The Cyrillic penny of Boleslaus Chrobry, prince of Poland – a new source, a new interpretation

In this article, a new interpretation of the so-called Cyrillic penny has been proposed. The coin in question was struck for Duke Boleslaus Chrobry (‘the Brave’) in Greater Poland, probably in the last months of 1018. The reason for the revision of earlier hypotheses is the bulla of a Kyivan prince, Iaroslav the Wise that was uncovered in Novgorod Velikiĭ and dated to c.1018. The bulla differs in its iconography from other tenth and eleventh century lead seals from the area of Rus´. The close similarity between the fi gure of Iaroslav on his bulla and the depiction of the Polish duke on his Cyrillic penny as well as the contemporaneity of the two objects, leads us to presume that the penny played some role in propaganda activities associated with the capture of Kyiv by Boleslaus in 1018.