Groat (coin)

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For other uses, see Groat.
A silver groat from the reign of Edward I of England (1272–1307)

The groat is the traditional name of a defunct English and Irish silver coin worth four pence, and also a Scottish coin which was originally worth fourpence, with later issues being valued at eightpence and one shilling.

Name

The name has also been applied to any thick or large coin, such as the

gros tournois or groat of Tours, which was known as the groot (Dutch for "great" or "large") in the Netherlands
.

The name also refers to

Yuan Empire.[1] His descriptions were based on the conversion of 1 bezant = 20 groats = 133+1⁄3 tornesel.[2]

History

David II of Scotland
++DAVID x REX x SCOTORVm Crowned bust left holding sceptre before; star at base of sceptre Outer circle: +DNS PTECTOR MS F LIBATOR MS - inner circle: VILL A ED InBV RGh Long cross quartered with of five points mullets.
AR Groat (3.11 g). Light coinage, 1367-1371. Edinburgh mint.
Edward III
Minted: London, Series: B, Years Minted: 1351 - 1361 (Courtesy of Guillelmus Thompson, Owner of Coins of Britannia)
Henry VIII: Irish groat
Henry VIII minted these Irish groats, crowned coat-of-arms over cross fourchee; mm: trefoil FRAnCIE ET hIBERnIE REX, crowned harp; crowned h and crowned R flanking (henricus Rex).
AR Groat (25 mm, 2.32 g, 12h). Second harp issue, as king of Ireland, 1541-1542. London mint (exported).
Elizabeth I: Irish groat
ELIZABETH·D·G·ANG·FRA·Z·HIB:REGIN (Elizabeth by the Grace of God, of England, France and Ireland Queen) POSVI·DEV·ADIVTOREM·MEV (I have made God my helper)
AR Groat (2.82 g).

It was after the French silver coin had circulated in England that an English groat was first minted under King Edward I.

Scottish groats were not issued until the reign of David II. Scots groats were originally also worth fourpence, but later issues were valued at eightpence and a shilling.[3][4]

Irish groats were minted first in 1425 and the last ones were minted under the reign of

Elizabeth I of England. There were also two more issues, both emergency coinage.[5]

Since the pound sterling or 240 pence was based from the 12th century on a Tower Pound or 5,400 grains (350 g) of sterling or 0.925 fine silver, the English groat or fourpence therefore contained 90 grains (5.8 g) of sterling silver. Later issues became progressively lighter: 72 grains (4.7 g) in 1351 under

Edward IV
. From 1544 to 1560 (the weight being reduced to 32 grains (2.1 g) in 1559) the silver fineness was less than sterling, and after the 1561 issue they were not generally issued for circulation again for about a hundred years.

From the reigns of

Maundy money coins of the present. Some groats continued to circulate in Scotland
until the 20th century.

At times in the past, silver twopenny coins have been called "half-groats".

The groat ceased to be minted in the United Kingdom in 1856, but in 1888 a special request was made for a colonial variety to be minted for use in British Guiana and the British West Indies. The groat remained in circulation in British Guiana right up until that territory adopted the decimal system in 1955.

Groats are still issued in sets of Maundy coinage.

Royal Navy chaplains

In the 1600s and 1700s,

English Navy ships of war by the captain, and paid out of a groat per month deducted from the wages of the seamen. The Navy's wages did not rise between 1653 and 1797 (see Spithead and Nore mutinies), during which time the ordinary seaman was paid 19 shillings, as was the chaplain.[6]

See also

Notes

  1. ISBN 1603036156
    )
  2. ISBN 1603036156
    )
  3. ^ Mackay: Coin...
  4. ^ Stewart: Scottish...
  5. ^ Grueber: Handbook...
  6. ^ Christopher Lloyd (1970). "The Early Stuart Mariner". The British seaman 1200–1860: a social survey. Associated University Presses. pp. 69, 249. Accessed 12 July 2011.

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Groat.

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