Live auction - bmv_468319 - MEROVINGIAN COINAGE - SION (Valais) - SUISSE Triens à la croix chrismée, MVNDERICVS monétaire

SION (Valais) - Switzerland

(7th century)

The city of Sion takes its current name from the Latin Sedunum, itself derived from that of the Celtic people who lived there, the Sedunes (in Latin: Sedunii). They built on the site of Sion an oppidum usually identified with the Drousomagos, perhaps meaning market of Drusus or market of the bushes, cited by Ptolemy and which he located upstream of Martigny. Until the end of Roman times, Sion remained in the shadow of Massongex and then of Martigny, then called Octodure, which had the advantage of being on the strategic road to Grand-Saint-Bernard. It was not until the 5th century, when the bishop moved the episcopal seat there, that the town became the socio-cultural center of the region. From 999, the bishop of Sion became count of Valais. In 1032, the county became part of the Holy Roman Empire. From 1189, the county became the episcopal principality of Sion. The Middle Ages and the Renaissance see the confrontation, on the ground of the unification of Were worth and the struggle for power, between the bishop and the Diet, which also sits in Sion..