W. C a r e w H a z l i t t Coinage of the European Continent

Descriptive Outline of the Coinages of Europe 457
XIII.
SOUTHERN ITALY
Although Lombardy is a term exclusively applied
to the
northern division of Italy, the Lombards themselves spread
over the south, and established dukedoms at Beneventum
and Salerno, at first dependent on the kings and subsequently
on the Frankish monarchs. These princes, of whom there
were long dynasties, retained their power till the conquest of
the country by the Normans in the eleventh century, and
struck coins in gold and bronze on the Lombard model.
Grimoald III. of Beneventum (787-806), on the reverses of
whose money usually appears the monogram of Charlemagne,
as a token of submission, was the first who placed his full
name upon
it. The Archangel Michael became common to
the currencies of the two southern fiefs, which were probably
struck at Beneventum and Salerno respectively. The gold
tari and other pieces sometimes read Opvlenta Salerno ; and
the former, from commercial motives, are usually bilingual
Latin and Arabic ;
we have already noted a similar phenomenon
in the early numismatic development of Poland and
Russia.
The erection of possessions into dukedoms was characteristic
of a military people, who saw in the word duke
little more than the Latin equivalent. The term, as well as
comes and vicecomes, became familiar in the Middle Ages
throughout the whole of Europe. They all primarily
referred to leadership in war or attendance on the king in
his wars ;
and we know that Vicecomes was adopted as a
family name by the ruling houses at Milan and Pesaro.
It has been shown that this was from the eighth century
the seat of a Byzantine mint, and that its fortunes 11
obeyed
the frequent and strange revolutions which, from
Naples. i i r
the absence of a strong central power, have
always exposed Italy to the ambition of successive foreign
invaders. Naples was in turn governed by
Lieutenants of the Emperors of the East, Sth-Qth century.
Dukes of Naples or Apulia, 8th-ioth century.