Abracteate (from theLatinbractea, a thin piece of metal) is a flat, thin, single-sided goldmedal worn asjewelry that was produced inNorthern Europe predominantly during theMigration Period of theGermanic Iron Age (including theVendel era in Sweden). Bracteate coins are also known from the medieval kingdoms around theBay of Bengal, such asHarikela andMon city-states. The term is also used for thin discs, especially in gold, to be sewn onto clothing in the ancient world, as found for example in the ancient PersianOxus treasure, and also latersilver coins produced incentral Europe during theEarly Middle Ages.

Gold bracteates commonly denote a certain type of jewelry, made mainly in the 5th to 7th century AD, represented by numerous gold specimens. Bead-rimmed and fitted with a loop, most were intended to be worn suspended by a string around the neck, supposedly as anamulet. The gold for the bracteates came from coins paid as peace money by the Roman Empire to their Northern Germanic neighbors.^[1]

Many of the bracteates feature ruler portraits ofGermanic kings with characteristic hair that is plaited back and depictions of figures fromGermanic mythology influenced to varying extents by Roman coinage while others feature entirely new motifs. The motifs are commonly those of Germanic mythology and some are believed to beGermanic paganicons giving protection or for divination.^[1]

Often depicted is a figure with ahorse,birds and sometimes aspear – that some scholars interpret as a representation of the Germanic godWodan – and aspects of the figure that would later appear in 13th century depictions asOdin such as thePoetic Edda. For this reason the bracteates are a target of iconographic studies by scholars interested in Germanic religion. Several bracteates also featurerunic alphabet inscriptions (a total of 133 inscriptions on bracteates are known, amounting to more than a third of the entireElder Futhark corpus). Numerous Bracteates featureswastikas as a common motif.^[1]

The typology for bracteates divides them into several letter-named categories, a system introduced in an 1855 treatise by the Danish numismatistChristian Jürgensen Thomsen namedOm Guldbracteaterne og Bracteaternes tidligste Brug som Mynt and finally defined formally by the Swedish numismatistOscar Montelius in his 1869 treatiseFrån jernåldern:

• A-bracteates (~92 specimens): showing the face of a human, modelled after antique imperial coins
• B-bracteates (~91 specimens): one to three human figures in standing, sitting or kneeling positions, often accompanied by animals
• C-bracteates (best represented, by ~426 specimens): showing a male's head above a quadruped, often interpreted as the Germanic godWoden.^[1]
• D-bracteates (~359 specimens): showing one or more highly stylized animals
• E-bracteates (~280 specimens): showing an animaltriskele under a circular feature
• F-bracteates (~17 specimens): as a subgroup of the D-bracteates, showing an imaginary animal
• M-'bracteates' (~17 specimens): two-sided imitations of Roman imperial medallions

More than 1,000 Migration Period bracteates of type A-, B-, C-, D-, and F are known in total (Heizmann & Axboe 2011). Of these, 135 (ca. 11%) bearElder Futhark inscriptions which are often very short; the most notable inscriptions are found on theSeeland-II-C (offering traveling protection to the one who wears it),Vadstena (giving a listing of the Elder Futhark combined with a potential magical inscription) andTjurkö (featuring an inscription in scaldic verse) bracteates.

To these can be added the ca. 270 E-bracteates (Gaimster 1998), which belong to the Vendel Period and thus are slightly later than the other types. They were produced only on Gotland, and while the earlier bracteates (apart from a few English pieces) all were made from gold, many E-bracteates were made from silver or bronze.

The German historianKarl Hauck, Danish archaeologistMorten Axboe and German runologistKlaus Düwel have worked since the 1960s to create a complete corpus of the early Germanic bracteates from the migration period, complete with large scale photographs and drawings. This has been published in three volumes in German namedDie Goldbrakteaten der Völkerwanderungszeit. Ikonographischer Katalog. A catalogue supplement is included in Heizmann & Axboe 2011.

Silver bracteates (in GermanBrakteat, also called "hollow pennies":Hohlpfennige orSchüsselpfennige) are different from the migration period bracteates. They were the predominant regional coinage type minted in German-speaking areas (with the exception ofRhineland,Westphalia and theMiddle Rhine region) beginning at around 1130 inSaxony andThuringia and lasted well into the 14th century. From a currency point of view, bracteates were a typical "regional penny" currency of the time.

Medieval silver bracteates are one-sided, stampedpfennigs from thin silver sheet, with a diameter of 22 to 45 mm. The coin image appears in a high relief, while the back remains hollow. The large area left much room for artistic representations. Usual were three denominations, a two-pfennig (Blaffert) with elaborate image, a one-pfennig (Hohlpfennig) with coarse image and hollow coins worth half apfennig (Scherf).

The bracteates were usually called back regularly, about once or twice a year, and had to be exchanged for new coins (Renovatio Monetae). For example, receiving three new coins for four old coins. The withheld 4th coin was called strike money and was often the only tax revenue of the coin mint-master. This system worked like ademurrage: People wouldn't hoard their coins, because they lost their value. So, this money was used more as a medium of exchange than for storing value. This increased thevelocity of money and stimulated the economy.

This disruption disturbed the business interests of all those who were involved in the then money economy, namely the merchants who dominated in theGerman city leagues. The city leagues then introduced from 1413 a so-calledEwiger Pfennig ("eternal penny").

The last bracteates were "traveller bracteates", embossed medallions worn as a pendant, that served as a type of presence mark forpilgrims and were in use until the 17th century.

In somecantons of Switzerland, bracteate-likerappen,heller, andangster were produced during the 18th century.

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  Medieval silver bracteates (hollow pennies), with depictions ofFrederick I, Holy Roman Emperor, 12th century,Frankfurt am Main
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  Medieval silver bracteate minted by theBurgraves ofDohna; the earliest minted from c. 1200
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  Bracteate ofLouis II, Landgrave of Thuringia
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  Hoard of 600 Magdeburg bracteates from the early 13th century (Bode Museum)

• Pesch, Alexandra:Die Goldbrakteaten der Völkerwanderungszeit – Thema und Variation (Berlin: de Gruyter, 2007).

• Era of the Great Migrations, 375 BC – 550 AD, Bracteate (archived 26 June 2006)
• Gold bracteate—Canterbury Archaeological Trust (archived 24 November 2005)
• Hunnic bracteates (archived 4 May 2006)
• Pfennig or bracteate, 0.89 g, silver, from Halberstadt, around 1200 (archived 3 December 2008)
• Gold Bracteates – Fake? (archived 13 February 2007)
• Hoards from the Roman Iron Age – Early Viking Age (archived 30 October 2005)
• "Evidence of the Jutes", BBC
• List of Danish bracteates with runic inscriptions