+ DAVE'S : RARE : COINS

III.VIII The Line of Wessex.

This post will show all of the monarchs of Wessex and [from the reign of Æðelstan] England from 786 to 1016. During this era silver pennies [and occasionally smaller denominations] were coined by most of these rulers in their own names, making them [almost always] readily identifiable. Only unattributable sceat coinage was minted in Wessex prior to the reign of Beorhtric, and this period [although not the minting of silver pennies] ends with the rule of the Danish line of Cnut and his sons, beginning in late 1016. Two of these monarchs, Æðelbald and Eadmund Ironside, probably did mint pennies, but these are unknown [or unrecognised at least] to numismatics at the present time and so it is said that they have "no known coinage".

The coinage of these kings is shown through scans of coins from my cabinet. These are below the synopsis for each king.

BEORHTRIC  786-802. Dependant on Offa of Mercia, married one of his daughters. Minted his extremely rare coinage with permission of Offa late in reign. Usurper. NO EXAMPLES IN MY CABINET.

ECGBERHT  802-839. Forced into exile by Offa. Returned to England and crowned king of Wessex 802. Defeated the almighty Mercians at the battle of Ellendune in 825. Northumbria accepted his overlordship in 829, and he was named Bretwalda, or ruler of Britain. Extensive coinage, all of it very rare. Father of Æðelvulf.

ÆÐELVULF 839-855. His reign was characterised by Viking invasions. He was a highly religious man, who gave generously to Rome and the English church. A wealthy and wise ruler, he pronounced that the oldest living child of the line would succeed to the throne. Extensive coinage, much of it rare. Father of the following four rulers of Wessex including Ælfred the Great.

ÆÐELBALD 858-860. Plotted against Æthelwulf whilst the latter was away in Rome. Took the throne in 858. Died in 860. Brother of Æthelberht. NO KNOWN COINAGE.

ÆÐELBERHT 860-866. Very little known about reign. Succeeded at age 30 or so. Had to battle the Vikings in his Capital city of Winchester. Very rare coinage. Brother of Æthelred I.

ÆÐELRED I 866-871. An affable and devoutly religious man, Fought the battle of Ashdownin against the Vikings in 870. Very rare coinage. Brother of Ælfred. NO EXAMPLES IN MY CABINET.

ÆLFRED [THE GREAT] 871-899. Defeated the Danes decisively at the battle of Eddington. Partitioned England to form the Danelaw. He constructed a large fleet of ships, was a scholar, promoted education and codified the laws.  Extensive coinage, much of it rare. Father of Eadweard the Elder. 

EADWEARD THE ELDER 899-924. A military leader, he reconquered all of the Danelaw south of the Humber river. Extensive coinage, some of it rare. Father of Æðelstan and Eadmund.

ÆÐELSTAN 924-939. A great warrior, he defeated a combined force of Scots, Welsh and Vikings at the battle of Brunanburh in 938. He was the first king to be crowned on the Kings Stone at Kingston-Upon-Thames. Rare coinage. Brother of Eadmund. NO EXAMPLES IN MY CABINET.

EADMUND 939-946. Fought with his brother at Brunanburh. Murdered by an outlaw at his own feast. Coinage of silver pennies. Brother of Eadred.

EADRED 946-955. Contested Northumbria with the Viking Eric Bloodaxe. He devoted his life to God, and had a lingering physical malady which meant he was constantly oppressed by sickness and had a very weak digestion. Much silver coinage. Uncle of Eadwig and Eadgar.

EADWIG [also EDWY] 955-959. Became king at 16, he made an enemy of archbishop [St.] Dunstan. He was generous to religious foundations and died at age 20. Silver coinage. Brother of Eadgar. NO EXAMPLES IN MY CABINET.

EADGAR 959-975. Could be considered the first ruler of a united England. His wisest act was probably recalling St. Dunstan from exile. Reformed the coinage to include a portrait of the monarch in 972. Extensive coinage. Father of Eadward the Martyr and Æðelred II.

EADWARD THE MARTYR 975-978. Succeeded to the throne at age 12. Murdered at 16 by his brothers men at Corfe Castle. Rare coinage. Brother of Aethelred II.

ÆÐELRED II 978-1016. Became king at age 10. His reign was plagued by poor advice from personal favourites. Spent vast fortunes attempting to buy off the Vikings with Danegeld. Died 1016 after abandoning and re-assuming the throne in favour of Swein Forkbeard. Huge volume of coinage, most of it common. Father of Edmund Ironside. NO EXAMPLES IN MY CABINET. [difficult to obtain rarer examples]

EADMUND IRONSIDE 1016 only. A short vigorous reign with a series of brilliant military defeats against the Vikings. Beaten by Cnuts forces, a peace agreement was made. He died suddenly in November leaving Cnut to become undisputed king of England. Son of Æðelred II. NO KNOWN COINAGE.

