Experiments in Visigothic Rulership: Minting and Monetary Reforms under Alaric II

Analyses of coinage from the post-Roman West to assume a steady decline from idealized late Roman appearance and use. This article explores the early Visigothic state to understand how coinage and monetary policy were transforming. It first investigates features of the first two types of post-Roman Visigothic coins—imitative (418–507 CE) and pseudo-imperial (507–570s CE)—to suggest that they should be understood as responses to local changes in governance alongside changes to broader Mediterranean trajectories. It then compares the 'interpretations' added to the Breviary of Alaric that modified laws on coins in the Theodosian Code to argue that these changes helped shape both the appearance and use of money in the Visigothic world and were thus a means of transforming governance in the post-Roman West.