Denarius of Władysław Łokietek

The rebuilding of the Polish state after the period of disintegration required numerous reforms. One of them was to unify the monetary system of the lands united under the rule of Władysław the Short. Shortly after taking power, he began to mint his own coins. He based the monetary system on denars. For transactions requiring larger sums of money, the Prague pennies were used, which became established in the Polish lands for a long time. Mint production included mainly denars, minted in various varieties. Despite a relatively small number of specimens preserved, many varieties can be distinguished among them: with a crown and the Kujawy coat of arms, with St. Stanislaus, with a helmet, with a portrait of the ruler in front or in profile, with a crown and an eagle, with a shield, as well as intermediate types.

Changes in the iconography of coins to some extent reflected the stages of consolidation of Władysław Łokietek's power. It is believed that the earliest types of denars were coins depicting a crown on one side and the coat of arms of the Kujawy Piasts on the other. Władysław Łokietek at that time possessed de facto, apart from his native Kuyavia, only Lesser Poland. His disputes with the Bishop of Kraków, Jan Muskata, and the townspeople, as well as his efforts to incorporate Greater Poland which culminated in 1314, necessitated the adoption of supra-divisional symbolism. In this situation, the duke's native coat of arms was replaced by symbols associated with the idea of a unifying state. Perhaps the denars depicting St Stanislaus, whose quartered body was, according to legend, supposed to have miraculously reunited, just as the parts of the divided state ‘reunited’, should be linked to that period. The adoption of the royal crown in 1320 further strengthened the idea of a reborn kingdom and increased the prestige of the ruler.

All types of denars were minted in Kraków and circulated mainly within the Lesser Poland region. The production of coins probably did not take place constantly and was interrupted by periods of inactivity, which makes the chronology of individual varieties even more difficult.

The presented coin was found in the Old Town of Lublin, near the Dominican Church. It belongs to the type depicting a crown and an eagle. However, it is a special piece. It is the only one of this type with a circumferential inscription, starting on the side with the crown (WLADISLA[I D]IG), and ending on the side with the Eagle (REGIS POL).

Leszek Poniewozik