• Posted by dragonbloodaxe on 22/01/2007.
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III.VII A Mercian at the Wessex court.

Nothing is known of the early life of St. Plegmund of Canterbury [reigned 890-923]. That he was was a Mercian by birth is a matter of record. He lived at Plemstall in Cheshire, on an island known to locals as Plegmundeshamm, as a hermit monk attached to the Benedictine abbey at Chester. This before attracting the attention of king Ælfred of Wessex by virtue of his learning, and recieving his invitation to the court at Wessex [sometime before 887], along with three others renowned for their learning [bishop Wærferð of Worcester, and scholars Æðelstan and Wærwulf]. He was invited with the express intention of the furtherance of learning in accordance with the youthful Ælfreds wishes for his realm. He remained friendly with Ælfred, who called him "Plegmund, my archbishop" until Ælfred died in 899.

At Ælfreds recommendation, Plegmund was created archbishop of Canterbury by pope Stephen V in 890. In 891 [after Stephens death] Plegmund left for Rome, where he was consecrated and recieved the pallium from pope Formosus [enthroned 891, antipope]. Ælfred, having learned latin, had translated pope Gregory the Greats book On Pastoral Care [Liber Regulae Pastoralis] into Old English [Anglo-Saxon] and presented a copy to every bishop throughout the kingdom. Plegmunds own copy is preserved in the British Library. Plegmund was a signatory to a grant of land to Christ Church, Canterbury in 895 [he granted some of his own land to the church in the same year], and at a council at Chelsea in 898 king Ælfred bestowed land on him, at Queenhithe in London.

Before his death in 896, pope Formosus* sent a letter to the archbishop at Canterbury in which the English bishops were severely criticised for not continuing the work begun by Plegmund in attempting to convert the heathen Danish settlers in Mercia. He also warned that education should be encouraged so that the number of learned men in future would be adequate for the training of English bishops. This letter is extant but thought to be interpolated with later material, although the core of the text is genuine and certainly from this period.

On 8th June 900 Plegmund crowned Ælfreds son as Eadweard I [the Elder] at Kingston upon Thames. He continued to serve this king until his own death, a year before Eadweards, in 924. In 908 Plegmund consecrated the new minster at Winchester, founded by Eadweard the Elder. A number of charters with Plegmund as signatory [between 900 and 920] survive from Eadweards reign.

Plegmund reorganised the church in Wessex, increasing the number of bishoprics from two to five [Winchester, Sherborne, Wells, Crediton and Ramsbury]. Many bishoprics had become vacant due to Viking attacks and raiding, and as a result Eadweard was reluctant to fill the positions. Plegmund threatened the king with excommunication.....also threatening to place an interdict [a period where Christian religious services were prohibited, and the sacrements withheld] on the entire country. He got his way and actually consecrated SEVEN bishops in a single day in 909, five for Wessex and two for Mercia. 

Archbishop Plegmund of Canterbury died on 2nd August 923. He was buried in the Cathedral, and canonised sometime later. A holy well associated with Plegmund can be seen to this day at Plemstall Lane, near to the church of St. Peter in Plemstall.

Ecclesiastical Coinage. 

In common with the former archbishops of Canterbury going back to Jeanberht in the reign of Offa [759-796], Plegmund was granted the right of moneyers at the Canterbury mint in order to profit from the striking of coinage in his own name. He was in fact the last archbishop of Canterbury to coin in his own name, although the practice of ecclesiastics minting coins was not ended until the reign of Henry VIII. Other religious authorities permitted to mint coins were the archbishop of York and at least one bishop of London.

The types of coins struck by Plegmund closely follow the types of Ælfred and Eadweard. The principle type [of Class I] is the Two-Line type. This has a small cross pattee on the obverse with the archbishops title around the outer circle. PLEGMUND ARCHIEP or EPISC. The moneyers name is in two lines on the reverse divided by three cross patees. The letter O on this type is diamond-shaped ◊. These Class I coins were minted at the start of the incumbancy and continued for around five years. Many Danish imitations of this type exist, as of others.

The other two types of Class I are similar in regard to tiles and layout except N 254, which has D◊R◊ on the obverse in place of the cross [please see photo, from my cabinet], and N 255, which has XPF in place of the obverse cross.

                 A rare Class I D◊R◊ obverse coin of Plegmund of Canterbury. N 254.

Class II coinage is similar to Class I but has a normal letter O. These date from after 910. A final rare type has a rose formed by a cross pommee with a voided centre over a cross moline. The obverse has annulets with a cross on the reverse.

Sources : Answers.com website. Britannia Biographies websites. Catholic Online website. St. Plegmunds Well website. Books : English Hammered Coinage, Volume One. J.J. North. Coinage in Tenth-Century England. Blunt, Stewart, Lyon.

