164 COINS STRUCK IN DORSET. 



The word "pax" which is found upon the coins of the later 

 Saxon and the earlier Norman Kings is assumed by some writers 

 to have a religious significance, but its meaning is more 

 probably historical, as being commemorative of a pact or treaty 

 that brought peace to the land. 



The Norman period is fortunately illuminated by the wonder- 

 ful Domesday Book drawn up in 1086. The compilers, ignoring 

 the reign of Harold the Second, tell us that in the time of the 

 Confessor there were three moneyers at Shaftesbury, two at 

 Wareham and Dorchester, and one at Bridport. This is the 

 solitary reference to Bridport as a mint town, and it is some- 

 what remarkable that although the western borough presumably 

 struck money during the reigns of the Confessor and Harold 

 Harefoot no coins of these two Kings have been noted, and it is 

 only under William I. and II. that Bridport is known to have 

 added her quota to the nation's currency. 



Domesday further tells us that each montlarius paid to the 

 King the (annual) sum of one mark of silver (133. 4d.) and 

 twenty shillings whenever the money was changed. With these 

 figures it is interesting to compare the yearly payment of 500 

 marks (333) fixed by Henry III. for the privilege of coining 

 at Canterbury in 1217, as shewn in letters patent issued at 

 Sturminster during that year. 



The chronological sequence of and the dividing line between 

 the coins of William I. and William II. (some fifteen types) have 

 long been thorny problems, the solution of which is too techni- 

 cal for me even to attempt here. Suffice it to say that at 

 different times antiquaries have put forward their schemes of 

 arrangement, all ingenious and some convincing, but apparently 

 the last word on the subject has not yet been written. 



The earlier types of the Conqueror's pennies are in imitation 

 of those of his immediate predecessors, whose monetary system 

 he was careful to maintain, but the execution is generally excel- 

 lent, as may be seen from some of the examples that happen to 

 be now in fine condition, while the head of the King appears, 

 for the first time, to be a real attempt at portraiture. 



