History of the English penny (c. 600 – 1066)
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History of the English penny |
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The history of the English penny can be traced back to the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of the 7th century: to the small, thick silver coins known to contemporaries as pæningas or denarii, though now often referred to as sceattas by numismatists. Broader, thinner pennies inscribed with the name of the king were introduced to Southern England in the middle of the 8th century. Coins of this format remained the foundation of the English currency until the 14th century.
Overview
The history of
- c. 450 – c. 550: a very low level of coin-use in Britain, characterised by re-use of Roman coinage, though often in a non-monetary context. A small number of coins continued to be brought in from Gaul and elsewhere on the Continent.
- c. 550 – c. 680: the 'gold' phase of currency, which began with an increase in the rate of importation of continental gold, principally in the form of tremisses. From around 620 English gold coins of similar format were produced, often known to numismatists as thrymsas. By the middle of the 7th century the quantity of gold in these coins was falling quickly, such that by the 670s they were more or less completely silver.
- c. 680 – c. 750 (867 in Northumbria): the age of the sceattas – small, thick silver coins which evolved out of the latest, debased gold coins. These should more correctly be referred to as pennies or denarii as in weight and fineness they approximated the form the English penny was to retain for centuries, and contemporary references suggest this is how they were known. Most sceattas do not bear an inscription and are thus difficult to attribute. In Northumbria, coins of this format continued to be struck under closer royal control until the 860s, though by the early 9th century they contained only a negligible quantity of precious metal.
- c. 750 – 14 October 1066: the silver coinage of sceattas petered out in Vikingrulers from the later 9th century.
In the gold phase of the coinage, the currency consisted overwhelmingly of gold tremisses or thrymsas of c. 1.10 – 1.30g, though a few
Although gold ceased to be the predominant form of currency in the 7th century, from the late 8th century onwards there was some use of fine gold coinage for special, high-value transactions. These gold pieces were often known as mancuses. The form of gold coinage varied in the 8th and 9th centuries, drawing inspiration from Roman, Byzantine, Arabic and Carolingian gold coinages, but by the 10th century gold coins were made simply by striking a gold piece with the same dies as were used for regular minting of silver. Only eight English gold coins with intelligible legends survive from between the 8th century and 1066; there are also some coins that may or may not be of English origin which bear no legend, and specimens of contemporary foreign gold found in England.
It is difficult to ascertain the nature and extent of coin-use in Anglo-Saxon England. Written references to minting and money are scarce, and it is likely that even a single silver penny had considerable buying power – perhaps something in the region of £10–£30 in modern currency. Their use may also have been concentrated in certain classes of society, and was probably most associated with particular transactions such as the payment of rents, tributes and legal fees. However, analysis of surviving single-finds (principally made since the 1970s by users of metal-detectors) shows that coins were used extensively, especially in the eastern half of England, both within and outside towns; they also circulated widely, and are frequently found far from their mint of origin. Substantial numbers of English coins have been found elsewhere in Europe, especially in Italy and Scandinavia, while English designs were influential on the emergent coinages of Ireland, Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Bohemia.
After Rome: prelude to the Anglo-Saxon coinage
At the end of the 4th century, the
Finds of coins are very numerous from throughout the 4th century and even from the first years of the fifth. However, in the early 5th century the situation took a dramatic turn for the worse. The supply of bronze coinage all but ceased after around 402, and both gold and silver also petered out by c. 410, coinciding with the departure of the British garrison with
The cessation in supply of freshly struck coins didn't necessarily cause an immediate halt in the use of coinage. Numismatists and archaeologists have long been struck by the phenomenon of clipped siliquae from the early 5th century, though precise dates and explanations for it remain elusive. Clipping may have carried on into the middle of the 5th century, or been restricted to the 410s and 420s, and was perhaps carried out as a means of taxation by a government deprived of new supplies of coinage. According to this model, siliquae of a specified weight would have been brought in, clipped, and finally reissued by unit rather than weight.
O: Bust of Valentinian II right. DN VALENTINIANVS IVN PF AVG | R: Two enthroned emperors holding globe, with victory above and mintmark below. VICTOR-IA AVGG TROBT |
Gold solidus of Valentinian II, Trier, 375-92. Found in Anglo-Saxon grave at Droxford, Hampshire. |
The later 5th and 6th centuries are very murky in almost every way, and coinage is no exception. The once vigorous late Roman monetary system lay in tatters, with almost no new minting and very little importation of new coins. Nevertheless, it is becoming apparent that coinage never faded away completely, and that re-use of the existing supply of coinage continued throughout the period, buoyed along by occasional incomers. Some archaeological excavations of
The earliest gold coinage: thrymsas
O: Bust of Eadbald right. AVDV[ARLD REGES] | R: Cross on globe within wreath. ++IÞNNBALLOIENVZI |
Gold thrymsa of Eadbald of Kent, London (?), 616-40. |
The earliest known English coins are
The only substantial hoard of English coins from this period was found at Crondall, and included 69 English tremisses as well as a number of Frankish tremisses, probably deposited around 630. These and other finds reveal a range of types that rarely name a mint or issuing authority, though one scarce type bears the name of London, and others are struck in the name of King Eadbald of Kent (616–40). In terms of design they are based on Roman and Merovingian prototypes.
