Simon Coupland
@scoupland.bsky.social
FRHistS, lover of Carolingian coinage, Vikings, Jesus and my wife and daughter, though not necessarily in that order
For #FindsFriday the Hiddensee hoard, found in the 1870s in Neuendorf, Lkr. Vorpommern-Rügen. Scandinavian style and Christian crosses suggest a late 10th C date. The neckring is 13.5 cm, the brooch 8 cm, the cross pendants 5.1–6.9 cm. Total weight: 595.5 g pure gold. Now in Stralsund Museum.
January 2, 2026 at 3:35 PM
For #FindsFriday the Hiddensee hoard, found in the 1870s in Neuendorf, Lkr. Vorpommern-Rügen. Scandinavian style and Christian crosses suggest a late 10th C date. The neckring is 13.5 cm, the brooch 8 cm, the cross pendants 5.1–6.9 cm. Total weight: 595.5 g pure gold. Now in Stralsund Museum.
The largest medieval kogge merchant ship yet discovered, found in the Øresund off Copenhagen and professionally excavated - dating from c 1410 and built in the Netherlands.
www.vikingeskibsmuseet.dk/nyheder/arka...
www.vikingeskibsmuseet.dk/nyheder/arka...
Arkæologer afslører middelalderligt superskib: "Det er verdens største kogge"
I 600 år har havet ud for København gemt på en kæmpe hemmelighed. Nu kan Vikingeskibsmuseets marinarkæologer sammen med DR-dokumentaren Gåden i dybet afsløre fundet af verdens største kogge, et middel...
www.vikingeskibsmuseet.dk
December 29, 2025 at 8:55 AM
The largest medieval kogge merchant ship yet discovered, found in the Øresund off Copenhagen and professionally excavated - dating from c 1410 and built in the Netherlands.
www.vikingeskibsmuseet.dk/nyheder/arka...
www.vikingeskibsmuseet.dk/nyheder/arka...
For St John the Evangelist's day a beautiful little (34 mm) 9th-C Anglo-Saxon gold plaque bearing his symbol, an eagle, found in Brandon (Sufolk) and now in the BM. www.britishmuseum.org/collection/o...
December 27, 2025 at 4:29 PM
For St John the Evangelist's day a beautiful little (34 mm) 9th-C Anglo-Saxon gold plaque bearing his symbol, an eagle, found in Brandon (Sufolk) and now in the BM. www.britishmuseum.org/collection/o...
As we approach Christmas here's another ivory depiction of the nativity - this time in whalebone, on the early 8th C Anglo-Saxon Franks Casket. MAGI is written in runes above - the bird leading them is seen as the Holy Spirit (dove or duck? 😂) 📷 British Museum www.britishmuseum.org/collection/i...
December 23, 2025 at 11:53 AM
As we approach Christmas here's another ivory depiction of the nativity - this time in whalebone, on the early 8th C Anglo-Saxon Franks Casket. MAGI is written in runes above - the bird leading them is seen as the Holy Spirit (dove or duck? 😂) 📷 British Museum www.britishmuseum.org/collection/i...
For #MosaicMonday a gorgeous colourful mosaic of garlands and birds in the Vatican collection. 📷 my own.
December 22, 2025 at 1:37 PM
For #MosaicMonday a gorgeous colourful mosaic of garlands and birds in the Vatican collection. 📷 my own.
As tomorrow I am leading our carol service, here's a gorgeous Carolingian ivory of the nativity in the Vatican (Vat 64477). 📷 my own.
December 20, 2025 at 9:57 PM
As tomorrow I am leading our carol service, here's a gorgeous Carolingian ivory of the nativity in the Vatican (Vat 64477). 📷 my own.
A conference coming soon...
rmblf.be/2025/12/17/c...
rmblf.be/2025/12/17/c...
Colloque – Signes, images et représentations du pouvoir lombard (VIe-XIe s.) : les rois, les ducs, les princes / Segni, immagini e rappresentazioni del potere longobardo (VI-XI sec.): i re, i duchi, ...
Organizzazione: Guilhem Dorandeu – École française de RomeVito Loré – Università degli Studi Roma TreBernhard Zeller – Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften – In…
rmblf.be
December 18, 2025 at 12:14 PM
A conference coming soon...
rmblf.be/2025/12/17/c...
rmblf.be/2025/12/17/c...
