With a Catalogue of the Coins in the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge.
This volume of "Medieval European Coinage" traces the coinage and monetary history of Britain and Ireland in the early Middle Ages, offering the first major single-volume treatment of the subject in decades. It examines the period from the end of the Roman province of Britain in the fifth century to the Norman Conquest of England in 1066 and the Anglo-Norman invasion of Ireland in 1169–71.
The volume re-evaluates the complex seventh- and eighth-century English coinages, follows the evolution of the Anglo-Saxon coinage into one of the most sophisticated monetary systems in medieval Europe, and also covers the coins issued by Viking settlers in parts of England and Ireland. Bringing recent advances in historical and numismatic research to a wider audience, this landmark volume is supported by one of the most complete catalogues of the period illustrating the world-class collection of the Fitzwilliam Museum.
Author(s): Rory Naismith
Series: Medieval European Coinage, 8
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Year: 2017
Language: English
Pages: XXII+902
List of plates x
List of figures xiii
List of maps xiv
List of tables xv
Preface xvi
Note on spelling xviii
List of abbreviations xx
1. Introduction 1
(a) Historical overview 1
(b) General features of the coinage 6
(c) From late antiquity to the Middle Ages: British coinage in its European setting 7
(d) Moneyers and mint-places 10
(e) Cycles of debasement 13
(f) Money, coinage and bullion 18
2. From Roman Britain to Anglo-Saxon England 23
(a) Historical introduction 23
(b) Literature 27
(c) General features of the coinage 28
(d) The end of Roman coinage in Britain: the fifth-century hoards 28
(e) Clipped siliquae and the question of fifth-century continuity 31
(f) Gold and the continent (c. 450–580) 34
(g) Eastern contacts and the problem of Byzantine copper-alloy coinage 36
(h) Re-use of Roman coin 37
3. Early Anglo-Saxon Gold Coinage 39
(a) Historical introduction 39
(b) Literature 42
(c) Merovingian coinage in England from c. 580 43
(d) Early Anglo-Saxon gold coinage (c. 600–75) 45
(e) Chronology 57
(f) Social, economic and political context 59
4. The Early Silver Pennies 63
(a) Historical introduction 63
(b) Literature 65
(c) Structure of the coinage 67
(d) Chronology 79
(e) Continental pennies 87
(f) English pennies: the Primary coinage 93
(g) English pennies: the Secondary coinage 98
(h) Social, economic and political interpretation 106
5. The Kingdom of Northumbria 111
(a) Historical introduction 111
(b) Literature 113
(c) General features of the coinage 113
(d) Early gold and silver coins 116
(e) The reign of Eadberht (737–58) 116
(f) The later eighth century (758–810) 117
(g) The ninth century 119
6. The 'Mercian Supremacy' in the age of Offa and Coenwulf 128
(a) Historical introduction 128
(b) Literature 131
(c) The age of Offa (c. 750–96) 132
(d) The age of Coenwulf (796–825) 138
7. The Rise of Wessex in Southern England 146
(a) Historical introduction 146
(b) Literature 148
(c) General features of the coinage 149
(d) The age of Ecgberht and Æthelwulf (825 – c. 854) 151
(e) The Inscribed Cross and related coinages of Wessex (c. 854–65) 157
(f) The Lunettes coinage of Mercia and Wessex (c. 854–75) 159
(g) East Anglia (c. 827–80) 163
8. The Reign of Alfred the Great 165
(a) Historical introduction 165
(b) Literature 166
(c) General features of the coinage 167
(d) Reform and recoinage: Cross and Lozenge and related issues (c. 875–80) 168
(e) The Horizontal/Two-Line and related coinages (c. 880–99) 170
(f) 'Special' coinages 172
9. England from Edward the Elder to Edgar's Reform 174
(a) Historical introduction 174
(b) Literature 178
(c) General features of the coinage 179
(d) Typology 181
(e) Hoards and single-finds 184
(f) Regionalisation and royal control 185
(g) Mint-places 189
(h) Metrology and fineness 193
(i) Edward the Elder (899–924) 195
(j) Æthelstan (924–39) 201
(k) Edmund (939–46) 204
(l) Eadred (946–55) 205
(m) Eadwig (955–9) 206
(n) Edgar (959 – early 970s) 207
10. The Late Anglo-Saxon Coinage 211
(a) Historical introduction 211
(b) Literature 216
(c) General features of the coinage 220
(d) Relative chronology: the order of types 221
(e) Coinage and recoinage 227
(f) Mint administration 235
(g) Metrology and fineness 248
(h) Tribute payments and the northern hoards 253
(i) The reform coinage (early 970s – c. 980) 260
(j) Æthelred II (978–1016) 261
(k) Cnut and his sons (1016–42) 269
(l) Edward the Confessor and Harold II (1042–66) 271
11. The Anglo-Viking Coinages 278
(a) Historical introduction 278
(b) Literature 281
(c) Bullion and coinage 283
(d) Minting, kingship and authority in Viking England 284
(e) Hoards and single-finds: towards a monetary economy in Viking England 286
(f) Prelude: Viking sites and hoards in England (c. 860–80) 287
(g) Imitative phase (c. 880–95 or later) 288
(h) St. Edmund Memorial coinage 290
(i) The Anglo-Viking kingdom of Northumbria 292
(j) The East Midlands 301
12. Wales and Scotland 305
(a) Historical introduction 305
(b) General features 310
(c) Wales to c. 1087 310
(d) Scotland to c. 1136 312
13. The Isle of Man and 'Irish Sea' coinages 315
(a) Historical introduction 315
(b) Literature 316
(c) Coinage and bullion on the Isle of Man 317
(d) Minting on the Isle of Man (c. 1025–65?) 319
(e) Other 'Irish Sea area' imitations 321
14. Ireland to 1170 (with Andrew Woods) 323
(a) Historical introduction 323
(b) Literature 326
(c) Coinage and bullion in Viking-Age Ireland 327
(d) Hiberno-Scandinavian coinage of Dublin 328
(e) Hiberno-Scandinavian coinage from outside Dublin? 336
Appendices 337
1. Mints in Britain and Ireland, c. 600–1066 337
(a) Mints in England 337
(b) Mints in Ireland and the Irish Sea area 358
2. Denominations and units of account 360
(a) England 360
(b) Ireland 370
(c) Wales 371
3. Coin legends and epigraphy 372
(a) Elements of early medieval coin inscriptions in Britain and Ireland 372
(b) Observations on Anglo-Saxon numismatic epigraphy 377
4. Glossary of numismatic and other terms 380
Bibliography 389
Catalogue 457
Collectors, dealers and donors 459
(a) Formation of the collection 459
(b) List of collectors, dealers and donors represented in the catalogue 463
Arrangement of the catalogue 492
Plates 1–114 495
Concordances 862
Indexes 873
Index of moneyers represented in the catalogue 875
General index 882
Index of hoards and other finds represented in the catalogue 898
(a) Hoards 898
(b) Single-finds and productive sites 899