Widespread use of metal detectors in the last thirty years has substantially increased the number of coins known from this and indeed all periods. For all that the coins are still relatively rare and minting was primarily confined to the south-east, some were probably struck in Northumbria, presumably at York, and both English and Frankish gold coins circulated widely. The arrangements behind minting are also quite obscure, and it cannot automatically be assumed that they were produced as a 'royal' coinage: bishops, abbots, lay magnates and perhaps individual moneyers may have provided the driving force behind minting.
Though the early Anglo-Saxon law-codes must be used with caution for this period, they describe a wide range of compensatory payments in scillingas and scættas from c. 600 onwards. These terms reflect translations of continental legal usage, and may well describe measures of value and/or weight rather than coins as such, yet nonetheless it is probable that the gold tremisses produced in 7th-century England were referred to as scillingas.
The silver boom of c. 675 – c. 750: the sceattas
O: Diademed bust right, with cross in front. | R: Coiled wolf with curled tongue facing right. |
Silver sceat of series K, London (?), c. 710–20. |
Over the course of the 7th century, the gold content of Anglo-Saxon and Frankish tremisses deteriorated until, in the 660s, they were often only 10-20% pure. Around this point, there was a major shift from debased gold to
The first ('primary') sceattas of series A, B and C were largely confined to Kent and the Thames Estuary, though the emergence of the 'secondary' sceattas (probably c. 710) introduced a breathtaking array of new designs and saw minting expand to many new areas: by the middle of the 'secondary' phase coins were being struck in Kent, the Thames Estuary, East Anglia, eastern Mercia, Northumbria and Wessex. Unfortunately, because very few coins bear any form of legend and there was extensive imitation and copying, it is extremely difficult to assign dates and minting-places to many of the types and series identified by modern scholars. These are arranged into lettered series according to the scheme of Stuart Rigold, devised in the 1960s and 70s, and sometimes by the numbers applied to types in the British Museum catalogues of the 1880s and expanded thereafter to around 150 different varieties. The current chronology, basically laid down by Mark Blackburn in the mid-1980s, rests on the large Cimiez hoard from southern Gaul, which contained sceattas of several secondary types alongside local issues of named rulers that allowed the hoard to be dated c. 715/20.
O: +ALDFRIDVS around central annulet. | R: Left-facing quadruped. |
Silver sceat of Aldfrith of Northumbria, 685-704. |
There remains much uncertainty about the organisation behind the sceattas and exactly what authorities lay behind minting. Some issues are so large that only major rulers could have been behind them, whilst others are so small that they could well have been the work of an individual moneyer working independently. Others display prominent and sophisticated religious motifs, suggesting that they may have been produced by monasteries or bishops. An exception to the general obscurity of the sceattas comes in Northumbria, where from a very early date the king and (arch)bishop of York played a strong role in coinage production: King Aldfrith was the first English king named on silver coinage anywhere, and his successors retained a relatively tight hold on coinage after production resumed under Eadberht.
O: Facing bust with beard and cross on either side. | R: Right-facing curled 'dragon'. |
Silver sceat of series X, Ribe, Denmark, c. 710–20. |
The early 8th century saw coinage production and circulation on a very impressive scale; greater indeed than at any other point after the 4th and before the 13th century. Some 2,500 finds of sceattas are recorded from England, particularly the east and the south, allowing study on the finer details of circulation and use. Sceattas were also produced and used in the Netherlands and probably Jutland. Minting places in the Low Countries such as Dorestad and Domburg supplied a significant proportion of the currency circulating in England at any one time, and were among the most important commercial centres in Europe. Sceattas provide invaluable evidence for the vigour with which trade across the North Sea was conducted in the early 8th century.
The introduction of the broad penny: Offa and his contemporaries
O: Diademed bust of Offa right. +OFFA REX+ | R: Lobed cross on large annulet containing smaller cross superimposed on saltire. EðILVALD. |
'Light' silver penny of Offa, moneyer Æthelweald, London, c. 775–92. |
By the middle of the 8th century, production of sceattas had, as with the thrymsas before them, declined considerably: the last coins of the secondary period are scarce and often debased, and a dearth of coinage is indicated in the record of several archaeological and metal-detecting sites that had been productive for the previous period. Similar problems afflicted the Frankish kingdom too, and around 754/5 King
O: Draped bust of Æthelberht right. LUL+EDILBERHT | R: Pelleted frame containing wolf and twins. REX |
Silver penny of Æthelberht, moneyer Lul, East Anglia, c. 779–94. |
It was Offa who introduced the broad penny to southumbrian England on a substantial scale, and made the employment of king's and moneyer's names standard at least three mints:
Offa's coinage represents one of the high-points of
As with the sceattas considerable problems surround knowledge of exactly how the new coinage was organised and implemented. It is possible that the pennies of Offa's reign still reflect the vestiges of the organisation behind the complex sceattas, with the diverse designs often varying from moneyer to moneyer. Other authorities exerted minting rights in his reign that may have been held for some time: the
The coins of Offa provide valuable evidence for a new dimension of royal authority and action with regard to the coinage, and have received much attention from historians because of their impressive imagery and range of royal titulature: Offa is variously entitled REX, REX M(erciorum), REX MERCIORU(m) and probably REX A(nglorum).
