Watch List notes:

THE LOMBARDS
Ratchis, first reign 744-749

Tremissis 744-749, AV 1.22 g. DM RAT – CHIS Facing and bearded bust; on sides, S – E and on drapery, R(?)E – NO, below, + RX (monogram). Rev. SCSM – IHAIL St. Michael standing l., holding long cross and shield; in r. field, three pellets. Cf. for type: BMC Vandals pag. 146 var. (in field, A – T). Bernareggi 138 var. (in field, A – T). Arslan –. MEC I, –. Arslan E. A. 1991, "Un incontro inaspettato: I monetieri del re longobardo Liutprando, in Die Münze. Bild-Botschaft-Bedeutung", pp. 1-19, pl. 3, 1. MIR 802.
Of the highest rarity and undoubtedly the finest coin known of Ratchis in existance. An
issue of great fascination, wonderfull reddish tone and virtually as struck and Fdc


Ratchis was duke of Friuli in the 8th century. Former collaborator of king Liutprand, he succeeded Liutprand's nephew Hildeprand to the Lombard throne in 744. Both he and his wife, Tassia, were advocates of a peaceful policy towards the Byzantines, however he encountered opposition from the military competent of the Lombards led by his brother of Aistulf, who eventually pushed him to resume the war. In 748-749, he invaded Pentapolis and besieged Perugia, but the intervention of pope Zacharias made him stop. Essentially forced to step down from the throne due to pressures from the military faction, he decided, heeding the pope's exhortations, to become a monk and retire to Montecassino in 749. When his successor Aistulf died in 756, Ratchis returned to Pavia, where he was reinstated as king. However, he was challenged by duke Desiderius who, making use of the spiritual influence of pope Stefano II and the political support of the Franks, forced Ratchis to renounce the throne and return to Montecassino in 757 as a monk.
Bernareggi knew only two coins of Ratchis with his portrait: one in the collection of the King Vittorio Emanuele III, which was found in 1907 in the bed of the river Lambro, close to Landriano (province of Pavia). The second is in private hands.