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The coins unearthed in the archaeological excavations at Turaida Castle
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League, were involved: Lübeck, Hamburg, Lüneburg, Mecklenburg, and others, including
Riga, Tartu, Cēsis, Valmiera, etc. The Hanseatic League was a medieval organization of
German merchants, which gradually turned into an international political union of towns
of the Baltic and the North Sea Basin countries. In Hanseatic times, the ancient Gauja
waterway through Turaida to Dorpat was very important for trade with the towns of Pskov
and Novgorod. In Livonia the bracteates of Northern Germany were in circulation until the
late 15th century.
Among the foreign coins of this period, found in Turaida, a small pfennig should be
mentioned. It was difficult to identify this coin precisely, since it was not only worn out,
but also broken and later glued together (TMR 8876). A thin and small coin of a similar
weight and diameter is known in the hoard of Peldu Street in Riga (VRVM 178535/1).
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The pfennig of the hoard was struck in Frisia, Utrecht, in the time of Bishops Otto I–III,
in the first half of the 13th century.
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These small anonymous East Frisian pfennigs of the
12th–13th centuries were called “Schuppe” (scales) by Germans. In the late 14th century,
also ortugs (gotes) of Visby participated in the currency circulation in Livonia. These coins
are often found in archaeological excavations in Latvia. An ortug struck in Visby, Gotland,
in 1380–1390, has been also found in Turaida Castle. Another coin from Visby, unearthed
in Turaida, relates to the later period. That is a shilling of Christian III (1535–1559), King of
Denmark, struck in Visby, in 1536, during the rule of the local governor Søren Norby. Shil-
lings of this type are not often found in Latvia, another such coin is known from Koknese
ancient burial site.
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Livonian coins, 14th–16th centuries.
In the 14th century Livonia, two-sided local
coins of Tartu and Tallinn – artigs and pfennigs (Lübeck type) were in circulation. Five
coins from the late 14th century have been found in Turaida. These include artigs of Tallinn,
struck in 1363/64–1422/24 and artigs struck during the time of Dietrich III Damerow
(1379–1400), bishop of Tartu (Dorpat). Due to political and economic circumstances,
in the 14th century, coins were not minted in Riga. This may be explained by continuous
disputes between archbishops of Riga and the Order of Livonia over dominance in Riga,
since coinage rights were granted to the feudal seignior of the city. After the monetary
reform of 1422–1426, coins were minted in Riga on a regular basis. Turaida finds of the 15th
century are represented not only by coinage of Tallinn and Tartu, but also by coins struck
in Riga. One of the Riga coins – a shilling of Sede Vacante – was struck in the time when
the Livonian Order, with the purpose of strengthening its positions, elected Simon von der
Borch, a relative of the Master of the Order Bernd von der Borch, as archbishop. The City
did not approve him, because the Pope had already appointed Stephan Grube to the