425, Lot: 676. Estimate $1500. Sold for $1300. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

FRANCE, Royal. Robert II le Pieux (the Pious). 996–1031. AR Denier (20mm, 1.13 g, 7h). Mâcon mint. Struck 996-1002, under Otte-Guillaume, Count of Mâcon. + ROTBERTVS R, cross pattée / + MTSCON CVT, monogram of Otte-Guillaume. Duplessy 12; Lafaurie 20; Ciani 23; Poey d'Avant –; Boudeau –; Roberts 2291. VF, toned, typical areas of weak strike. Extremely rare, only 1 in CoinArchives (CGB Monnaies 48, lot 53).

From the BRN Collection, purchased from Andy Singer, April 2004.

Robert II, son of Hughes Capet, was born in 970 AD. Hughes had his son crowned as successor by his nobles in 986, ensuring the establishment of the new dynasty, and Robert ascended to the throne upon the death of his father in 996. The beginning of Robert's reign saw him continuing his father's program of to expand the royal domain, particularly through the method of acquiring any feudal lands left vacant by the death of a noble with no direct heir, which often resulted in conflict with a counter-claimant. Robert's relations with the church was troublesome in the beginning of his reign. As typical of many temporal rulers at the time, Robert struggled against the papal authority to appoint bishops within his kingdom, and he was excommunicated by Pope Gregory V for marrying his cousin, Bertha, the Princess of Burgundy. Nevertheless, Robert was devout, and many of his offical acts were based on his religousness, which earned him his epithet, "the Pious." One particularly "pious" policy of his was the suppression of any form of heresy, with the most notible event being the execution of a number of Cathars who were discovered in Tolouse in 1022—one of the earliest persecutions of Cathars. After his marriage to Bertha was annulled by Pope Sylvester II, Robert married Constance d'Arles. Constance, whose marriage to Robert was opposed by the family of Bertha, became troublesome for Robert, and resulted in Robert's attempt in 1010 to negotiate with the pope to annul his new marriage and reinstate his former wife, Bertha. The attempt failed, and the torrid marriage culminated in the queen turning their sons, Henri and Robert, against their father. Robert died in the midst of this civil war, and the crown passed to his elder son, Henri.This coin was struck in Mâcon, the capital of the Duchy of Burgundy. In 965, Duke Otto, son of Hughes the Great and brother of Hughes Capet, died, and the duchy passed to another of the Capetian brothers, Henri the Venerable, who ruled until his death in 1002. Henry had no direct male descendants, thus his death left two legitimate claimants: Otte-Guillaume, Henri's stepson (and count of Mâcon and the County of Burgundy), and King Robert, Henri's nephew. Otte-Guillaume was closely aligned to the enemy of the nascent French kingdom, the Holy Roman Empire, which backed his candidacy, seeking to take the duchy from French control. A conflict ensued, and although Otte-Guillaume was subdued in 1004, his adherents in Burgundy continued the struggle until 1015. The following year, Robert gave the duchy to his son Henri, and it thereafter became a hereditary possession of the Capetians. This particular coin is especially historic in that it was struck by Otte-Guillaume, as count of Mâcon, before his struggle against Robert.