The 9th century
O: Draped and diademed bust of Coenwulf right. REX M+COENVVLF | R: Cross with wedges in angles. +BEORNFRIĐ MONETA |
Silver 'Cross-and-wedges' penny of Coenwulf, moneyer Beornferth, Canterbury, 805 – c. 810. |
After Offa's death in 796, usurpers in Kent and East Anglia – Eadbearht Præn and Eadwald – took power and issued coins in their own names, following the design of Offa' heavy coinage. After a small issue at London based on this same type, the new Mercian ruler Coenwulf instituted a reform of the coinage leading to the new tribrach type. This non-portrait type used an obverse design modelled on the earlier coinage of Cynethryth, and despite its use of the central M (for Merciorum) was adopted by Eadbearht, Eadwald and even by Beorhtric of Wessex, who struck a very rare coinage around this time.
By 798 Coenwulf had regained Kent and East Anglia also came back under his power by the 9th century. He appointed a sub-ruler for Kent – his brother Cuthred – in whose name coins were struck at Canterbury. Cuthred and his brother may have minted simultaneously in the cross-and-wedges portrait type current from around 805, but it is equally possible that they had sole control of the mint one after the other.
Around the same time, the archiepiscopal coinage at Canterbury also changed: the new archbishop, Wulfred, was very eager to assert his ecclesiastical rights, even at the expense of the king, and instituted an archiepiscopal portrait coinage bearing no reference at all to Coenwulf. This attractive series was modelled on the silver denarii produced by Pope Hadrian I (772–95).
O: Facing tonsured bust of Wulfred. +VVLFRED ARCHIEPI | R: Monogram of DOROVERNIA. +SVVEFHERD MONETA |
Silver penny of Wulfred, moneyer Swefherd, Canterbury, c. 815–22. |
Coenwulf continued a portrait coinage for the rest of his reign at Canterbury, London, East Anglia and, from c. 810, at a new mint located at Rochester in Kent. Canterbury came to dominate silver coin production, and whilst East Anglia and Rochester remained relatively stable, pennies from London become very rare: despite the recent discovery of a gold coin of Coenwulf with the legend DE VICO LVNDONIAE it is clear that the mint of London was in decline by around 800.
In the years between Coenwulf's death in 821 and
Egbert's campaign of conquest took him far beyond Kent and even through Mercia to the borders of Northumbria in 829–30. Unusually, this dramatic military success was reflected in an issue of coinage from London, with Egbert named REX M(erciorum). This is one of very few cases in Anglo-Saxon England where it looks like coinage was being used in a propagandistic way: design and production was not as closely tied to politics and current events as in the classical or modern period.
After these conquests Egbert retreated and consolidated his position in the south-east, leaving Mercia to Wiglaf, who struck a very rare coinage at London, now the only mint available to the kings of Mercia. Egbert's coinage from Kent at first continued the pattern of Baldred's, but was reformed c. 828 to introduce a new reverse monogram type, retaining a portrait of the king on the obverse. Archiepiscopal minting was interrupted immediately after the West Saxon takeover, but resumed shortly before Wulfred's death using the same monogram reverse as the royal coinage in conjunction with an archiepiscopal name and bust on the obverse; a type that continued under Wulfred's successor Ceolnoth, who came to power in 833.
The 9th century saw the spread of minting beyond the south-east, which had dominated production outside Northumbria since the end of the sceattas. The West Saxon mint initiated by Beorhtric continued to operate at a relatively low level under Egbert but remained very sporadic in operation between his death and Alfred's reign later in the 9th century. In East Anglia, coinage gradually became more substantial under the last Mercian rulers and, from c. 825, under a series of independent rulers: Æthelstan, Æthelweard and (St) Edmund. These kings mainly issued non-portrait pennies bearing a large central A, and other designs which were often particular to individual moneyers, though produced by a common die-cutter. When first adopted under Coenwulf, this central A probably represented part of an Alpha-Omega pair, but in East Anglia more likely signified Angli or (rex) Anglorum.