*The acts and ordinations of pope Formosus were annulled in 897, and the sentence confirmed by Sergius III in 904 when he became pope. Plegmund had been ordained by Formosus so this left him in a perilous position, as it did those ordained in turn by Plegmund. As a result of this he travelled to Rome in 908 [ostensibly to carry king Eadweards alms] in order to have his consecration validated, which it was by the new pope. Whilst in Rome he purchased some relics of St. Blaise, which he brought back to Canterbury.

• Posted by dragonbloodaxe on 19/01/2007.
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III.VI William II. A king without fear.

Early life and Family.

William II was born in Normandy c.1056-60. The third and favourite son of William I, the Conqueror, and his wife Matilda of Flanders [they made a very odd looking couple as he was six feet tall and heavily built, and she was only four feet and slender !!].  William was surnamed "Rufus" [red] on account of his choleric complexion.

Of his brothers, his eldest was Robert Curthose, later Duke Robert II of Normandy. He rebelled many times against his father, whilst William always stayed loyal. [Robert later rebelled several times against kings William II and Henry I, and was soundly beaten. In his last battle, Tinchebrae 1106, his forces were decimated by Henry I, and he was captured alive after the battle. He was imprisoned in Devises castle for twenty years befre being moved to Cardiff, where he died in 1134, in his early 80's. His tomb is in Gloucester Cathedral].

His older brother Richard was killed in a hunting accident, aged 14.

His younger brother Henry, who also rebelled against his father and brother whilst annointed sovereigns, later became king Henry I of England, and the most resilient of the Norman monarchs as he held the throne for 35 years. He may or may not have been responsible for the death of king William II.

Little is known about Williams early life. He was tutored by archbishop Lanfranc of Canterbury, and was in fact destined to become a great lord rather than a king. That changed with the death of Richard, and the constant rebellions of his brothers. On his deathbed the Conqueror gave Normandy to Robert, to Henry he gave a large amount of money and estates, but his favourite son William inherited the greatest prize : England.

King.

Rufus was crowned king of England at Westminster Abbey on 26th September 1087. He ruled harshly, with an iron hand, which distanced him from the people somewhat, especially in the matter of taxation, although he was a flambouyant character.

Almost immediately he had to deal with rebellions instigated by his uncle archbishop Odo of Bayeaux, Robert Curthose and Robert de Mowbray, the earl of Northumberland. All of these were crushed by largely English armies, who upon the surrender of the earls soldiers shouted for the traitors to be hanged. Quite something when it is understood that the Normans scorned the Saxon culture and had ended their way of life but thirty years earlier.

He won, sometimes great, military victories at various times against rebel lords and subjects, the French, Welsh and Scots. He compelled Malcolm III MacDuncan to pay him homage, and was said to be loved by his soldiers.

He was also an extremely capable politician, as his father had been before him. He managed to defeat all of his known enemies, political and military.

We have a description of William Rufus thanks to William of Malmsbury. He was muscular and thickset, with a protruding belly. A dandy dressed in the height of fashion, however outrageous. He wore his blond hair long and parted in the centre leaving his forehead bare. His face was red and choleric. [note blond hair. "Rufus" is usually taken to refer to him having red hair].

Elsewhere we learn of fashionable pointed shoes worn at his court, and William himself speaking with a stutter. We know he was never married [something almost unheard of for a medieval king] and had no legitimate children.

Hated by the Church.

William II had a most unusual, and notorious, disregard for the institution of the church. He was the opposite of his father, a god-fearing man whose court was austere.  His did not alter his opinion throughout his reign despite threats from the English church and the Papacy. He consistently kept several abbacies and bishoprics vacant in order to profit from their revenues. Lanfranc had died in 1089, but it was not until 1093 that William bowed to pressure and appointed the saintly Anselm of Bec as archbishop of Canterbury. He proved a bad choice and the two often quarrelled. Anselm finally left for Rome to seek guidance from the pope in 1097. William simply seized his estates.

The churches revenge came by way of the chroniclers [all churchmen of course]. They called him sodomite and accused him of filling his court with mincing long-haired effeminate pretty boys. He was said to have advanced favourites according to their looks and performance between the sheets rather than governmental abilities. In short he was stigmatised in the most brutal terms as woman-like and cowardly. [To escape this image one of the first acts of Henry I once he became king was to deprive his courtiers of their long hair]. 

Williams liberal dealings with the church, in an age when most people including monarchs, feared it, led to his later rather unjustified reputation. He probably was a homosexual, but then so was Richard I for example [an absentee warmonger with a sham marriage, he is lauded as a national hero today], a king loved by the chroniclers for leading the Third Crusade, despite getting himself captured on his return and languishing in prison until an enormous ransom was paid by the English to fund his release and return. In fact he only spent six months of a ten year reign in England !! Richard the hero - William the monster ?

Yet England was a more powerful force in Europe on the day William died than on the day he was crowned. William II 1087-1100. R.I.P.