For #MosaicMonday one of the glorious mosaics in the baptistery of San Giovanni in Fonte in Naples cathedral. 5th century. 📷 my own 3/3
December 15, 2025 at 11:10 AM
For #MosaicMonday one of the glorious mosaics in the baptistery of San Giovanni in Fonte in Naples cathedral. 5th century. 📷 my own 3/3
For #MosaicMonday one of the glorious mosaics in the baptistery of San Giovanni in Fonte in Naples cathedral. 5th century. 📷 my own 2/3
December 15, 2025 at 11:02 AM
For #MosaicMonday one of the glorious mosaics in the baptistery of San Giovanni in Fonte in Naples cathedral. 5th century. 📷 my own 2/3
For #MosaicMonday one of the glorious mosaics in the baptistery of San Giovanni in Fonte in Naples cathedral. 5th century. 📷 my own
December 15, 2025 at 9:37 AM
For #MosaicMonday one of the glorious mosaics in the baptistery of San Giovanni in Fonte in Naples cathedral. 5th century. 📷 my own
For #FindsFriday the gilt & niello silver mounts from Östra Påboda, Söderåkra, Sweden, clearly Carolingian sword-belt mounts that have been converted into ornaments. See their originally use in a detail of the Vivian Bible, produced in Tours in the 840s. Images: SHM / gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/b...
December 12, 2025 at 2:25 PM
For #FindsFriday the gilt & niello silver mounts from Östra Påboda, Söderåkra, Sweden, clearly Carolingian sword-belt mounts that have been converted into ornaments. See their originally use in a detail of the Vivian Bible, produced in Tours in the 840s. Images: SHM / gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/b...
Reposted by Simon Coupland
The e-book version is already available, including my chapter on dodgy Carolingian priests, Simon on Carolingian coins and many other great things: brill.com/display/titl...
December 12, 2025 at 10:59 AM
The e-book version is already available, including my chapter on dodgy Carolingian priests, Simon on Carolingian coins and many other great things: brill.com/display/titl...
What a gorgeous winter's day
December 11, 2025 at 11:46 AM
What a gorgeous winter's day
What a joy: my 12th academic article/ book chapter/ book review of 2025! Of course I didn't write them all this year - it's the fruit of 3 years' work all coming out at once...
December 10, 2025 at 10:52 AM
What a joy: my 12th academic article/ book chapter/ book review of 2025! Of course I didn't write them all this year - it's the fruit of 3 years' work all coming out at once...
For #MosaicMonday I love the simple but profound beauty of a geometric design - from Boscoreale, Pompeii. Picture my own.
December 8, 2025 at 4:00 PM
For #MosaicMonday I love the simple but profound beauty of a geometric design - from Boscoreale, Pompeii. Picture my own.
More on the remarkable Roman era hoard found recently in France:
www.tf1.fr/tf1/jt-13h/v...
www.tf1.fr/tf1/jt-13h/v...
Un trésor dans mon jardin - Journal de 13 heures | TF1+
[VIDÉO] Extrait en streaming sur TF1+ ▶️ 3m08s - Trouver un trésor dans son jardin, beaucoup en rêvent ! Dans le petit village de Senon (Meuse), un homme, en voulant agrandir sa maison, a carrément dé...
www.tf1.fr
December 6, 2025 at 8:15 PM
More on the remarkable Roman era hoard found recently in France:
www.tf1.fr/tf1/jt-13h/v...
www.tf1.fr/tf1/jt-13h/v...
Reposted by Simon Coupland
Enmeshed in marking, but just thought I'd point out that this article is now out, open access: Simon MacLean, arguing that the Astronomer's Life of Louis the Pious could be rather later than historians have assumed: might 'the Astronomer' be Jonas of Orleans?
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
The date and context of the Astronomer's Life of Louis the Pious
The Astronomer's Life of the emperor Louis the Pious (814–40) is a canonical source for scholars of Frankish history. It sits at the centre of recent debates about the nature and tone of Carolingian ....
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
December 5, 2025 at 2:35 PM
Enmeshed in marking, but just thought I'd point out that this article is now out, open access: Simon MacLean, arguing that the Astronomer's Life of Louis the Pious could be rather later than historians have assumed: might 'the Astronomer' be Jonas of Orleans?
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
For #FindsFriday the most significant #Viking discovery in recent decades, apparently little known among scholars of Scandinavian history.
December 5, 2025 at 11:38 AM
For #FindsFriday the most significant #Viking discovery in recent decades, apparently little known among scholars of Scandinavian history.
Recently published - open access! Full of good stuff to read. #medievalsky #vikings
books.ub.uni-heidelberg.de//propylaeum/...
books.ub.uni-heidelberg.de//propylaeum/...