Under
Æthelwulf's last coinage was a new portrait type of very different style. This inscribed cross type may have only come into production after several years without coinage at Canterbury: just two moneyers from there and from Rochester survived from earlier types, possibly because of the Viking raid on Kent recorded in 851. This new coinage survived into the reign of Æthelwulf's son
Mercia
In the reign of Berhtwulf of Mercia (c. 840–52) minting at London, Mercia's only remaining mint, began again in earnest, around the time of Æthelwulf's second phase of coinage in the mid 840s. A mixture of portrait and non-portrait types was struck. Because of the long abeyance of the London mint, considerable support came from West Saxon Rochester in the form of dies and even moneyers, and it is possible that some coins in Berhtwulf's name were actually produced in Rochester. It was once thought that this monetary co-operation was reflected in a unique penny bearing the name of Æthelwulf on one face and that of Berhtwulf on the other. However, this coin more likely represents an unofficial production without any particular political significance.
The recovery of Mercian minting was made most manifest by the adoption in Wessex of the 'lunettes' type first struck at London by Berhtwulf's successor
Further reforms were initiated by Alfred later in his reign. Around 880, London struck an innovative series of portrait pennies bearing Alfred's portrait and, on the reverse, a Monogram of Lundonia. Later one moneyer, Tilewine, placed his name on the reverse as well, but this coinage was for the most part struck without moneyers' names. The main type struck in the latter part of Alfred's reign, however, was the non-portrait two line type. Again, a few different and perhaps experimental types have survived in small numbers. These include a portrait coin – probably from around the same time as the London monogram pennies – with the mint-name ÆT GLEAPA ('from Gloucester'), which had become an important centre of 'English' Mercia under Alfred's ealdorman Æthelred; a small number of 'four-line' non-portrait pennies with reverse mint names assigning their production to Winchester and Exeter; another non-portrait series probably struck at Oxford (OHSNAFORDA); and large silver 'offering pieces' inscribed ELIMOSINA ('alms').
O: +EDILRED REX around central cross. | R: +LEOFDEGN around central cross. |
Copper styca of Æthelred II of Northumbria, moneyer Leofthegn, c. 840–48. |
Northumbria
Northumbria's numismatic history was quite distinct from that of the south. Coinage never petered out as completely as it did below the Humber, and until close to the end of its history Northumbrian coinage remained closely linked to the king and archbishop. However, debasement became a serious issue around the end of the 8th century, when numismatists begin to apply the term stycas to Northumbrian coinage (based on a 10th-century gloss in the Lindisfarne Gospels; contemporary terminology is unknown). Both the political and the numismatic chronology of this period is very confused, with many accounts and suggestions competing with one another. By the middle of the 9th century Northumbrian coinage contained almost no silver and was being produced on a massive scale.
Many tens of thousands of coins are known today, and several very large hoards have been found, such as one from the churchyard in Hexham which contained some 8000 stycas.[1] After a final phase of considerable disorganisation, the stycas were phased out by the Scandinavian rulers who took over Northumbria in 867, and replaced with a new penny coinage on the model of coinage in the Carolingian empire and southumbrian England.[citation needed] Two exceptional coins illustrate that Northumbrian coinage in the 9th century may not have been entirely composed of stycas: a gold Mancus survives in the name of Archbishop Wigmund, modelled on contemporary gold solidi of Louis the Pious; and a silver penny found in the Cornish Trewhiddle hoard of c. 868 in the name of EANRED REX, with an anomalous reverse legend apparently reading ĐES MONETA ('his coin'(?)) followed by an Omega.[citation needed] The latter coin has still not been conclusively fitted into context: its style suggests production around 850, but Eanred of Northumbria probably died in 840.[citation needed] It may therefore be either a posthumous commemorative issue of some sort, or a survivor of a very rare Southumbrian coinage in the name of an otherwise forgotten ruler.[citation needed]
The styca coinage was studied extensively by Elizabeth Pirie who produced an "indispensable corpus of known finds" in her work Coins of the Kingdom of Northumbria.[2]
Viking coinages
O: Large A within circle. +SCE EADMVND RI | R: Circle containing small central cross. +VVINE CRAONT |
Silver penny of St Edmund Memorial Coinage, moneyer Wine, East Anglia, c. 895–910. |
Sometimes this coinage named local Viking rulers (the identification of whom with figures from written sources is often impossible or contentious) but, at the start of the 10th century, the name of the mint and that of
Although Northumbria and East Anglia were the main bastions of Viking coinage, at various times there was also production in the East Midlands, for instance of coins naming
The 10th century
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O: Crowned right-facing bust of Athelstan. +ÆĐELSTAN REX TO BR | R: Circle containing central cross with small crosses above and below. +OTIC MONETA VVINCI |
Silver 'Bust crowned' penny of Athelstan, moneyer Otic, Winchester, c. 927–39. |
The coinage of
O: Circle containing small central cross. +EADVVEARD REX | R: City gate. +VVLFSIGE |
Silver penny of Edward the Elder, moneyer Wulfsige, 899-924. |
Towards the end of Æthelstan's reign and in the time of his successors
The last phase of this regionalised coinage, struck in the first decade of Edgar's sole reign, produced a number of unusual features. Mint names became more common, and there were a number of appropriations from earlier English coinage, such as a resurrection of Alfred's London monogram on halfpennies and Æthelstan's royal title REX TO(tius) BRIT(anniae). This revival of interest in the coinage foreshadowed an even greater reform at the end of Edgar's reign.
