The gold coins of England, arranged and described

270 Pages·2008·12.59 MB·English

THE GOLD COINS OF ENGLAND.

FMOTTISPIECE.
Edward die Coiiiessor.
16
TT^mund,Abp.ofYo
Offa King of Mercia
.
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THE
GOLD COINS OF ENGLAND
AERANGED AND DESCRIBED
BEING A SEQUEL TO MR. HAWKINS'
SILVER COINS OF ENGLAND,
BY HIS GRANDSON
KOBEET LLOYD KENYON
See p. 15.
Principally from the collectionintlie BritishMuseum, and also from coins
andinformationcommunicated by J. Evans, Esq.,President ofthe Numismatic.
Society, andothers.
LONDON:
BERNARD QUARITCH, 15 PICCADILLY
MDCCCLXXXIV.
:
LONDON
KV1AN AND <ON, PRINTERS, HART STREET.
COVENT r,ARI>E\.
5
rubies, havinga cross in the centre, and evidently intended
to symbolize the Trinity. The workmanship is pronounced
by Mr.Akermanto be doubtless anterior to the8th century.
Three of the coins are blanks, which seems to prove that
the whole belonged to a moneyer. Nine are imitations of
coins of Licinius, and one of Leo, Emperors of the East,
308 to 324, and 451 to 474, respectively. Five bear the
names of French cities, Mettis, Marsallo, Parisius. Thirty-
nine are of the seven types described in these pages. The
remaining forty-three are of twenty-two different types,
and all are in weight and general appearance similar to
Merovingian ti-ientes. The average weight is 19*9 grains,
and very few individual coins differ much from this.
With respect to Abbo, whose name appears on this coin,
the Vicomte de Ponton d'Ainecourt, who has paid great
attention to the Merovingian series, has shown in the
"Annuaire de la Societe Francaise de Numismatique" for
1873, that Abbo was a moneyer at Chalon-sur-Saone, pro-
bably under Gontran, King of Burgundy, a.d. 561 to 593 ;
that to Abbo, a moneyer at Limoges, probably the same
person, was intrusted the education of St. Eligius, about
a.d. 604; and that this coin found at Crondale bears a
considerable resemblance, especially in the form of the
letters of the legend, to those struck by Abbo at Chalons
and Limoges. Assuming as an indisputable fact that the
greater part of the coins found at Crondale were struck in
Endand, he concludes that Abbo was one of the Franks
who accompanied St. Augustine to England in 596 or 597,
that he established a mint in this country, and that after
staying here some years, he returned to France and settled
at Limoges in or before a.d. 604. If this be so,—and the
—
ascertained facts certainly seem to make it probable, then
this coin,rude as it is, becomes of extreme interest, asbeing
struck under the immediate influence of St. Augustine
himself, and forming the connecting link between the
coinage of this country and that of France.
6
4. Obv. bust to left, two or three letters in front, EA
behind. Eev. a device like an anchor, between letters,
V
perhaps and C, within a beaded circle. The letters
outside this do not seem to form a legend. The letter A
is at the top and bottom of the coin, and others seem to
be repeated merely to fill up the space. Frontispiece, fig.
4. Found at Crondale. Unique.
This coin, quite worthy of Abbo in point of design, is
included in the English series on account of the letter A,
which is peculiarly and carefully formed, and seems to be
'
intended as a distinguishing mark on the coin. The shape
of the letter is not uncommon in the legends ofother coins,
and occurs on some of those struck by Abbo at Chalons.
The same letter, however, formed in the same manner, and
used in the same prominent way, occurs on fig. 6 of the
frontispiece, and on some of the early English silver
coins with Eunic legends described in Hawkins' " Silver
Coins of England," 2nd ed., pp. 25-27; as well as
on other coins not yet attributed (see Ruding's Plates
of Sceattae, I. 1, ii. 22). It is true that it is also
used as a symbol, perhaps of the town of Aristalium or
Herstal, on coins of Pepin-le-bref; but the coins with
Runic legends on which it appears are almost certainly
English, and the type and place of finding of this coin
make it probable that it ought not to be separated from
them. The letter A probably denotes the town or kingdom
where the coinwasstruck,just as on the Merovingian series
the town is often denoted by the first one or two letters of
its name, and as this same letter was used in the 9th
century as the symbol of East Anglia on the pennies of
