Description

• Like Brass, Bronze is an alloy of copper, but alloyed with Tin rather than Zinc. It was first used by humans around 3000 BCE. The earliest known examples of bronze objects are from the Sumerian city of Ur, in modern-day Iraq. Bronze was widely used in the ancient world for making tools, weapons, and armor, as well as for sculpture and other decorative items. The process of making bronze involves heating copper and tin to a high temperature and then pouring them into a mold. Once the metal has cooled and hardened, it can be shaped into the desired form. Its great durability made it an ideal material for ancient coinage.
• The middle ages are commonly referred to as spanning from the fall of Rome in the 5th century through to the early Renaissance in the 15th century marked by the fall of Constantinople. By these measures the Middle Ages can be said to have paralleled the entire period of the Byzantine Empire. The transition from antiquity to the Middle Ages was not a sudden event but rather a gradual process of transformation and similarly the transition from late Middle Ages to Renaissance was gradual and differed across European countries. Medieval coinage was a complex and ever-changing system of currency that was used throughout Europe during the Middle Ages. Given the long period of time, relative geographic fragmentation and birth of the separate European states, Medieval coinage exhibits a great deal of variety in form and imagery, ranging from Anglo-Saxon "sceattas" through to Crusader issues in the Middle East. The effects of Christianity and Romanisation are evident throughout, as is the influence of the post-Roman Frankish and Germanic kingdoms.