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Simon Coupland

@scoupland.bsky.social
1.3K followers 122 following 711 posts

FRHistS, lover of Carolingian coinage, Vikings, Jesus and my wife and daughter, though not necessarily in that order

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Simon Coupland @scoupland.bsky.social · 10h
This is brilliant! Congratulations to you both on a fascinating find and careful exposition of its implications.
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Simon Coupland @scoupland.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
First autumn colours on my way to work - beautiful! 😍
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Simon Coupland @scoupland.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
A fabulous collection of Carolingian coins is currently up for sale in Brussels, including no fewer than four (undoubtedly genuine) portrait coins of Charlemagne! #medievalsky elsen.bidinside.com/en/cat/167/2...
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Simon Coupland @scoupland.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
editionsduverbehaut.fr/produit/la-v...
editionsduverbehaut.fr
La vie des femmes au Moyen Âge - Une autre histoire VIe - XIe siècle - Les Éditions du Verbe Haut
Cet ouvrage entend donc explorer le rôle des femmes entre le VIe et le XIe siècle en montrant la diversité de leurs conditions : de la serve à la reine, toutes vivent dans un monde patriarcal mais ell...
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Simon Coupland @scoupland.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Latest post from the Mørstad hoard - a silver penny of Heinrich II (1014-24) copying a gold Byzantine coin from the 9th century. #medievalsky #findsFriday
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Simon Coupland @scoupland.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
A previously unknown early medieval church from the Norse period found by archaeologists on Greenland! www.nrk.no/vestland/uib...
nrk.no
UiB med på sensasjonelt funn på Grønland: Avslørte ukjend kyrkjeruin frå norrøn tid
Eit beinfunn under ei utgraving på Sør-Grønland stadfestar oppdaginga av ei norrøn kyrkje frå mellomalderen. Funnet kan gi nye svar på kvifor vikingane til slutt reiste frå øya.
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Simon Coupland @scoupland.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
From The Week magazine a while back...
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Simon Coupland @scoupland.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
An article from May but I haven't seen anyone else flag it up here. Prehistoric arrows, Viking age skis and so much more - it's truly remarkable what is turning up! www.smithsonianmag.com/science-natu...
smithsonianmag.com
Melting Mountain Ice Is Bringing Ancient Secrets to the Surface. Archaeologists Are Racing to Find the Artifacts Before They're Lost to Time
In Norway’s highest mountains, experts are scouring perilous terrain for pieces of the past, long stored in mint condition in ice patches. As temperatures rise across the world, glacial archaeologists...
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Simon Coupland @scoupland.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
I've had this cartoon on my pinboard for years - love a Viking cartoon 😀 www.chrisbeetles.com/artists/will...
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Simon Coupland @scoupland.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
Just ordered! A remarkably reasonable price for an academic work...
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Simon Coupland @scoupland.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
A question we'd love to know the answer to for the early Middle Ages as well! @rorynaismith.bsky.social pur-editions.fr/product/1074...
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Simon Coupland @scoupland.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
I couldn't help thinking this French town (site of a coin find) sounds like a joke name from an Asterix book! 😂 (Oh yes it is!)
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Simon Coupland @scoupland.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
The recent fires in Belgium have exposed stretches of the Merovingian road from Liege to Aachen - www.hbvl.be/nieuws/brand...
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Simon Coupland @scoupland.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
To read more drive.google.com/file/d/1WMPq...
drive.google.com
MFRP 50, NNB 2020-07, Denare Karls des Großen.pdf
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Simon Coupland @scoupland.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
Up for auction soon: a very rare obole (halfpenny) of Charlemagne, minted 793-814. Obverse: KAROLVS monogram; reverse: Καρωλωс, Charles in Greek. Just 3 known, all from the Netherlands. Not in any reference works. I have attributed it to Aachen, like the denier (this one in the Berlin collection).
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Simon Coupland @scoupland.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
From Finland: the largest ever Viking age coin hoard - 4.5 kg, in two birch-bark containers. From Sysmä, north of Lahtis: archaeologists excavated, finding Swedish, English, German coins & dirhams dating it to 1000–1050, a silver ring & a few other small silver objects. fof.se/artikel/reko...
fof.se
Rekordstor vikingatida skatt hittad i Finland | Forskning & Framsteg
Den rutinerade fornfyndsletaren Kalle Lappinen var förra veckan ute med sin metallsökare i hopp om att hitta spår av ett gravfält från järnåldern i orten …
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Simon Coupland @scoupland.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
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Simon Coupland @scoupland.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
Some of the Rebild ingots have runic inscriptions...
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Simon Coupland @scoupland.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
The new Rebild hoard comes just a few months after the discovery of six gold rings from the viking age in Himmerland, also in north Jutland. nordjyskemuseer.dk/sjaeldent-vi...
nordjyskemuseer.dk
Sjældent guldfund fra vikingetiden
Roldskatten er det tredje største guldfund fra vikingetiden i Danmark “Det er et helt enestående fund – vi har ganske enkelt ikke oplevet noget lignende før her på museet,”siger Torben Sarauw, kultura...
