Money as provocation: the coinage of Archbishop Jon Raude (1268-82)

Abstract

In the period 1222-81, the archbishops of Nidaros (Trondheim) were permitted by a royal grant of King Håkon Håkonsson to issue coins. This privilege was reconfirmed in 1273 and 1277 but was subsequently withdrawn by King Eirik Magnusson’s regency government as part of the revocation of the 1277 concordate of Tunsberg (Sættargjerden) in 1281. The reasons for and consequences of the loss of minting rights have been overshadowed by other discussions on the events of the Church-State conflict of the 1280s. In this article, we argue that the loss was a consequence of a deliberate provocation by Archbishop Jon Raude (1268-82), who - contrary to expressed limitations of the royal grant - produced coins with his own image, thus placing himself on an equal footing with the king. Furthermore, the loss of minting rights must have been an economic setback for the archbishop as it blocked his access to the revenues of coin production. The privilege was not restored until 1483.