Death and Burial.

William was around forty years old when he died, on August 2nd 1100. Hit by an arrow whilst hunting in the new forest. Ironically the manner of his death is the most well known, and debated part of his life. The contemporary chroniclers mention nothing of assassination or murder, but refer only to an accident. Others believe that he was killed on the orders of his younger brother Henry, also in the hunting party. The supposed spot at which he died is now marked by the Rufus Stone

Buried in Winchester Cathedral under the tower, it collapsed the following year. Today his bones are mixed with those of saints and kings in the mortuary chests above the choir. This as a result of the original chests being broken open by Cromwells Parlimentarian troops during the Civil War, the bones then being used to smash the cathedral windows. They were gathered together again at the restoration, although there was of course no way to tell the bones apart, hence the mixed up contents of the chests today. 

Coinage.

Coin dies for William II were produced by Otto the goldsmith, as they had been for his father and back into late Anglo-Saxon times, although the quality and strikes have worsened noticably by this reign. During his thirteen years on the throne, five types of silver penny were produced, although at a lesser number of mints than his father employed. All of his coins are rare and very expensive. The thick block lettering is generally very difficult to decipher.

These photos show coins of William II from my cabinet. Both coins are of the Cross Voided type. The top image is of a rare halfpenny, which clearly shows the bust of William II with star either side, and the bottom one is of a very rare farthing, cut at the mint of issue. These were minted c.1092-1095.

Sources : Wikipedia - William II of England website. English Monarchs - The house of Normandy website. BBC History website. Portable Antiquities Scheme website. School History - William Rufus website. Find a grave memorial - William Rufus website. Books : English Hammered Coinage, Volume One. J.J. North. Types, mints and mintmasters of the rare Coinage of the Normans and the House of Blois. Oliver Ratcliff [1897]. The Normans. Jack Lindsay. The life and times of William I. Maurice Ashley.

• Posted by dragonbloodaxe on 13/01/2007.
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III.V Merry Christmas !!!

I would like to take this opportunity to wish all visitors to my site a very MERRY CHRISTMAS and a HAPPY NEW YEAR........from DAVE.

• Posted by dragonbloodaxe on 25/12/2006.
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III.IV In the shadow of a great man.

King Æðelberht [858-865] of the House of Wessex, is mentioned in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle as the brother of kings Æðelbald [856-860*] and Æðelred I [865/866-871] of the West Saxons, upon their respective accessions. But his most famous brother is king Ælfred [The Great, 871-899] of Wessex. Today the great man is a household name. Who, outside of specialist circles, has heard of Æðelberht ?

The term brother should not be taken literally in this sense. He was at most half brother to the sons of king Æðelvulf [839-858]. King Æfreds will calls Æðelberht his "kinsman" [and implies that his succession as king was irregular]. The same document refers to the other two sons of Æðelvulf as Ælfreds "brothers". This leads to several possibilities. Æðelberht may have been an illegitimate son of Æðelvulf by a concubine. He may have been the son of Æðelvulf by a previous marriage. He may have been a child of queen Osburga [wife of Æðelwulf] by a previous marriage. But it is more likely that he was related by blood somewhat more remotely, perhaps a nephew of the king treated as a son at court. Kinsman should therefore be taken to mean "adopted brother".

Æðelberht held a position of authority and power during the lifetime of king Æðelvulf. This was probably due to him being older than the legitimate sons of the king, and perhaps also to his being groomed to counter the ever-growing Viking threat. A charter of Æðelvulf, dated 853, has Æðelberht REX as witness. It has been deduced from this that he was created sub-king in Kent and its subsiduaries around the time that Æðelvulf left on a pilgrimage to Rome, c.853.

This under-kingship was revoked at some stage, as Æðelvulf took these territories to rule over himself upon his return to England. This was part of his arrangement to divide the kingdom between himself and his eldest legitimate son Æðelbald. A probable explanation for this is that Æðelberht disgraced himself by plotting against the king whilst he was away in Rome. Æðelbald was elevated to the under-kingship of Kent in 855....in an attempt to strengthen his position for eventual succession to the whole kingdom. But by now Æðelberht had powerful support.

Æðelberht retained and consolidated his own power, as the chronicle states that following Æðelvulfs death, his TWO sons inherited the kingdom. Æðelbald took Wessex and Æðelberht Kent, Essex, Sussex and Surrey. An agreement must have been reached between the two kings, with each not quite powerful enough to oust the other. Upon the death of Æðelbald in 860, Æðelberht became ruler of the kingdom of Wessex also, presumably displacing the less powerful true heirs who were still minors at this time [Ælfred himself was only eleven years of age].

Æðelberht granted charters, some of which are still extant, and was the first king of Wessex not to delegate a sub-king to Kent. His charters for the first time show a full compliment of West Saxon and kentish witnesses.