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Simon Coupland @scoupland.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
Amazing news from Rebild in north Jutland! Denmark's largest ever silver hoard - 18.5kg, made up of 700 objects including 47 coins and a Thor's hammer. Dated to the 10th century - I eagerly await more details! videnskab.dk/kultur-samfu...
videnskab.dk
Havearbejde i Rebild førte til fundet af Danmarks største vikingesølvskat
I forbindelse med anlæggelsen af en ny terrasse i en privat have i Rebild i Nordjylland blev der gjort et overraskende fund:
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Simon Coupland @scoupland.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
More seriously, if you haven't seen the real story, here it is (in Danish) moesgaardmuseum.dk/nyheder/fund...
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Simon Coupland @scoupland.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
Should we laugh or cry??
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Simon Coupland @scoupland.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
A quiet week at (paid) work means time at last to upload some of my coinage publications to Knowledge Commons: on Italy, Germany, coins of Melle, and Charlemagne's portrait coinage.
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Simon Coupland @scoupland.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
Have just discovered that in 754 Pope Stephen II decreed that a priest who had baptised a child in wine was not to be censured if no water was to hand. (On the other hand if water was available the priest would be excommunicated!)
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Simon Coupland @scoupland.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
The first 100 coins from the Mørstad hoard have now been put online - read more here www.khm.uio.no/om/aktuelt/a...
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Simon Coupland @scoupland.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
Interested in Louis the Pious and his coinage? Independent coins of Venice minted in the 820s or 830s? Commerce on the Rhine under the Carolingians? Just added to my online articles: Drei karolingische Münzen aus der Gemarkung Rees (Kreis Kleve) works.hcommons.org/records/e33g...
works.hcommons.org
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Simon Coupland @scoupland.bsky.social · 19/08/2026
Oh my goodness, why had I never heard of this? "Le duc des Francs, le roi Lothaire et l'Empereur Otton, continuent à s'affronter dans des combats impitoyables... Loup et ses fidèles compagnons, Knut le prince danois et Gabor le géant hongrois, se voient confier les missions les plus dangereuses." 😂😂
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Simon Coupland @scoupland.bsky.social · 18/08/2026
In 1406 William Taylor, a Wyclifite reformer, preached on poverty, work and love, saying that Jesus healed the sick so they could get back to work. "Christ loathed begging, he healed such men not only in soul but also in body, that they might get what they need by their bodily labour."
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Simon Coupland @scoupland.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
For #MosaicMonday a fabulous 3D geometric pattern from Boscoreale, just outside Pompeii. 📷 my own.
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Simon Coupland @scoupland.bsky.social · 14/08/2026
Whatever the rights and wrongs of this case, this outcome is utterly tragic www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
bbc.co.uk
Jason Arday: Former Cambridge university professor found dead
Emergency services said a man was found "unresponsive" at an address in Battersea, south London, on Friday afternoon.
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Simon Coupland @scoupland.bsky.social · 14/08/2026
For #FindsFriday: In July 1862, a shepherd boy found 5 gold and silver rings – the rest turned up soon after. The Vulu hoard from Trøndelag is highly impressive. The large penannular silver brooch weighs c 500 grams and measures 25 cm. 📷 Mårten Teigen, Alexis Pantos, Vikingtidsmuseet Oslo
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Simon Coupland @scoupland.bsky.social · 11/08/2026
The wonderful Wijnaldum fibula restored - read more at www.friesmuseum.nl/en/about-the...
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Reposted by Simon Coupland
UHI Institute for Northern Studies @insuhi.bsky.social · 11/08/2026
UHI Institute for Northern Studies lecture in the Public Seminar Series in partnership Perth Museum & Culture Perth and Kinross confirmed. 'Leading Ladies of the Viking Age' by Shanna Bryman, who has recently completed her PhD with INS. ➕23/09/2026 ➕Perth Museum, Scotland tinyurl.com/3j6dkk9b
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Reposted by Simon Coupland
Internet Archaeology @intarcheditor.bsky.social · 10/08/2026
New in IA71: Inset Lead Weights: #Trade and #Identity in 9th- and 10th-century #Viking armies in #Britain and #Ireland by Dawn Hadley, Julian D. Richards, Mark Randerson and Rebekah Hiett doi.org/10.11141/ia.... with accompanying illustrated digital archive
doi.org
Inset Lead Weights: Trade and Identity in 9th- and 10th-century Viking armies in Britain and Ireland
Viking armies introduced a bullion economy to 9th-century Britain and Ireland in which transactions were facilitated through the use of balances and weights. This paper presents the first comprehensiv...
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Simon Coupland @scoupland.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
Coins from 8th C Chartres and 10th C Cologne both have a barred S. But what does it mean? They've each been interpreted very differently, but surely they're the same symbol. Ideas?
