COINS STRUCK IN DORSET. 163 



town. The reverse of a coin of this King exhibits the unusual 

 device of the Hand of Providence between the letters Alpha and 

 Omega the only instance (except on one coin of the Martyr 

 of Corfe Castle) of the use of Greek characters on Saxon issues. 

 Another specimen, showing the word Crux between the angles 

 of a cross on the reverse, also bears witness to the Church's 

 influence upon the engravers of the dies ; in fact, there is 

 scarcely any coin throughout the series that does not bear the 

 emblem of Christianity in some form. 



The pennies of Cnut of Denmark (1016) possess no especial 

 features of interest or beauty, but one may record in passing 

 that this monarch died within our borders at Shaftesbury. 



The solitary examples of Harold I. (1035) and Harthacnut 

 (1040) are remarkable only for their rarity; the Dorchester 

 penny of the latter King is probably the only specimen in this 

 country. 



The mint of Edward the Confessor (1042) was most prolific, 

 and some of his types are of considerable merit, one in 

 particular being worthy of notice. There is a Shaftesbury coin 

 showing the King seated on a throne with the emblems of 

 royalty in either hand. This type (said by Ruding to have 

 .been copied by the Confessor from coins of the lower empire) 

 was reproduced four hundred years later in Henry the Seventh's 

 reign, when it appeared upon one of his gold pieces, which was 

 then known for the first time as a " sovereign." The reverse of 

 this same penny also calls for a word of comment ; the four 

 martlets (or doves, as some say) between the angles of the cross 

 are supposed to have been the badge favoured by the Confessor, 

 and it is at least a curious coincidence that upon one of the 

 maces at Shaftesbury "four martlets between a cross fleury " 

 are engraved, which suggests that Shaston desired to com- 

 memorate Edward the Confessor as well as Eadward the 

 Martyr. These same martlets were adopted by Richard II. and 

 impaled with his own Arms in veneration for his predecessor, 

 and they may be seen to-day on some fragments of armorial 

 glass in the Confessor's Chapel in Westminster Abbey. 