Edgar's reform, c. 973 and the late Anglo-Saxon coinage
O: Draped and diademed bust of Edgar left within circle. +EADGAR REX ANGLOR[um] | R: Small cross within circle. +LYFING MO NRĐPI |
Silver 'Reform' penny of Edgar, moneyer Lyfing, Norwich, c. 973–75. |
Exactly when
O: Helmeted bust of Æthelred right. +ÆĐELRED REX ANGLOR | R: Long cross with central lozenge with beaded finials. +ELFPINE MO LVND |
Silver 'Helmet' penny of Æthelred II, moneyer Ælfwine, London, c. 1003–09. |
The designs chosen for the coinage were relatively uniform, following the pattern of Edgar's reformed pennies: the obverse carried some form of royal portrait as well as the royal name and title, whilst the reverse gave the name of the moneyer and the mint around some form of cross. Within this format, however, there was much variation. Portraits could face either way and reflect a wide range of influences. Under Æthelred II, for instance, one type was based upon early 4th-century Roman coins showing the emperor in military garb, with helmet and armour; another was based on civilian portraits of other 4th-century emperors without any form of headgear. Under Edward the Confessor there was strong German influence in the portraits from the last fifteen years or so of his reign, perhaps as a result of Edward's employment of German goldsmiths named Theoderic and Otto. These show the king bearded, helmeted and crowned, and in some cases even facing straight forward or seated on a throne.
O: Draped bust of Æthelred left. +ÆĐELRED REX ANGLOR | R: Long cross. +EADPOLD MO CÆNT |
Silver 'Long Cross' penny of Æthelred II, moneyer Eadwold, Canterbury, c. 997–1003. |
The existence of moneyer and mint names on each and every coin provide valuable evidence for the study of not only mint structure (in terms of how productive certain moneyers were, or how many shared dies) but also of contemporary naming patterns and – to some extent – the makeup of the population. Mints located in the old Danelaw, like
O: King seated facing on throne holding orb and sceptre. EADVVEARDV REX ANGLO | R: Circle containing cross with birds in angles. +ÆLFRED ON LVND |
Silver 'Sovereign eagles' penny of Edward the Confessor, moneyer Ælfwine, London, c. 1050–60. |
This first type, usually known as the First small cross or Reform type, remained in currency for Edgar's last years, the whole of
Remarkably little written evidence survives to help numismatists and historians understand how the coinage and its system of changes of type actually functioned. Domesday Book does record that moneyers at certain mints had to go to London to purchase new dies for twenty shillings quando moneta vertebatur ('when the coinage was changed'), and that certain towns paid annual sums to the king for the privilege of running a mint. At several towns bishops and abbots had rights to the profits of one or more moneyers (which normally went to the king), but these are no longer reflected by any changes in the design of the coins.
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O: Lamb of God walking right with sceptre and plaque with Alpha and Omega +ÆĐELRED REX ANGLORVM | R: Dove with extended wings +BLACAMAN DYREBY |
Silver 'Agnus Dei' penny of Æthelred II, moneyer Blacaman, Derby, c. 1009. |
Numismatists have sometimes tried to discern a very rigid system of organisation in the late Anglo-Saxon coinage: one,
The late Anglo-Saxon coinage is best understood for the period c. 990 – c. 1030 thanks to the discovery of many tens of thousands of coins in hoards from Scandinavia. Connections between England and Scandinavia were very close at this time, with raiders, traders, mercenaries and, ultimately, kings regularly crossing the North Sea. English coins in Scandinavian hoards probably include at least some profit from raiding and the tributary payments referred to as Danegeld. Payments to Danish troops employed by the English kings continued until 1051, when Edward the Confessor dismissed the last of them. English coin finds in Scandinavia become even fewer after this time. However, since large numbers of roughly contemporary Arabic and, later, German coins have also been found in Scandinavia, it is probable that the bulk of the English imports came via trade rather than military action.
References
- ^ Adamson, J. (1834). XVI. An Account of the Discovery at Hexham, in the County of Northumberland, of a brass vessel containing a number of the Anglo-Saxon Coins called Stycas; Communicated to the Society of Antiquaries by John Adamson, Esq. M.R.S.L., F.SS.A., London and Edinburgh, F.L.S. Corresp. Memb. Roy. Acad. of Sciences at Lisbon, Memb. of the Roy. Soc. for Ancient Northern Literature at Copenhagen, one of the Secretaries of the Lit. and Phil. Soc. and of the Antiq. Soc. of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, &c. &c. Archaeologia, 25, 279-310.