Danish attacks increased during Æðelberhts reign. The largest army yet faced [The Great Army] landed in East Anglia in Autumn 865. They unsuccessfully stormed Winchester and ravaged eastern kent.

The reign of king Æðelberht of Wessex lasted a little over seven years. He died and was buried alongside his adoptive father, and adoptive brother at Sherbourne Abbey in Dorset. The Chronicle relates that he was succeeded by Æðelred I in 865/6, and describes his reign as one of good harmony and great internal peace

Two types of penny were issued during Æðelberhts short reign. Both have the classic bird-like bare-headed bust right, with the legend ÆÐELBEREHΤ REX. H and T are ligate.

The first type, initiated during his fathers reign, was the Inscribed Cross coinage. This was minted [for Æðelberht] between c.858 and c.864. Over forty different moneyers coined this type. It differed from that of his adoptive father only in name. The moneyer on my own example [below] is ÆÐELRED. Taking into consideration the Mercian style "M" on my coin, examples by this moneyer are quite rare.

The second type is very rare. The short-lived Floriated Cross was only minted for a year or so at the end of the reign. There are less than ten coins of this type including my fragment [bottom]. The moneyer is CUNEFREÐ.  A complete example [with minor edge chipping], found together with my fragment on the A64, later sold for just short of two thousand pounds.

[* There is no known official coinage of Æðelbald of Wessex, although I believe he DID indeed mint coins in his own name].

Sources : Early Medieval Coinage, Fitzwilliam website. SCBI website. England, Anglo-Saxon and Danish Kings website. Anglo-Saxons.net, Æðelberht + Charters website. Andy Gillis website. Books. Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, Anne Savage. English Hammered Coinage Volume One. J.J. North.

• Posted by dragonbloodaxe on 14/12/2006.
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III.III A bit of fun...........Did you know ?

The phrase "to pay through the nose" [refering to exhorbitant pricing] comes from the Viking practice of slitting the noses of anyone who would not or could not afford to pay their tribute !!

By the reign of king Eadgar [959-975] the penny was so overvalued that 65lb of money = 50lb of silver, bullion weight. The penny was far too light but was still circulating as legal tender.

There are 16 entries in the Domesday Book refering to moneyers.

In the 10th/11th century there were an estimated 5 million pennies circulating in England. Aethelred II [978-1016] payed over 40 million pennies in Danegeld. THIS IS EQUIVALENT TO AROUND ONE HUNDRED MILLION POUNDS TODAY. WITH PERHAPS THE PURCHASING POWER OF CLOSE TO ONE BILLION POUNDS STERLING.

The Norman mint of Dunwich is now under the North Sea.

There have been more Anglo-Saxon pennies found in Scandinavia than England. This is due to coin hoards of Danegeld.

Archbishop St. Dunstan once refused to celebrate mass until three dishonest moneyers had been deprived of their right hands.

Until 1180 it was expressly forbidden for Winchester moneyers to work in the same building. This was thought to prevent dishonesty.

In 1124 king Henry I judged his 150 moneyers, mutilating 94 of them for debasing the coinage. They each lost their right hand and one testicle.

In late Saxon times the penalty for coining "outside the walls" [ie. not in a lawful town or city] was death.

In 973 king Eadgar reformed the coinage and introduced a royal portrait as standard on the obverse of coins.

King Aethelstan [924-939] was the first monarch to mint coins with a crowned portrait. Until this reign kings were diademed or bare-headed on English coins. 

William the Conqueror was so impressed with the standard of the English coinage [by far the best in Europe] that he allowed it to remain in place. The same family of late Saxon royal jewellers produced the coin dies of William I also.

King Cnut was the first Danish monarch to mint coins. He did so in England first, then exported English moneyers to Denmark to establish a mint there.

The most expensive Anglo-Saxon coin ever sold is the Coenwulf gold Mancus, discovered in 2001. It was bought by the British Museum in 2005 for £357, 832.  www.scvhistory.com/scvhistory/signal/coins/worden-coinage0106a.htm

The only Anglo-Saxon queen permitted to mint coins in her own name was Cynethryth, wife of king Offa of Mercia [757-796].

The broad flan, thin penny [as opposed to the sceat] was probably introduced by the transitory king of Kent, Heaberht [c.774]. 

Anglo-Saxon coins were produced onto squares of silver...then trimmed round.

A pair of coin dies in the late Saxon/Norman period consisted of one obverse die and two reverse dies, as these broke easier.

An Anglo-Saxon gold Mancus was worth thirty silver pennies. The silver penny represented one days pay for a skilled craftsman. It was a huge sum of money to the ordinary peasant.

Under the laws of Cnut witnesses had to be present for any transaction involving more than four pennies.

In the tenth century a horse could be valued at up to [the enormous sum of] 120 pennies. You could buy an ox for a mancus, a cow at twenty pence, a pig at ten pence, a sheep at a shilling [here being four pennies] and a goat for two pence.

