.png)
The Creative Iraq team is spread between Baghdad, Babylon, and a sleepy town in the Midlands of the UK. A new link made possible through the development of technology and travel perhaps? Not quite - there is an ancient precedent. A 1300 year old mystery still remains: why did a Mercian king print Saxon gold coins with Latin and the Arabic Shahada, and why did they end up in Rome? Meet King Offa, apparently a huge fan of Caliph Al Mansur.
If you ask anyone about the town of Tamworth, chances are they won't know much about it, if they know it all; you may get a someone mention "The Tamworth Two" - referring to two Tamworth pigs who escaped the abattoir and ran across the country, inadvertently becoming a symbol for the town. To the driver though, they are greeted with signs welcoming you to 'the ancient capital of Mercia' and to the train passenger, a huge statue of Queen Æthelflæd pointing her spear towards the castle awaits - just go past the flower sculpture of the pigs. Mercia is now a name condemned to the history books, or poorly portrayed in TV shows such as Vikings or the Last Kingdom - the great King Offa has even been labeled 'a gangster.'
During the reign of King Offa, Mercia became the dominant kingdom in the time before a unified England. Building his palace in Tamworth, and constructing a great cathedral at Lichfield, he extended Mercian power from north of Manchester to the south coast, including London. To secure the border with Wales, he constructed massive defensive earthworks running the entire length of the country. He built a kingdom that had not been seen like this before in England and would not again until the rise of Alfred of Wessex, a far more well known Saxon king.
Meanwhile in Iraq, the Abbasid's had overthrown the Ummayad dynasty a few years earlier, and under Caliph Al Mansur, the construction of Baghdad had begun. The famed round city was under development and Al Mansur was consolidating his empire through reconquest and administration. To emphasise his majesty, gold dinar were printed with his name and used throughout the empire - a time when the dinar was all powerful! Anyone carrying these coins would know who was the boss.
Two nation builders, two diplomats, 4500km apart. One with fine gold currency flowing across global trade routes, the other with aspiration to do so. Mercian coins were predominantly silver based, produced in mints around the country through royal approval, but a few gold coins appear in the reign of Offa - the most famous being 'the dinar of Offa.'
Offa was the first to put his portrait on coins, his curly hair and regal pose indicating his view of kingship, even on occasion, his wife Cynethryth even appears as the only Saxon queen almost imitating the Byzantine fashion. He clearly knew the power of design and politics - anyone carrying his silver or gold coins would know he was a powerful King. What is less clear, is why create a gold dinar with Arabic script that is clearly wrong?
Let's have a deeper look at it. On the one side, you can clearly see the words "Offa Rex" or King Offa in Latin - pretty understandable considering latin was the common language of Europe at the time. On the other side, what looks like Arabic script features in the centre, and around the perimeter. On closer inspection, it appears to be 'the Shahada' - "there is no God but God, and Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah." Clearly the mint that made this did not know Arabic, the script is not entirely correct, unrefined in fact. Ignoring the poor copy, the most fascinating question is why? And why was it found at the heart of the Catholic Church?
'The shahada' is considered the first pillar of Islam, a declaration of faith and belief in Allah. Was King Offa of Mercia professing his conversion to Islam and sending it to the pope in Rome? Highly unlikely considering he spent vast fortunes on establishing Catholic archbishoprics across Mercia, most famously in Lichfield. Mercia was late to convert to Christianity compared to the neighbouring kingdoms of Northumbria, Wessex, East Anglia and had already lost out diplomatically. By the reign of King Offa, Christianity has been present for less than 100 years as the state religion, so it is unlikely that a conversion of the most powerful king would have been a popular political move.
Offa had been busy building his new bishopric of Lichfield to challenge the authority of the church in Canterbury, bringing it closer to him. Eventually Pope Adrian approved on it and King Offa offered an annual gift the Church of St Peter in Rome - could this explain why Offa's dinar ended up in the eternal city? Again, unlikely - it would be naive to assume that the head of the Catholic Church would be ignorant of such an important piece of islamic culture, especially since the Eastern Church of Byzantium has complex diplomatic relations with the Islamic world. To do so could have been a diplomatic disaster for the ambitious king.
Ummayad dinar had already been present in the Saxon kingdoms due to trade routes across Europe - especially those from Al Andalus in modern day Spain. The Abbasid dinar would later replace its predecessors dominance in the Mediterranean being used by merchants across the Islamic world, and into European markets. The Vikings themselves took large amounts through their networks which in turn helped to spread the visibility of Caliph Al Mansur's authority. Did Al Mansur's coins reach Mercia and inspire him through purely visual aesthetics with little consideration for meaning? That would be to assume that this Saxon King knew little beyond his borders despite his diplomatic exchanges with the Pope and the Emperor Charlemagne (who already was enjoying relations with the Abbasid court and incredible gifts that had never before seen in Europe).
Was it a forgery, to pass off as currency that was accepted internationally - why write your name on it, it would give the game away? Besides, this is the only example to have ever been found, not exactly a tool for economic warfare. The fact we have only one could suggest it was a one off? A limited edition coin, or limited edition batch of coins, for a particular purpose to show King Offa's authority. But that still doesn't answer who was it for? Charlemagne has been engaging with the Abbasids and embassies had visited between Baghdad and Paris, did Offa have similar dreams and ambitions? After all, Charlemagne famously called Offa his only equal, once offering to marry one of Offa's daughters to his own daughter. We will be following up this piece later Charlemagne and a rather large guest of his, sent by Harun Al Rashid.
Ultimately we will never know. But it does highlight to us a few things - the power of design on a global scale, to highlight creative skills in pursing soft power. Every merchant who held one of Al Mansur's coins would know his power and authority, and in turn Baghdad's. It also highlights the cultural exchange through trade that influenced design across the world at the time. Creativity has the power to influence the way people see other people, something we strongly believe at Creative Iraq, and that trade makes it possible (we will be announcing new partnerships with Iraqi partners to expand our etsy store so check out: https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/CreativeIraq)
We would love to know your ideas after reading this - why did Offa do this? There are countless scenarios, each one giving the opportunity for stories to be told - send us your ideas! Next time you walk past Al Rahal's statue of Al Mansur, think about his legacy, and his understanding for design, power, politics. Here in Tamworth, we will be reminded through our flowery pigs.
Comments