171 



KNOWLEDGE. 



[August 1, 1896. 



coins. The cross, which had been the chief feature of the 

 I'^nglish coinaj^'e since the C'onquest, was lirst omitted on 

 the shillings of Ilonry YIII. 



The interest of Edward VI. 'a coinage lies chiefly in his 

 silver. In this metal ho issued crowns, half-crowns, and 

 sixpences. The sixpence, like the shilling, bore a crowned 

 bust, sometimes in profile to the right, sometimes facing ; 

 the crown and half-crown bore the king on horseback to 

 the right. Two great practical improvements in the 

 English coinage are to bo imputed to Edward VI. — the 

 introduction of dates and values on the coinage, although 

 this is limited at first to a few denominations. 



We may pass over the coinage of Mary with a mention 

 of the fact that, after her marriage with Philip II. of 

 Spain, she struck half-crowns with the head of Thilip on 

 the reverse, and shillings with her own and Philip's heads 

 confronted (Fig. 18). This type inspired the well-known 

 couplet in Iludibras : 



"Still ninorous, and foml, niid billing, 

 Like Philip and Mary ou a shilling." 



The coinage of Elizabeth is exceedingly plentiful. 

 Besides adding some new smaller denominations, she made 

 various material alterations in the coinage. The nev; 

 denominations were the threepence, three halfpence, and 

 three farthings. We illustrate here only the halfpenny 

 (Fig. 11, with the Tudor portcullis) and farthing (Fig. 13, 

 with ELIZABETHA R in a monogram, crowned). The most 

 important innovation of Elizabeth's in the process of 

 coinage to be chronicled is the introduction of the use of 

 the mill. 



Until the sixteenth century coins had been struck with 

 a hammer; this slow method was now partly superseded, 

 at first in Germany, then in other countries, by a machine 

 put in motion by hydraulic wheels, and hence known as a 

 mill. The use of the word "milling" to describe the 

 roughened edge of modern coins is inaccurate, and the 

 milled coins of Elizabeth and her successors can only be 

 distinguished from the hammered by the greater neatness 

 of the workmanship (Fig. 19 is a milled half-sovereign of 

 Elizabeth). For some reason the new process was only 

 employed for a limited number of coins, and the hammer 

 was not finally superseded by the mill until the time of 

 Charles II. (1G62). 



To the time of Henry VIII. the English coinage had 

 maintained a very high level of purity, which accounts for 

 the constant exportation of English money to countries 

 where the coinage had become debased. For the sake of 

 a little immediate profit, and perhaps to prevent this 

 constant exportation, Henry issued gold and silver coins 

 of a base quality, and his example was followed by 

 Edward VI. and Mary. Elizabeth, however, was wise 

 enough to see the badness of the system, and called in all 

 the base coin. She seems, however, to have thought it 

 good enough for Ireland, for it was passed over to that 

 country. 



The issue of so many small denominations in Elizabeth's 

 reign is evidence of the general desire for small change. 

 There exist patterns made under Elizabeth for copper 

 coins, but it was not until the time of James I. that an 

 official copper coinage was issued. Meanwhile the want 

 was partly supplied by the issue of private tokens. These 

 were given in change, and when, say, twenty-four farthing 

 tokens of the same kind had been collected, the person 

 who issued them would redeem them by payment of 

 sixpence in coin of the realm. A private token coinage 

 seems to have existed as early as the fifteenth century, 

 but the nature of the tokens then used is involved in some 

 obscurity. It is not, in fact, often certain whether the 

 known leaden pieces of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries 



were tokens or merely counters used for reckoning. 

 Between 15!)0 and IGOO lUizabeth granted permission to 

 the city of Bristol to issue city tokens, all private tokens 

 being called in. A specimen issued early in the seventeenth 

 century is illustrated here (Fig. 15 : obverse, c B, for 

 Civitas Bristol ; reverse, the city arms). 



The coinage of Scotland, which commenced in the reign 

 of David I. (at)out 1124), was at first an imitation of the 

 English coinage. It can hardly be said to have been 

 important before the time of David II. (l::i2!)-l;J71), who 

 imitated the gold nobles of I'^dward III., and also issued 

 groats and half-groats, in addition to the smaller denomina- 

 tions which had been introduced by his predecessors. 

 The groat here illustrated (Fig. 17: obverse, david DEI 

 GRAtia REX SCOTORVM ; reverse, DoniiNus ProTECTOR 

 Meus & LiBerATOR MeuS ; in inner circle, VILLA EDIN- 

 BVRGH) was struck at Edinburgh. The stars which here 

 take the place of the balls in the English coins are 

 characteristic of Scottish silver coinage from William the 

 Lion to Robert 11. Like the Continental coinage of these 

 times, that of Scotland — which was in close relation with 

 France — was of a very inferior quality, and caused many 

 complaints in England. The influence of France may also 

 be seen in the first Scottish gold pieces of an original 

 character, viz., those issued by Robert III. These are the 

 St. Andrew crowns or lions, with a crowned shield bearing 

 a lion rampant on the obverse, and a figure of St. Andrew 

 on the reverse (Fig. 2-1 : XPC, i.e., Christus, REGNAT XPC 

 VINCIT XPC iMPerAt). In style and legend these coins 

 remind us of the French coins of the period. We must 

 pass over the numerous and various issues of the successors 

 of Robert III., mentioning only the fine " bonnet-piece " 

 of James V. (Fig. 20 : reverse, HONOR REGI3 IVDICIVM 

 DILIGIT), to the time of Mary Queen of Scots, whose 

 portrait may be seen on thetestoonof 1561 here illustrated 

 (Fig. 21: reverse, S-LVVM FAC POPVLVM TVVM DOMINE, 

 arms of France half effaced by those of Scotland), which 

 was struck after the death of Mary's first husband, Francis. 

 In spite of the union of the crowns, the coinage of Scotland 

 remained distinct from that of England until the union 

 in the reign of Anne. 



The Irish coinage may be dismissed very briefly. None 

 is known between the time of ^Ethelred II. and that of 

 John, who, both as Governor of the island and as King of 

 England, struck a series of coins. His regal coins have 

 triangles on both sides ; on the one containing the bust, 

 on the other the sun, moon, and stars (Fig. 22 : obverse, 

 JOHANNES REX ; reverse, ROBERD ON DiVE, a Dublin 

 penny). More interesting, however, than the coins of 

 John himself are the silver " Patrick farthings," reading 

 PATRICIl on one side, and de DVNO or CRAGF on the 

 other. These were struck at Downpatrick and Carrick- 

 fergus by the Earl of Ulster and Governor of Ireland, 

 John de Curcy (whose name occurs on some in place of 

 the mint name), between 1181 and 1189. The Irish 

 coinage of Edward IV. was very extensive, but of no 

 particular interest. The Irish harp first appears on the 

 coins of Henry VIII., which are of very poor metal. 

 Elizabeth's Irish silver was also base ; but this ruler intro- 

 duced a coinage of actual copper pence (Fig. 23 : obverse, 

 ELIZABETH D' G. AN.' FR ' ET HIBER.' RE , with E R at 

 the sides of the shield ; reverse, POsVi DEV ADIVTOREM 

 MEV. , with the harp crowned and date IGOl), and hall- 

 pence of similar types. No gold was ever struck for 

 Ireland. 



As rulers of various parts of France, the English 

 sovereigns, from Henry II. to Henry VI., struck con- 

 siderable series of Anglo-Gallic coins. Among the most 

 interesting are those issued by Edward the Black Prince, 



