Bracteate

A bracteate (Latin bractea, a thin piece of metal) is a flat, thin, single-sided gold or silver coin produced in Central Europe predominantly during the Middle Ages, but also earlier during the European Iron Age.

Bracteates were the main type of coin minted in German-speaking areas, with the exception of the Rhineland, from the middle of the 12th century through the 14th century. In some cantons of Switzerland, bracteate-like rappen, heller, and angster were produced during the 18th century.

Bracteates commonly denominate a certain type of jewellery, made mainly in the fifth to seventh century AD, represented by some spectacular gold specimens. Pierced or fitted with an eye, most were intended to be worn, suspended at the neck, supposedly as an amulet.

At the moment, the Early Medieval bracteate group consists of some 950 examples, subdivided in six categories:

• A-bracteates (appr. 87 specimens): showing the face of a human, modeled after antique imperial coins;
• B-bracteates (appr. 88 specimens): one to three human figures in standing, sitting or kneeling positions, often accompanied by animals;
• C-bracteates (best represented, by appr. 400 specimens): showing a male's head above a quadruped;
• D-bracteates (appr. 336 specimens): showing several animals;
• F-bracteates (appr. 14 specimens): as a subgroup of the D-bracteates, showing a illusionary animal;
• M-bracteates (appr. 17 specimens): imitations of Roman imperial bust-medallions

Sources

• Hauck, K., 1970: Goldbrakteaten aus Sievern. Spätantike Amulett-Bilder der "Dania Saxonica" und die Sachsen-"Origo" bei Widukind von Corvey, München (Münstersche Mittelalter-Schriften 1).
• Starkey, K., 1999: Imagining an early Odin. Gold bracteates as visual evidence?, Scandinavian studies. The journal of the Society for the Advancement of Scandinavian Study 71–4 (1999), 373–392.
• Simek, R., 2003: Religion und Mythologie der Germanen, Darmstadt.