Moroccan and Andalusian gold coins.

A nice pile of silver treasure indeed.

It is the first 12th century Cluniac treasure discovered in its original context during an archaeological excavation. It’s also the largest number of silver deniers discovered in one place and the only single hoard ever found to include Arabic coins, silver deniers and a signet ring. The intaglio stone is ancient Roman and engraved with the profile of a deity.  Ancient engravings were prestige items and often re-used as signet rings by the medieval elite.

Also of note is the survival of fragments of the original bag the hoard was stashed in. Fragments of it are still attached to some of the coins. There is also a surviving piece of tanned animal hide which was tied around the bundle of 21 gold dinars minted between 1121 and 1131 in Spain and Morocco during the reign of Almoravid sultan Ali Ben Youssef (1106-1143).

         A relic of Rome, reused by the folk of the Middle Ages.

In the 16th century the Abbey of Cluny was sacked by Hugenots and never really recovered. At the time of the French Revolution, the monastic order was dissolved and under Napoleon the abbey itself was demolished and used as a quarry. Today only one of its eight grand towers still stands, which is why archaeologists continue to excavate it, 90 years after the first archaeological explorations of the site began.

A reconstruction of the Abbey at Cluny

Via the always good History Blog.