THE LOMBARDS
Aripert I, 652-661
Tremissis 652-661, AV 1.24 g. DN ARI – PERT REX Pearl-diademed, draped and cuirassed bust r.; in r. field, M. Rev. VNTOXIAAVIVITIOR Victory standing facing, holding globus cruciger in l. hand and wreath in r.; in r. field, cross and in exergue, COMOI. BMC Vandals p. 141 footnote. Bernareggi 6. Arlsan –. MEC I, –.
An apparently unrecorded variety of a type of the highest rarity
known in only two specimens. About very fine
Ex Artemide sale V, 1982, 1991.
King of the Lombards, Aripert I was the son of Gundoald, duke of Asti and of Bavarian descent. He was also the nephew of queen Theodelinda and a fervent Catholic. His ascension to the Lombard throne in 653 took place after the assassination of king Rodoald, son of the Arian Rotari, a sign of the Catholic component against Arianism which slowly managed to prevail in the Lombard ducal aristocracy. The religious element is the characteristic of Aripert and explains how in later poetic celebrations of the Lombard kings, Aripert is given the title ”good and pious” and praised, exaggeratedly, for having abolished Arian heresy: it certainly appears, at least, that the bishop of the capital, Pavia, abandoned Arianism. A fleeting victory, however, since with the death of Aripert in 661, and shortly after, with the killing of his first child, Godepert and the escape of the cadet Perctarit, Arian tendencies regained, albeit for only a short time, the upper hand.
This is an unrecorded variety (for the M on the obverse field) of an exceedingly rare type. The only other specimen known, which came from the Gnecchi and Brand collections, was recently sold by CNG in the dispersal of the Larry Adams collection.