TWO FINDS OF THE PODILLIA HALF-GROSZES IN LVIV REGION
Authors: Kryzhanivsky Andrіi 
Published: December 2021

The article discuss two new finds in the Lviv region of coins of the Podillia principality, minted on behalf of Prince Konstantin Koriatyvych. One Podillia half-grosz was found in the Busk district near the Poltva river, and the second coin was accidentally found in the Zolochiv district of the Lviv region. It is noteworthy that these two districts are neighboring and during the existence of these coins formed the border between Galicia and Podillia. The most probable reason for the discovery of these coins in this area can be explained by the desire of Podillia merchants to sell their goods on the border with the Galicia-Volyn state, because to take them to Lviv through the warehouse right granted to the city was unprofitable. It is known that the main powerful direction of trade in Lviv was the Crimea, trade was carried out through the shopping centers of Podillia. This route of movement of the goods of Lviv merchants is confirmed by the findings of Lviv coins, distributed along the trade routes from Lviv to Moldavia and Kafa. Exotic goods from distant Venice, Persia, China and Alexandria came to Lviv via Kafa, Sudak and Belgorod. Further movement of goods took place to Krakow, Gdansk, Prague and Regensburg.

Among the coin finds in Lviv, Ivano-Frankivsk and Ternopil regions – minted in Lviv, Prague and Polish coins predominate. There are no common treasures of Lviv coins with the Golden Horde coins. In Ivano-Frankivsk region, together with Lviv, Moldovan money was hidden, and in Ternopil region – the so-called «Kyiv imitations» and Podillia coins. In the Chernivtsi region, along with Lviv and Prague coins, Golden Horde dirhams and Moldavian coins were found. Among the Moldavian – coins of the Stephen the Great, which confirms the existence of a trade route from Lviv to the Crimea through the Moldavian lands, starting from the last decades of the XIV century. In Khmelnytsky and Vinnytsia oblasts, finds with Lviv coins show an impressive presence of coins of different monetary systems. Podillia became an important international exchange of goods, which is reflected in the deposition of coins in treasures. In Ternopil, Khmelnytsky and Vinnytsia oblasts, 2,594 Lviv coins accounted for 1,650 coins of Casimir III, Wladyslaw of Opole and Louis of Hungary (from 1350-1380) and 944 coins and half-groszes of Władysław Jagiello, minted in Lviv during 1387-1412. The predominance of coins of Casimir III, Wladyslaw of Opole and Louis of Hungary fits into the assertion that in their time trade routes to the Crimea via Podillia were the main ones. Among the 263 Lviv coins of the 14th century found in the Cherkasy region, only three coins with the name of Wladyslav Jagiello, that is, in the last decades of the 14th century. Lviv merchants hardly reached the Dnieper. They stopped in Podolia, where they bought all the necessary oriental goods. Finds of Lviv silver coins allow us to establish that since the end of the 1380s Podillia lands have been in the center of trade transactions. If before they were a transit territory, now they have become the most important transshipment point in trade with the east. In the end, this eventually led to the minting of a small Podillia coin (half a fraction of Prague money common in Eastern and Central Europe) to meet the needs of a lively local market.

The vast majority of Podillia half-groszes recorded by Igor Yakovelis in joint treasures with Lviv coins were found in the Khmelnytsky region. Only one – in Ternopil, 7 pcs. in Vinnytsia and 2 pcs. in the Cherkassy region. The fact that the finds of Podillia coins are localized, mostly in the Khmelnytsky region and partly in the Vinnytsia region, indicates that the reason for their minting was the service of rapid trade right here, in the transshipment point on the way of oriental goods. The two Podillia half-groszes from the Lviv region put into scientific circulation may indicate that the Podillia merchants arrived with their goods (probably also of eastern origin) on the border of the Podillia principality and Galician Rus’. In fact, they did not invent a new route, but used the old «Tatar road» that led from Lviv to Zolochiv, Terebovlia and Kamyanets. Along this path, the two most western finds of Podillia coins were recorded – in Zolochiv and Busk districts.