There were more mints operational in England after the Norman conquest [over seventy] than there are active in the whole world today. Over one hundred countries entrust the modern Royal Mint to coin their money.

Domesday Book names twenty eight mint towns.

The largest hoard of pennies of Norman England was found at Beauworth, Hampshire in 1833. The hoard contained at lease eight thousand coins. Sixty five mints are represented. Prior to the discovery of this hoard the PAXS type of William I was his rarest type. It is now his most common by far.

Spink's Coins Of England and the U.K. is one of the most frequently stolen library books in the country.

• Posted by dragonbloodaxe on 28/10/2006.
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III.II MY APPRECIATION..............

  I WOULD LIKE TO TAKE THIS OPPORTUNITY TO THANK EVERYONE WHO HAS SUPPORTED MY WEBSITE SINCE ITS CONCEPTION ALMOST A YEAR AGO.

• Posted by dragonbloodaxe on 25/10/2006.
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III.I Known Anglo-Saxon and Norman mint towns.

These are places of issue for various coins from the early Saxon period [c.600 AD] to the end of king Stephen's coinage in 1159.

CERTAIN ATTRIBUTIONS.

These are mint towns that can be attributed with a high degree of certainty.

AXBRIDGE, AYLESBURY.

BARNSTAPLE, BATH, BEDFORD, BEDWYN, BERKELY, BRAMBER, BRIDPORT, BRISTOL, BRUTON, BUCKINGHAM, BURY ST. EADMUNDS.

CADBURY, CAISTOR, CALNE, CAMBRIDGE, CANTERBURY, CARDIFF, CARLISLE, CHESTER, CHICHESTER, CHRISTCHURCH, CISSBURY, CORBRIDGE, CREWKERNE, CRICHLADE.

DERBY, DORCHESTER, DOVER, DROITWICH, DUNWICH, DURHAM.

[The mint of Dunwich, along with the town, six churches and three chapels, now lies beneath the North Sea. Image here www.etribes.com/node/94704?size=_original]

EXETER.

FROME.

GLOUCESTER, GUILDFORD.

HASTINGS, HEDON, HEREFORD, HERTFORD, HORNCASTLE, HORNDON, HUNTINGDON, HYTHE.

ILLCHESTER, IPSWICH.

LANGPORT, LAUNCESTON, LEICESTER, LEWES, LINCOLN, LONDON, LYDFORD, LYMPNE.

MALDON, MALMSBURY, MARLBOROUGH, MELTON MOWBRAY, MILBOURNE PORT.

NEATISHEAD, NEWARK, NEWCASTLE, NORTHAMPTON, NORWICH, NOTTINGHAM.

OXFORD.

PEMBROKE, PERSHORE, PETHERTON, PEVESNEY.

READING, ROCHESTER, ROMNEY, RYE.

SALISBURY, SANDWICH, SHAFTSBURY, SHREWSBURY, SOUTHAMPTON, SOUTHWARK, STAFFORD, STAMFORD, STEYNING, SUDBURY, SWANSEA.

TAMWORTH, TAUNTON, THETFORD, TORKSEY, TOTNES, TUTBURY.

WALLINGFORD, WAREHAM, WARMINSTER, WARWICK, WATCHET, WILTON [WILTSHIRE], WILTON [NORFOLK], WINCHCOME, WINCHESTER, WORCESTER.

YORK.

UNCERTAIN ATTRIBUTIONS.

These are possible mint towns. Some are of course partial legends of known and unknown mints. / between two mints signifies that these probably represent the same mint. Some legends will be those of illiterate moneyers, or purposely obscure. A few may be temporary or illegal mints.

AESTHE, ANTOI, ATE.

BA, BDAON, BI, BIURD, BRIDIAN, BRENE, BRIC, BRYGIN, BURI.

CIPEN, COLEB, CRST, CVER.

DARENT, DELCA, DENN, DERNT/DERNE, DEV/DEVAI, DEVITUN, DRI/DYR.

EAEWIC, EANBYRI, ERL.

FANI, FCEDND.

GOTHABYRIG, GREN, GROMBES.

HA.

LAEWUDE, LANDC, LIHA, LVVIC.

MAINT, ME, MI, MONI, MORT.

NA, NIENEN, NIEWEN, NIWAN, NUH.

OCO.

ROV, RVCI, RYTHCO.

SCII, SMRIE, SPES, STES.

THI, TO, TOM, TROB.

UN.

VEIRE, VERI.

WE, WEINGI, WIHT, WIS.

"_ _ _LUTHEY"

Sources : Anglo-Saxon Coins. Timothy D. Cook website. Wikipedia. History of the English Penny. Various authors including myself website. Canterbury Archaeological Trust, Reconstruction Images website. English Hammered Coinage, Volume One. J.J. North. Book.

