Archaeologists have uncovered several 500-year-old gold coins during excavations at the ruins of a medieval monastery in Germany.
The discovery was made in the former Himmelpforten monastery near the town of Wernigerode in Saxony-Anhalt state, German news agency Deutsche Presse-Agentur (DPA) reported.
Wernigerode is renowned for its well-preserved historic center, with its colorful medieval buildings, as well as its 12th-century castle.
In total, researchers identified four gold coins in the monastery ruins that would have been very valuable.
Archaeologists think that the coins, some of which are heavily worn, may have been hastily hidden by monks when the monastery was stormed by rebellious farmers in 1525.
"The gold coins were of great value, and the small fortune was probably hidden by a monk in an acutely dangerous situation," project manager and archaeologist Felix Biermann of the Saxony-Anhalt State Office for Monument Preservation and Archeology told the DPA. "The whole thing did not end well because the coins could not be recovered."
The artifacts are known as guilders—the name of several gold coins used during the Holy Roman Empire. The HRE was a political entity spanning western, central and southern Europe that lasted for around 1,000 years from the tail end of the first millennium until its dissolution in 1806.
At the empire's greatest extent, its territory covered the entirety of modern-day Germany. Rather than being a single unitary state, the HRE was a confederation of numerous small- and medium-sized political entities.
The coins found at the monastery in Wernigerode, which was once located within the territory of the HRE, measure just over 1 inch across. They include a guilder minted in Frankfurt before 1493 by the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick III, as well as one produced in Schwabach, near Nuremberg, between 1486 and 1495. The other two guilders were minted in Bonn, a city in western Germany, around 1480-1481.
In addition to the coins, archaeologists have uncovered numerous artifacts dating from the 13th to the 16th centuries during their recent work at the monastery site. These items include brass book clasps from the monastery library, ceramics, animal bones, a cavalry spur and ornate cloth seals made of lead. Archaeologists said these artifacts indicate large-scale trade and a prosperous monastic community.
The Himmelpforten monastery was founded before 1253 by the noble von Hartesrode family and once housed Augustinian hermits. The Augustinians are members of Catholic Christian religious orders who live in a manner inspired by Saint Augustine's rules of life.
In 1516, the Himmelpforten monastery was visited by German priest, theologian and Augustinian friar Martin Luther, a seminal figure in the Protestant Reformation.
The Reformation was a religious movement marked by widespread political and social upheaval that spread across Europe in the 1500s. It resulted in a splintering of the Catholic Church and the formation of Protestantism.
The Himmelpforten monastery was abandoned during the Reformation, with the buildings subsequently falling into disrepair. They were later almost completely demolished.
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