May 1, 189G.] 



KNOWLEDGE 



99 



Caesar, and was soon strongly shown by the coinage. As 

 the coins now begin to bear inscriptions, they supplement 

 to a certain extent the too scanty records of British history. 

 Thus, e.ri., we have coins with the names of rulers like 

 Yerica, Tasciovanus, Epaticcus, and Cunobelinus, and 

 places like Camulodunum (Colchester) and ^'erulamium 

 (St. Alban's). Of the four rulers mentioned only the last 

 ( Shakspeare's Cymbeline) is known from history; but the 

 coins show that Epaticcus and Cunobelinus were sons of 

 Tasciovanus. The name of Epaticcu(s) appears on the 

 reverse of the gold piece No. 9, and the obverse legend 

 TASCI F (i-e., Tasciovani Filius) gives us his parentage. 

 No. 10, again, gives us the first four letters of Cunobelinus 

 on the reverse, and those of his mint, Camulodunum, on 

 the obverse. Tasciovanus, who ruled over the Catyeuch- 

 lani, had Verulamium for his capital ; his son Cunobelinus 

 received, perhaps in his father's lifetime, the eastern king- 

 dom of the Trinobantes, with the capital Colchester. 



The coins struck by various Eoman Emperors (or 

 usurpers) in Britain, of which an instance is given in a 

 previous paper, ' do not properly come within the scope of 

 this article. We must therefore pass over the period of 

 Roman imperial domination to that which begins with the 

 first advent of the English. An interesting coin (or 

 possibly ornament) illustrates the transition from the one 

 period to the other (Xo. 11). That it is a copy of a 

 solidus of the Roman Emperor Honorius is clear ; but the 

 legend is unintelligible, and the reverse bears an obscure 

 Runic legend. The piece was therefore made by people 

 using Runes (that is, the script developed by the Scan- 

 dinavian nations out of the Latin alphabet of about 

 the fourth century a.d. | ; and it is said to have been 

 found in this country. It may be dated approximately 



GOO A.D. 



The series of English coins proper begins in the early 

 years of the seventh century — probably soon after the 

 conversion to Christianity of .Ethelberht, King of Kent, 

 in 596 A.D. — with what is known as the sceatt series. 

 This is a remarkable series of small coins, the character 

 of which is similar to that of the Merovingian currency 

 of the Franks. While, however, the latter was mainly 

 and primarily a gold coinage, there is only a com- 

 paratively small class of English coins in this metal, which 

 was soon replaced by silver. This Merovingian currency, 

 originating in an imitation of Roman money similar to the 

 gold coin with Eunic letters which we have already 

 described, soon acquired a distinct character of its own. 

 Both the solidus and its third / tn'tns or treniissis / were 

 coined by the Merovingians, but the latter eventually 

 became almost the sole denomination — at least in England. 

 The name trfmiasix is the origin of the old English word 

 thrymsa, a money of account, and probably originally the 

 name of the small coins corresponding to the Merovingian 

 tremisses. 



Besides the general resemblance there are many other 

 small points which, taken together, prove the connection 

 between thu coinages on the two sides of the Channel. 

 One coin in particular bears the name of a Merovingian 

 moneyer ( Eusebius) on one side, and on the other the 

 name of Canterbury (DOROVERNis CIVITAS). There are 

 also coins which appear to be English imitations of 

 Merovingian pieces. 



Of the gold coins here illustrated. No. VI is an imitation 

 of a Roman coin. The legend is unexplained, though 

 apparently not blundered ; the reverse is taken from a coin 

 which represented two emperors seated holding the globe 



• Kmowlbdob, November 1st, 1895, No. 23. 



+ Seeat ^= treasure. 



of sovereignty, with a figure of Victory behind them. 

 No. 13, on the other hand, is probably imitated from Mero- 

 vingian money; the legend, which is WVN33TTON, may 

 possibly, as has recently been suggested, be the name of 

 Winchester (Wintonia). These coins have nothing to 

 connect them directly with the English, but another coin 

 of similar fabric in the British Museum with a Runic 

 legend may serve to establish the connection. The silver 

 corns, or sceats proper, have a great variety of types. 

 Three, with reverses evidently derived from the Eoman 

 type of the military standard inscribed ^xx*" ' '■<■■> vows 

 made on the Emperor's accepting the empire for twenty 

 years), are illustrated here (Nos. l-i-lGi. The first has on 

 its obverse a degraded bust, with a Eunic legend equivalent 

 to EPA in front of it. The second shows on its obverse a 

 pattern which can actually be traced back to a human head 

 looking to the right. The third shows the same type in an 

 altered form, where the "artist" has evolved a strange 

 bird out of the degraded form of head. It would be easy 

 to multiply the fantastic types ; but we must be content to 

 notice one or two sceats for which some historical connec- 

 tion can be established. The first of these belongs to a 

 series which bears in a more or less blundered form the 

 name of London (Xo. 17). The second (Xo. 19) bears the 

 name (in Runic letters) of Pada, and is naturally to be 

 connected with Peada, King of Mercia (a.d. G55-65IJ or 

 G57). The type of the reverse is the degraded standard 

 type which we have already noticed. Another (No. 18) 

 similarly gives us the name of .Ethelred of Mercia 

 (675-701). 



Before leaving this early period we must mention the 

 early coinage of a district of England which we have up 

 till now left out of account : the district north of the 

 Humber. The earliest known coins of this district belong 

 to the last third of the seventh century, and are therefore 

 later than the earlier sceats. They are all, however, 

 marked with the name of the king who issued them, in 

 Anglo-Saxon letters (thus we have the name of Ecgfridh,* 

 who reigned from 670-685, on No. 20, a copper coin i. About 

 the end of the eighth century the variety in design 

 disappears, and practically all the coins are struck in 

 copper. These copper pieces are known as stycas (the 

 same word as the German Stiiok). The use of copper in 

 the place of silver north of the Humber has been explained 

 by the existence of vast quantities of Roman copper coins 

 in this district. Another remarkable change is the intro- 

 duction of moneyers' names, which now regularly appear 

 on the coins. Thus the coin of Eanred here illustrated 

 (No. 21) has on its reverse the name of PINTRED (I'.f. 

 Wintred) the moneyer. This modification is due to the 

 influence of the more advanced coinage south of the 

 Humber. But the full efl'ect of the southern coinage 

 was not felt until the time of the Danish kings of 

 Northumbria. 



The coinage of Northumbria during this period com- 

 prises not only a regal series, but an interesting series 

 struck by the Archbishops of York, and corresponding in 

 significance to the coins of the Archbishops of Canterbury 

 with which we shall deal in a later passage. These coins 

 (which begin about the same time as the regal series) 

 are nearly all copper stycas. The piece given here (No. 22) 

 was struck unuer Eanbald XL (.\rchbishop a.d. 796- 

 808 •.') and reads on the obverse eanbald AREP. The 

 second word is an abbreviation of Ar(chi)ep(iscopu3). 

 On the reverse is the monever's name eadvvlf (for 



• For purposes of i-ouveniencc. I represent the three Runie letters 

 wbieh survived mto finglish by w (for the wen), tli (for the thorn), 

 and dh (for the corresponding soft sound). 