• Posted by dragonbloodaxe on 22/10/2006.
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III. Moneyers, mints, abuse and the Law.

From the very introduction of the penny in the mid eighth century, the kings official known as the moneyer was always responsible for its production according to the law. He alone was answerable if the weight was incorrect or the silver debased.....and his name was struck on the reverse of each coin, sometimes with  the mint of issue, so that it could be traced back to him. Privvy marks were also added on most coins so that individual batches of coins could be identified with some certainty.

Moneyers in Anglo-Saxon and Norman times were at the very top of their social class, they were burgessess representing their town or city and held the royal warrant of the king himself. Often trained jewellers, they had an intricate knowledge of the workings and special skills of the mint and could therefore afford to remain administrators and hire blacksmiths to actually make the coins on their behalf. Their names are often found as witnesses on royal charters. They were successful experienced exchangers, with high standards....and very prosperous.

The mint was [and still is] the place that the coins were made. They were generally [in later times by law] within busy towns, cities and ports. It had to be "within the walls" to be sanctioned. Those without the walls were illegal mints beyond the law. This practice was punishable by death. Each mint had access to its own supply of raw silver for the pennies, and was based around a smithy. The dies used in the hammering process were usually made at regional centres like London, York and Canterbury. Each reverse die was engraved with the moneyers name and often the name of the mint, along with the design [the class or type] chosen for the latest issue of coinage. The dies were then sent out to the provincial mints for the coining process. Types were changed periodically [every two or three years on average in later times] and this created a profit for the king, as the populace had to exchange its old coin for the new type at the mint of issue. In the 10th/11th century there were an estimated five million pennies in circulation in England.

Abuses of the coinage were always rife, but hit epidemic proportions around the reign of Henry I. Despite the harshest laws coins were clipped, shaved and shaken in bags [to produce silver dust]. Some of the worst abuses centered on the moneyers themselves. Underweight coins were produced and debased silver was commonly substituted, with the excess skimmed off the top and into the moneyers pocket. This was in fact treason of a kind. The common punishment for this offence was amputation of the right hand. Henry I [1100-1135], in responce to the public outcry concerning the state of his coinage [people were bending and breaking the pennies to see if they were genuine or plated forgeries], called an assize of moneyers at Christmas 1124 in Winchester. All 150 moneyers were called to account. All but three honest men were found guilty. 94 were mutilated according to law, each losing their right hand and one testicle. The rest paid huge fines to escape this punishment, although many were banished. The abuses of course did not stop. In an attempt to curb the excesses Henry introduced the first [short-lived] issue of round halfpence and farthings [literally forthings, named for the practice of halving and quartering coins at the mint to provide small change] They did not catch on and it was not until the reign of Henry III [1216-1272] that this was attempted again. These coins [about a dozen or so are known] are excessively rare today.

Monarchs have always been closely associated with their coinage, and have issued strict laws governing every area of its production and useage. The loss of the moneyers right hand [it would then be nailed above the money-smithy] for infringement was common to most Saxon and Norman kings. We have evidence of it in writing [from as early as the time of the Visigoths] in the law codes of Aethelstan, Eadgar and Aethelred II [later in reign increased to death]. St. Dunstan in the reign of king Eadgar once refused to celebrate Mass until three guilty moneyers had been dealt with according to law and lost their hands. Most kings accepted payment from the guilty to avoid the terrible punishments. We know that Aethelred II accepted WER [a payment for how much a mans life was worth according to his status] from guilty criminals, including foreigners who introduced chipped or false money into the country. Henry I accepted these payments but later passed a law stating that a man could not redeem himself with money but should lose his eyes and members. Henry, concerned more than most monarchs for the national coinage, also ordered [bizarrely], in about 1108 that all new coins from the mints of issue should have an official edge snick. This was to counter those who would only accept perfect coins and not those [even though official] that had been defaced in some way. This order was made law and by law everyone had to accept all genuine coins. Earlier, in 1101, Henry I gave the archbishop of York jurastiction over his own moneyers [of the York moneyers, most would work for the king and one or two for the archbishops profit, this in common with other ecclesiastical mints] with the power to enforce the  statutes against false coiners.

Sources :  Norman coins of Britain. Ken Elks website. British History Online. York as Centre of Administration and The Tower Mint websites. Fitzwilliam Museum. Coins and Medals. Normans website. Economists View. History of Thought website. Geocities. Farthegn moneyers website. Grunal Moneta. Coinage in Tenth Century England. Blunt, Stewart, Lyon. Spink. Coins of England.

• Posted by dragonbloodaxe on 17/10/2006.
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II.IX Treachery, rivalry and regicide. The cult of a boy king.

Eadward, called "The Martyr"  was born c.962 in Wessex. He was the eldest son of the late king Eadgar and his first wife Æðelfleda.

He was by all accounts a man of learning, of excellent conduct, wholly orthodox [in difficult and reforming times] and a good Christian. He was virtuous and very generous to the poor.

