A HISTORY OF LEICESTERSHIRE 



neighbourhood of Ratae may have submitted to Ethelbert of Kent (560-616), 

 whose empire extended to the Humber, but before his time there were 

 probably but few Anglian settlers in the Soar valley, and the Romano-British 

 population was probably unconscious of the coming invasion or helpless to 

 resist it. There are no relics from the county that can be definitely traced 

 to Kentish workshops, and so far not a single specimen of the typical West- 

 Saxon brooch of saucer shape is recorded. As this type occurs frequently in 

 the valley of the Warwickshire Avon, in Northants, and the counties to the 

 south, we may assume that Cuthwulf's conquests did not extend north of 

 Buckingham, which was overrun from the south in 571. 



In the matter of dialect, the whole of Leicestershire belongs to what is 

 known as the eastern south-midland district, including Shropshire east of 

 Wem and the Severn, Staffordshire south of Stone, a slip on the north of 

 Worcestershire, most of Warwickshire, and the south point of Derbyshire, all 

 these being just to the north of a line beyond which the southern pronun- 

 ciation of the test-word 'some,' sum, is not heard. 66 Philological evidence is 

 therefore in striking agreement with what can be deduced from the archaeo- 

 logical material in the county. 



Though less important from the ethnological point of view, mention 

 must be made in conclusion of the Leicester mint, which seems to have been 

 founded by Edgar (95975). Though not mentioned in Athelstan's Regu- 

 lation of Mints, A.D. 929, it was evidently maintained by Canute and his 

 successors down to the Norman Conquest. It is a question whether certain 

 coins of Athelstan should be attributed to Leicester or Chester ; and the 

 probability that many of the doubtful pieces belong to Leicester is increased 

 by the fact that Derby and Nottingham, belonging to the same confederation 

 of the Five Burghs, were privileged to strike coins in his reign. 66 



55 A. J. Ellis, English dialects, their sounds and homes, p. 101 and map. 



56 Numismatic Chron. (Ser. 3), xi, 1 6 ; B.M. Cal. of Eng. Coins, ii, Iv. Local moneyers represented in the 

 Chancton hoard are given in Assoc. Arch. Soc. Rff. xii, 140. 



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