- )
- ^ Richard Hall, Viking Age Archaeology (series Shire Archaeology), 2010:23.
Bibliography
General
- Dolley, R. H. M., Anglo-Saxon Pennies (London, 1964)
- Grierson, P., and M. A. S. Blackburn, Medieval European Coinage, I: the Early Middle Ages (5th–10th Centuries) (Cambridge, 1986)
- Grierson, P., Numismatics (Oxford, 1975)
- Lyon, C. S. S., 'Historical Problems of Anglo-Saxon Coinage', British Numismatic Journal 36 (1967), 227–42; 37 (1968), 216–38; 38 (1969), 204–22; and 39 (1970), 193–204
- Lyon, C. S. S., 'Some Problems of Interpreting Anglo-Saxon Coinage', Anglo-Saxon England 5 (1976), 173-224
- Stewart, B. H. I. H., 'The English and Norman Mints, c. 600 – 1158', in A New History of the Royal Mint, ed. C. E. Challis (Cambridge, 1992), pp. 1–82
- Williams, G., Early Anglo-Saxon Coins (Colchester, 2008)
After Rome
- Abdy, R., 'After Patching: Imported and Recycled Coinage in Fifth- and Sixth-Century Britain', in Coinage and History in the North Sea World c. 500 – 1250: Essays in Honour of Marion Archibald, ed. B. Cook and G. Williams (Leiden and Boston, 2006), pp. 75–98
- Guest, P., The Late Roman Gold and Silver Coins from the Hoxne Treasure (London, 2005)
- Kent, J. P. C., 'From Roman Britain to Anglo-Saxon England', in Anglo-Saxon Coins: Studies Presented to F. M. Stenton on the Occasion of His 80th Birthday, 17 May 1960, ed. R. H. M. Dolley (London, 1961), pp. 1–22
- King, C., 'Late Roman Silver Hoards in Britain', British Numismatic Journal 51 (1981), 5–31
- King, M. D., 'Roman Coins from Early Anglo-Saxon Contexts', in Coins and the Archaeologist, ed. J. Casey and R. Reece, 2nd ed. (London, 1988), pp. 224–9
- Moorhead, T. S. N., 'Roman Bronze Coinage in Sub-Roman and Early Anglo-Saxon England', in Coinage and History in the North Sea World c. 500 – 1250: Essays in Honour of Marion Archibald, ed. B. Cook and G. Williams (Leiden and Boston, 2006), pp. 99–109
- Reece, R., The Coinage of Roman Britain (Stroud, 2002)
- White, R. H., Roman and Celtic Objects from Anglo-Saxon Graves, BAR British Series 191 (Oxford, 1988)
Thrymsas
- Abdy, R., and G. Williams, 'A Catalogue of Hoards and Single-Finds from the British Isles, c. AD 410 – 675', in Coinage and History in the North Sea World, c. 500 – 1250: Essays in Honour of Marion Archibald, ed. B. Cook and G. Williams (Leiden, 2006), pp. 11–73
- Grierson, P., 'La fonction sociale de la monnaie en Angleterre aux VIIe – VIIIe siècles', in Moneta e scambi nell'alto medioevo (Spoleto, 1961), pp. 341–85; repr. in his Dark Age Numismatics (London, 1979), no. XI
- Metcalf, D. M., Thrymsas and Sceattas in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, 3 vols. (London, 1993–4), vol. 1
- Stewart, B. H. I. H., 'Anglo-Saxon Gold Coins', in Scripta Nummaria Romana. Essays Presented to Humphrey Sutherland, ed. R. A. Carson and C. M. Kraay (London, 1978), pp. 143–72
- Sutherland, C. H. V., Anglo-Saxon Gold Coinage in the Light of the Crondall Hoard (Oxford, 1948)
- Williams, G., 'The Circulation and Function of Coinage in Conversion-Period England, c. AD 580 – 675', in Coinage and History in the North Sea World, c. 500 – 1250: Essays in Honour of Marion Archibald, ed. B. Cook and G. Williams (Leiden, 2006), pp. 145–92
Sceattas
- Abramson, T., Sceattas: an Illustrated Guide (Great Dunham, 2006)
- Gannon, A., The Iconography of Early Anglo-Saxon Coinage (Sixth–Eighth Centuries) (Oxford, 2003)
- Hill, D., and D. M. Metcalf, ed., Sceattas in England and on the Continent: the Seventh Oxford Symposium on Coinage and Monetary History (Oxford, 1984)
- Metcalf, D. M., Thrymsas and Sceattas in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, 3 vols. (London, 1993–4)
- Metcalf, D. M., 'Monetary Expansion and Recession: Interpreting the Distribution Patterns of Seventh- and Eighth-Century Coins', in Coins and the Archaeologist, ed. J. Casey and R. Reece, 2nd ed. (London, 1988), pp. 230–53