thatkingdom. This coinisprobablyof nearlythe same date
with that ofAbbo, in company with which it was found.
5. Obv. bust in profile to right, in armour, an object
like a trident in front of the face, three ornaments pendent
from the back of the head. No legend. Rev. a cross
moline within a beaded circle, round which is a legend
wholly or partly in Runic characters, which has not yet
been interpreted. Frontispiece, fig. 5. This figure is taken
from an electrotype in the British Museum ofa coin found
near Canterbury, and published in Num. Ohron., N. S., v.
166. Mr. Akerman considered it to be an Anglo-Saxon
prelatical coin, probably of Canterbury, and this attribution
is confirmed by the fact that no less than twenty-one coins
of this type, though differing from each other in some
details, were included in the Crondale hoard described on
page 5; and still more by their resemblance to our figure
7, which has the inscription Dorovernis Civitas. The bust
is evidently copied from a Roman coin. The trident is
similar to that on the reverse of Abbo's coin, figure 3, but
has an addition to the central prong, which is probably not
accidental.
& Similar to the last, but having a legend, much clipped,
behind the head, a letter apparently in front of the trident,
and A at the foot of it. Frontispiece, fig. 6. Of the
twenty-one coins of this type found at Crondale, only two
had any trace of this legend, and from one of them our
engraving is taken. On the other specimen, of which there
is a woodcut in The Numismatic Chronicle, N. S., vol. x,
A
p. 172, much less of the legend is visible, but the is very
distinct, and a lower row of five or six beads is shown on
the collar. The A, which is of the same shape with that
on figure 4, connects these coins with it, and with the silver
coins with Runic legends mentioned on p. 6.
7. Obv. bust in profile to right, filleted, in armour.
Around it is the legend EVSEBII MONITA. Rev. Cross
moline,legend-fDOROVERNIS CIVITAS. Frontispiece,
fig. 7. The engraving is from an electrotype,in the British
Museum, of a coin in the French national collection. This
coin was the first triens ever attributed to the Anglo-
Saxons, and was so attributed by M. de Longperier in The
Numismatic Journal, vol. ii, p. 232. The bust is copied
from Roman coins of the 6th century, and the reverse is
similar to that of the coins just described, figures 5 and 6.
—
8
Of Eusebius, who was probably, from his name, an eccle-
siastic,we know nothing; but Dorovernisis the name given
to Canterbury by Bede, and in the charters of the 7th and
8th centuries, and we know of no other town which can be
signified by that name. The weight of this coin is given
in The Numismatic Chronicle, vol. ii, p. 204, as 25 grains,
which is heavier than other English or French trientes
ofthe 6th and 7th centuries.
8. Obv. bust to right, filleted, a cross in front of face, a
smaller one below it. Legend AVDVARLD REGE. Rev.
cross resting on a small globe, within a beaded circle.
Legend MEALLDENVS. Frontispiece, fig. 8. From the
Crondale hoard. Unique. These legends were read by Mr.
Haigh, "AudvaridReges," and "Meassgenus." Theauthor,
however, believes the above readings to be more correct,
and if so the coin may be safely attributed to Mealdunes-
berg, or Malmesbury. The name on the obverse of the
coin has no resemblance to that of any known king of the
West Saxons, in which kingdom Malmesbury was situated
;
but it may perhaps be meant for Eadbald, King of Kent,
a.d. 616 to 640, whose father Ethelbert held a supremacy
over the West Saxons for a considerable time. Eadbald
lost this supremacy, but he may have retained it sufficiently
long to allow of coins being struck at Malmesbury in his
name. The first extant charter to the monastery ofMalmes-
bury is dated 675, but it existed in a humbler manner for
a considerable time previously. Eadbald at the beginning
of his reign rejected Christianity, to which he soon after-
wards returned. But even if this coin were struck while
the king was Pagan, the Bishop or Abbot striking it is
not unlikely to have placed on it the crosses which were
the emblems of his own religion. The Vicomte de Ponton
d'Amecourt possesses a coin of this type, which is said to
AMBALLONDENVS
read prettydistinctlyon the reverse ;
but it seems not improbable that it is intended for
the same legend as on our coin. Num. Chron. N. S.,
xii. 72.