Bohemia, Bretislav I, broad denarius, 1034-about 1050, men. Prague.
Av. +BRACIZLAVSDVX, St. Wenceslas in cloak clasped at shoulder stands facing, holding cross in right hand.
Rv. SCSVVENCEZ-LAVS, a peacock stands left.
Silver, 1.18 g, 20.0 mm. Cach 313, Šmerda 148a.
Condition II
On the reverse, a faint period incision. Bretislav, as is well known, robbed and destroyed the capitals of the Piasts, but on his denarius he placed a motif known before from the famous denarius of Boleslaw the Brave: the peacock. If, as Prof. Suchodolski supposes, the peacock on the Polish coin is a bird of paradise referring to St. Adalbert, the peacock on the Czech coin may also refer to the saint, whose relics, according to the account of the Czech chronicler Kosmas, were greeted in front of the walls of Prague on September 1, 1039 as follows: "The clergy and all the people came out with a procession. Its long ranks barely managed to spread out over a wide field [...]. The prince himself and the bishop proudly carried on their shoulders the sweet burden of Christ's martyr Adalbert; [...] behind them followed twelve chosen priests with difficulty carrying the weight of the golden crucifix - for Prince Mieszko weighed himself three times with this gold [...]. At the end of more than a hundred carts they carried the huge bells and all the treasure of Poland, behind them followed a crowd of illustrious men with their hands tied with iron loops and choked with hoops around their necks..." (translated by M. Wojciechowska).