- Rigold, S., 'The Two Primary Series of Sceattas', British Numismatic Journal 30 (1960–1), 6–53
- Rigold, S., 'The Principal Series of English Sceattas', British Numismatic Journal 47 (1977), 21–30
The age of Offa
- Archibald, M., 'The Coinage of Beonna in the Light of the Middle Harling Hoard', British Numismatic Journal 55 (1986), 10–54
- Archibald, M., 'A Sceat of Ethelbert I of East Anglia and Recent Finds of Coins of Beonna', British Numismatic Journal 65 (1995), 1–19
- Blunt, C. E., 'The Coinage of Offa', in Anglo-Saxon Coins: Studies Presented to F. M. Stenton on the Occasion of His 80th Birthday, 17 May 1960, ed. R. H. M. Dolley (London, 1961), pp. 39–62
- Chick, D., 'Towards a Chronology for Offa's Coinage: an Interim Study', Yorkshire Numismatist 3 (1997), 47–64
- Chick, D., ed. M. Blackburn and R. Naismith, The Coinage of Offa and His Contemporaries (London, 2007)
- Pirie, E. J. E., Coins of the Kingdom of Northumbria, c. 700 – 867, in the Yorkshire Collections (Llanfyllin, 1996)
- Stewart, B. H. I. H., 'The London Mint and the Coinage of Offa', in Anglo-Saxon Monetary History: Essays in Memory of Michael Dolley, ed. M. A. S. Blackburn (Leicester, 1986), pp. 27–43
The 9th century
- Blackburn, M. A. S., 'Alfred's Coinage Reforms in Context', in Alfred the Great: Papers from the Eleventh-Centenary Conferences, ed. T. Reuter (Aldershot, 2003), pp. 199–217
- Blackburn, M. A. S., and D. N. Dumville, ed., Kings, Currency and Alliances: History and Coinage in Southern England in the Ninth Century (Woodbridge, 1998)
- Blunt, C. E., 'The Coinage of Ecgbeorht, King of Wessex, 802–39', British Numismatic Journal 28 (1955–7), 467–76
- Blunt, C. E., C. S. S. Lyon and B. H. I. H. Stewart, 'The Coinage of Southern England, 796–840', British Numismatic Journal 32 (1963), 1–74
- Dolley, R. H. M., 'The Chronology of the Coins of Alfred the Great', in Anglo-Saxon Coins: Studies Presented to F. M. Stenton on the Occasion of His 80th Birthday, 17 May 1960, ed. R. H. M. Dolley (London, 1961), pp. 77–95
- Dolley, R. H. M., and K. Skaare, 'The Coinage of Æthelwulf, King of the West Saxons', in Anglo-Saxon Coins: Studies Presented to F. M. Stenton on the Occasion of His 80th Birthday, 17 May 1960, ed. R. H. M. Dolley (London, 1961), pp. 63–76
- Lyon, C. S. S., 'A Reappraisal of the Sceatta and Styca Coinage of Northumbria', British Numismatic Journal 28 (1955–7), 227–42
- Metcalf, D. M., ed., Coinage in Ninth-Century Northumbria (Oxford, 1987)
- Pagan, H. E., 'Coinage in the Age of Burgred', British Numismatic Journal 34 (1965), 11–27
- Pagan, H. E., 'Northumbrian Numismatic Chronology in the Ninth Century', British Numismatic Journal 38 (1969), 1–15
- Pagan, H. E., 'The Bolton Percy Hoard of 1967', British Numismatic Journal 43 (1973), 1–44
- Pagan, H. E., 'The Coinage of the East Anglian Kingdom from 825 to 870', British Numismatic Journal 52 (1982), 41–83
- Pagan, H. E., 'Coinage in Southern England, 796–874', in Anglo-Saxon Monetary History: Essays in Memory of Michael Dolley, ed. M. A. S. Blackburn (Leicester, 1986), pp. 45–65
Viking coinages
- Blackburn, M. A. S., 'The Ashdon (Essex) Hoard and the Currency of the Southern Danelaw in the Late Ninth Century', British Numismatic Journal 59 (1989), 13–38
- Blackburn, M. A. S., 'Expansion and Control: Aspects of Anglo-Scandinavian Minting South of the Humber', in Vikings and the Danelaw: Selected Papers from the Proceedings of the Thirteenth Viking Congress, Nottingham and York, 21–30 August 1997, ed. J. Graham Campbell (Oxford, 2001), pp. 125–42
- Blackburn, M. A. S., 'The Coinage of Scandinavian York', in Aspects of Anglo-Scandinavian York, ed. R. Hall et al. (York, 2004), pp. 325–49
- Blunt, C. E., 'The St Edmund Memorial Coinage', Proceedings of the Suffolk Institute of Archaeology 31 (1969), 234–53