Frankish Seats of Power and the North: Centres Between Diplomacy and Confrontation, Transfer of Knowledge and Economy | Propylaeum
Dr. Oliver Grimm vom Leibniz-Zentrum für Archäologie (Standort Schleswig) hat Interesse an nordeuropäischen Herrschaftssitzen der Eisenzeit und des Mittelalters. Seit vielen Jahren jedoch forscht er zu Tier und Mensch (Human-Animal Studies).
books.ub.uni-heidelberg.de
December 3, 2025 at 12:24 PM
Recently published - open access! Full of good stuff to read. #medievalsky #vikings
books.ub.uni-heidelberg.de//propylaeum/...
books.ub.uni-heidelberg.de//propylaeum/...
Just uploaded to Knowledge commons another book chapter - the whole volume can be read or downloaded at books.ub.uni-heidelberg.de//propylaeum/...
Dorestad and the North: Frankish Connections to Scandinavia
works.hcommons.org/records/ez2e...
Dorestad and the North: Frankish Connections to Scandinavia
works.hcommons.org/records/ez2e...
Dorestad and the North: Frankish Connections to Scandinavia
Dorestad was the most important port in northern Europe under Charlemagne, but disappeared in the later 9th century. New insights from numismatics now reveal how changing patterns of trade with Scandi...
works.hcommons.org
December 3, 2025 at 11:57 AM
Just uploaded to Knowledge commons another book chapter - the whole volume can be read or downloaded at books.ub.uni-heidelberg.de//propylaeum/...
Dorestad and the North: Frankish Connections to Scandinavia
works.hcommons.org/records/ez2e...
Dorestad and the North: Frankish Connections to Scandinavia
works.hcommons.org/records/ez2e...
Just added to my Knowledge Commons works:
Carolingian Frisia and the Vikings: Confrontation and Cohabitation
works.hcommons.org/records/4ary...
Carolingian Frisia and the Vikings: Confrontation and Cohabitation
works.hcommons.org/records/4ary...
Carolingian Frisia and the Vikings: Confrontation and Cohabitation
A study of the varied and nuanced relationships between Scandinavians and the inhabitants of Carolingian Frisia, which stretched from the Scheldt estuary to the border of Viking-Age Denmark. The stere...
works.hcommons.org
December 3, 2025 at 11:44 AM
Just added to my Knowledge Commons works:
Carolingian Frisia and the Vikings: Confrontation and Cohabitation
works.hcommons.org/records/4ary...
Carolingian Frisia and the Vikings: Confrontation and Cohabitation
works.hcommons.org/records/4ary...
I asked ChatGPT for an image of a fire-breathing dragon guarding a princess in a tower - for a school assembly. Unfortunately AI doesn't appear to understand the word GUARDING! 😂 (Thankfully that didn't matter)
December 2, 2025 at 6:39 PM
I asked ChatGPT for an image of a fire-breathing dragon guarding a princess in a tower - for a school assembly. Unfortunately AI doesn't appear to understand the word GUARDING! 😂 (Thankfully that didn't matter)
For #FindsFriday a denier of Lothar II (855-869) from Cologne, found at Valkhof in Nijmegen. The mangled forms of the king's name (which is written backwards) and the mint-name led to these coins long being unidentified. 📷 Collection Valkhof Museum
November 28, 2025 at 11:37 AM
For #FindsFriday a denier of Lothar II (855-869) from Cologne, found at Valkhof in Nijmegen. The mangled forms of the king's name (which is written backwards) and the mint-name led to these coins long being unidentified. 📷 Collection Valkhof Museum
Reposted by Simon Coupland
Une équipe de l’Inrap et du Service de l’archéologie du département d’Indre-et-Loire a fouillé deux sites proches à Monts et Sorigny (Indre-et-Loire) et ont mis au jour un établissement aristocratique gaulois ainsi qu'une occupation rurale médiévale.
En savoir plus 👉 www.inrap.fr/un-site-gaul...
En savoir plus 👉 www.inrap.fr/un-site-gaul...
November 27, 2025 at 5:30 PM
Une équipe de l’Inrap et du Service de l’archéologie du département d’Indre-et-Loire a fouillé deux sites proches à Monts et Sorigny (Indre-et-Loire) et ont mis au jour un établissement aristocratique gaulois ainsi qu'une occupation rurale médiévale.
En savoir plus 👉 www.inrap.fr/un-site-gaul...
En savoir plus 👉 www.inrap.fr/un-site-gaul...
A second Thor's hammer find this year in Østfold (Norway)
November 26, 2025 at 1:23 PM
A second Thor's hammer find this year in Østfold (Norway)