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Simon Coupland @scoupland.bsky.social · 06/08/2026
The BBC say: 'the common definition of plagiarism [is] "passing off someone else's work as if it were your own without appropriate acknowledgement". There is no allegation more serious that can be levelled at an academic.' Clearly they haven't watched much Inspector Morse...
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Simon Coupland @scoupland.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
Have just discovered that Norwegian 🇳🇴 is an anagram of in gear now. 🤔 Who knew? 🇳🇴
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Simon Coupland @scoupland.bsky.social · 31/07/2026
For #FindsFriday a richly decorated elk antler, interpreted as a shield, dated to the late 10th/ early 11th C. Supposedly from Louis the Pious's memorial chapel in Metz, but dating from long after his death in 840. Picture mine, from Het jaar 1000 (Leiden) now in Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam
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Reposted by Simon Coupland
Ny Björn Gustafsson @nybjorn.eurosky.social · 24/07/2026
Newly found stone with runes from a medieval chapel at Sondum in the Faroes (hence I hesitate to refer to it as a rune stone - a grave context appears more likely at present…) 🥳🏺 www.tjodsavnid.fo/greinir/runa...
tjodsavnid.fo
Rúnarsteinur funnin í útgrevstri á Sondum á Sandi — Tjóðsavnið
Í fornfrøðiliga útgrevstrinum á Sondum á Sandi komu fólk frá Tjóðsavninum í vikuni fram á ein rúnarstein. Rúnarsteinurin lá í gólvinum í einum bygningi, sum er givin fram í fornfrøðiliga útgrevstrinum...
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Simon Coupland @scoupland.bsky.social · 24/07/2026
For #FindsFriday a map showing just how many dirham finds are now known from the Netherlands - imported from Scandinavia in the second half of the 9th century. The former island of Wieringen in Noord-Holland which was part of a Scandinavian benefice at this time is particularly rich in finds.
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Simon Coupland @scoupland.bsky.social · 23/07/2026
Hey #medievalsky, 40+ years ago in Cambridge University Library I stumbled across medieval engravings showing a (marital?) ordeal involving someone in a barrel and someone with a club which has haunted my memory ever since. Anyone know it?
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Simon Coupland @scoupland.bsky.social · 16/07/2026
Researchers from EARTH Integrated Archaeology have said that wood found in Wijk bij Duurstede (the site of the important Carolingian port of Dorestad) came from a ship, from an oak felled in winter 759–760. Parallels are known from N. Germany and Denmark. www.omroepzout.nl/gevonden-stu...
omroepzout.nl
Gevonden stuk hout blijkt van schip uit 760
Omroep Zout | Een stuk hout dat bij graafwerkzaamheden in Wijk bij Duurstede is gevonden blijkt onderdeel van het geraamte van een schip. Het onderzoek wijst
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Simon Coupland @scoupland.bsky.social · 14/07/2026
New from Jane Kershaw so definitely worth reading! @jk-viking.bsky.social
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Simon Coupland @scoupland.bsky.social · 14/07/2026
Recently bought this Krimi on holiday in Germany. A killer is leaving victims around the North Sea coast with cryptic references to Radbod and Frisian liberation. Half way through and suspecting @karanthir.bsky.social @history-w-hilbert.bsky.social or even @frisiacoasttrail.bsky.social ... 🤔
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Simon Coupland @scoupland.bsky.social · 09/07/2026
I'm not at IMC Leeds this year, but I do hope someone managed to answer the question once and for all: WAS Charles the Bald really bald??
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Simon Coupland @scoupland.bsky.social · 02/07/2026
I've just signed up for a symposium in Cambridge on early medieval coinage, so Eventbrite thinks I will naturally want to attend a Football Family Fun Day in Croydon... 😂
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Simon Coupland @scoupland.bsky.social · 30/06/2026
Have just finished this book and LOVED it. Not just the discussion of the latest finds from Pompeii but also the reflections on the role of archaeology, museums and our relationship with the past in general. Also engagingly written and an enjoyable read - highly recommended
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Simon Coupland @scoupland.bsky.social · 28/06/2026
Next up, a research seminar at Groningen Uni on Tuesday entitled "Using coin finds to write the history of Frisia". I'll build on the ideas set out in various papers to show how recent finds complement historical and archaeological sources, giving insights which those disciplines alone could not.
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Simon Coupland @scoupland.bsky.social · 28/06/2026
It was great to speak in Leiden on Friday about how the huge rise in Continental coin finds sheds new light on Scandinavian activity, with evidence not only of raids, but also settlement in Normandy and Frisia, and – something rarely mentioned in texts – trade between Franks, Frisians and Danes.
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Simon Coupland @scoupland.bsky.social · 26/06/2026
For #FindsFriday a small Anglo-Saxon whalebone plaque from Larling (Norfolk) now in Norwich Castle museum, depicting Romulus and Remus (and some gorgeous animal interlace). 📸 my own.
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