- Blunt, C. E., and B. H. I. H. Stewart, 'The Coinage of Regnald I of York and the Bossall Hoard', Numismatic Chronicle 143 (1983), 146–63
- Dolley, R. H. M., Viking Coins of the Danelaw and Dublin (London, 1965)
- Dolley, R. H. M., 'The Anglo-Danish and Anglo-Norse Coinages of York', in Viking-Age York and the North, ed. R. A. Hall, Council for British Archaeology Research Report 27 (London, 1978), pp. 26–31
- Grierson, P., and M. A. S. Blackburn, Medieval European Coinage, I: the Early Middle Ages (5th–10th Centuries) (Cambridge, 1986), pp. 316–25
- Lyon, C. S. S., and B. H. I. H. Stewart, 'The Northumbrian Viking Coinage in the Cuerdale Hoard', in Anglo-Saxon Coins: Studies Presented to F. M. Stenton on the Occasion of His 80th Birthday, 17 May 1960, ed. R. H. M. Dolley (London, 1961), pp. 96–121
The 10th century
- Blunt, C. E., 'The Coinage of Æthelstan, King of England 924–39', British Numismatic Journal 42 (1974), 35–160
- Blunt, C. E., B. H. I. H. Stewart and C. S. S. Lyon, Coinage in Tenth-Century England from Edward the Elder to Edgar's Reform (London, 1989)
- Jonsson, K., 'The Pre-Reform Coinage of Edgar – the Legacy of the Anglo-Saxon Kingdoms', in Coinage and History in the North Sea World, c. 500 – 1250. Essays in Honour of Marion Archibald, ed. B. Cook and G. Williams (Leiden, 2006), pp. 325–46
- Lyon, C. S. S., 'The Coinage of Edward the Elder', in Edward the Elder, 899–924, ed. N. J. Higham and D. H. Hill (London, 2001), pp. 67–78
- Pagan, H. E., 'The Pre-Reform Coinage of Edgar', in Edgar, King of the English 959-975. New Interpretations, ed. D. Scragg (Woodbridge, 2008), pp. 192–207
Edgar's reform and the late Anglo-Saxon coinage
- Blackburn, M. A. S., and K. Jonsson, 'The Anglo-Saxon and Anglo-Norman Element of North European Coin Finds', in Viking-Age Coinage in the Northern Lands. The Sixth Oxford Symposium on Coinage and Monetary History, ed. M. A. S. Blackburn and D. M. Metcalf (Oxford, 1981), pp. 147–255
- Brand, J. D., Periodic Change of Type in the Anglo-Saxon and Norman Periods (Rochester, 1984)
- Dolley, R. H. M., The Norman Conquest and the English Coinage (London, 1966)
- Dolley, R. H. M., 'An Introduction to the Coinage of Æthelred II', in Ethelred the Unready: Papers from the Millenary Conference, ed. D. Hill (Oxford, 1978), pp. 115–33
- Dolley, R. H. M., and D. M. Metcalf, 'The Reform of the English Coinage under Edgar', in Anglo-Saxon Coins: Studies Presented to F. M. Stenton on the Occasion of His 80th Birthday, 17 May 1960, ed. R. H. M. Dolley (London, 1961), pp. 136–68
- Freeman, A., The Moneyer and the Mint in the Reign of Edward the Confessor 1042–66, 2 vols. (Oxford, 1985)
- Hildebrand, B. E., Anglosachsiska mynt i Svenska Kongliga Myntkabinettet funna in Sveriges jord, 2nd ed. (Stockholm, 1881)
- Jonsson, K., The New Era: the Reformation of the Late Anglo-Saxon Coinage (Stockholm, 1986)
- Jonsson, K., Viking-Age Hoards and Late Anglo-Saxon Coins: a Study in Honour of Bror Emil Hildebrand's Anglosachsiska mynt (Stockholm, 1987)
- Metcalf, D. M., An Atlas of Anglo-Saxon and Norman Coin Finds, c. 973 – 1086 (London, 1998)
- Petersson, H. B. A., Anglo-Saxon Currency: King Edgar's Reform to the Norman Conquest (Lund, 1969)
- Smart, V., 'Scandinavians, Celts and Germans in Anglo-Saxon England: the Evidence of Moneyers' Names', in Anglo-Saxon Monetary History: Essays in Memory of Michael Dolley, ed. M. A. S. Blackburn (Leicester, 1986), pp. 171–84
- Stewart, B. H. I. H., 'Coinage and Recoinage after Edgar's Reform', in Studies in Late Anglo-Saxon Coinage in Memory of Bror Emil Hildebrand, ed. K. Jonsson (Stockholm, 1990), pp. 455–85
Further reading
- Naismith, Rory (2011). The Coinage of Southern England 796-865. Vol. 1. London, UK: Spink & Son. ISBN 978-1-907427-09-1.
- Naismith, Rory (2012). Money and Power in Anglo-Saxon England: The Southern English Kingdoms, 757-965. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1-107-66969-7.