Following Eadgar's death two rival factions vied to place their claimant on the throne of England. Against Eadward was his younger brother [by Eadgar's second wife, queen Æðelthryð] Aethelred [later king Æðelred II "The Unready" 978-1016]. Eadward's claim was supported by archbishop [St.] Dunstan, ealderman Aethelwine of East Anglia and ealdorman Byrhtnoð [who was later heroically defeated by Anlaf the Dane at Maldon in 991] of Wessex. Similarly upholders of Æðelred's claim included bishop [St.] Æðelvald [of Winchester], queen Æðelthryð [naturally] and ealdorman Ælfhere of Mercia.

This state of affairs was most likely concerned with family alliances and allegiances rather than worthiness to inherit the throne. The brothers were figureheads of course, in 975 Æðelred was nine years old and Eadward not much older.

Ultimately Edward's [legitimate] claim proved the stronger...and was confirmed by the Witan. Eadward succeeded as Eadward II and he was crowned in 975.

A great famine raged during the peroid of succession, and violent attacks were commited against monasteries, [several were in fact destroyed and the monks forced to flee] stirred up by disgruntled nobles including Ælfhere of Mercia and others. Much land granted to the monastic community under king Eadgar was forcibly retaken during this period. The anti-monastic movement here is perhaps better understood as the reclamation of properties lost, rather than a direct attack on church and monastics ideals.

Eadward reigned for less than four years. On the evening of March 18th 978, Eadward was hunting near Wareham in Dorset, and decided to visit his brother Æðelred, being brought up at at Corfe Castle [a fortified manor, the home of queen Aelfthryth]. Separated from his retinue, he arrived at the house alone. Before dismounting he was offered a cup of mead, and whilst drinking this certain zealous thegns of Æðelred murdered him by stabbing him in the back. He was then dragged along the ground by a stirrup as the frightened animal bolted. Æðelred himself was not implicated in the plot due to his age. Ælfthryð herself was certainly implicated according to some accounts, and more than likely plotted the killing. [She later lived out her days as a nun in apparently sincere repentance].

Eadward was initially buried at Wareham, without royal honours, at the east end of the Holy Mother of God church. The following year ealdorman Ælfhere discovered the body and on 20th February 981 it was borne with great ceremony to Shaftsbury, where the nuns of the abbey recieved it after a seven day journey, and buried it with full royal honours on the north side of the altar.

Miracles began to be associated with The Martyr almost immediately after his death. King Æðelred II was overjoyed with the legends and stories about his brother, and ordered the bishops to elevate the relics within the abbey. This was accomplished on 20th June 1001. The relics were placed within a resplendant casket and an ornate shrine raised, at which pilgrims reported many more miraculous occurances. Eadward The Martyr [as he was later known, to distinguish him from Eadward I "The Elder" 899-924] was formally canonised in 1001, and he is called a saint in a charter of that year. St Ælphage, [himself later martyred, by the Danes] presiding at the All English Council, glorified St. Eadward in 1008. The celebration of his three feast days was enforced in the law codes of Æðelred II and king Cnut. Eadward's cult was popular until the dissolution of the monasteries, at which time his relics were hidden to keep them safe.

The relics were re-discovered during archaeological excavations at the ruins of Shaftsbury Abbey by John Wilson-Claridge in 1931. The identity of the bones was confirmed by Dr. T.E.A. Stowell, an Osteologist. Examinations performed on the relics in 1970 confirmed the young man had been stabbed in the back and dragged along the ground by a stirrup. In 1982 Wilson-Claridge donated the relics to the Russian Orthodox Church outside Russia. They were subsequently interred within the church at Brushwood Cemetary in Woking, Surrey. The cemetary church is now named after him, the church of Eadward The Martyr.

Coinage...........

The coinage of Eadward The martyr consisted of silver pennies only. A single type was minted, similar to that of Eadgar's reform coinage. The obverse has a diademed bust [now standard after the recent reforms] of Eadward left with the legend EADþEARD REX ANGLORX. The obverse has the name of the moneyer and mint [also now standard] around a small cross pattee. Between 30 and 40 mints were striking during this reign.

My coin [shown here] is a very rare cut half penny of Eadward The martyr. Obverse EADþEARD REX ANGLORX. Reverse ÆÐELVALD NO LVNDINI. Aethelwald at London. Half and quarter pennies [cut at the mint of issue] were first produced during the late Saxon era, and are much rarer than later medieval cut coins. Those of the obscure monarchs are rarer still. I only know of four cut half pennies of Eadward the Martyr.

Sources : Anglo-Saxons.net website. Wikipedia website. Anglo-Saxon Timeline website. English Hammered Coinage, Volume One. J.J. North. Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. Anne Savage. Coins of England 2004. Spink.

• Posted by dragonbloodaxe on 06/10/2006.
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