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Wiley InterScience

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Metamorphoses of the early medieval signum of a ruler in the Carolingian world
Ildar H. Garipzanov 1
  1 University of Bergen
Copyright © Blackwell Publishing Ltd 2006

ABSTRACT

This article uses the approach of diplomatic semiotics to explore early medieval signs of authority in charters and on coins, especially the monogram and the sign of the cross used as an individual 'signature'. Coins and charters used these signs communicating royal or imperial authority differently, addressing diverse regional and social audiences. From the fifth through the ninth centuries, the early medieval signum of a ruler gradually transformed from the individualizing sign of a particular monarch, designed to differentiate him symbolically from other rulers, to the generalizing sign of the king by the grace of God, which as a visual attribute of authority could be shared by several rulers. This transformation signified the inauguration of a new 'medieval' tradition in the communication of authority in late Carolingian times.


DIGITAL OBJECT IDENTIFIER (DOI)
10.1111/j.1468-0254.2006.00189.x About DOI

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