410 Money and Money ers. 



of the pyx," on behalf of the king and the pnblic. With 

 reference to the original institution of the trial of the pyx, 

 which ceremony is still occasionally performed, and is too 

 well understood to need explanation here ; it is only necessary 

 to say that Ruding, a very good authority, dates it in the reign 

 of Henry II., a.d. 1154-1189. In the year 1208, we find in a 

 royal writ the name of operatores, or operarii monete, or 

 workers in the Mint, introduced for the first time. From this 

 time forward, indeed, the Mint which had previously consisted 

 of but one operative department consisted of two, superin- 

 tended respectively by the operarii, and the monetarii. Most 

 probably the introduction of mechanical improvements in the 

 art of coining, and possibly the increasing demand for coin, led 

 to those changes, and gave rise to the term operarii, which 

 might consistently be supposed to include all the labourers in the 

 establishment i 



The year 1279 is a remarkable one in the annals of British 

 minting, for in that year the mints throughout England were 

 consolidated in their operative departments, and placed under 

 one mint-master. This officer, singular to say, was a French- 

 man, and his name was William de Tumemire. He was sent 

 for from Marseilles, and constituted Magister Moneto Regis in 

 Anglia, or Royal Mint-master throughout England. It is some- 

 what remarkable that from this period the practice of stamp- 

 ing the name of the minter on the coin ceased, and it was never 

 again resorted to. The mint agreement between the king and 

 Turnemire refers almost exclusively to operative matters. It 

 is preserved in the Red Book of the Exchequer, and we give 

 some of its rather quaint and curious enactments. It appears 

 that Turnemire was to cause the money to be made in four 

 places "for the present," viz. London, Canterbury, Bristol, and 

 York. In each of the three latter places he was to have under 

 him a magister, to have the custody of the mint and money 

 there. He was to bear all burdens and expenses in the said 

 four places, and to provide for the wages of the monetarii, for 

 the loss of silver by fire, sizing of the coins, as also for the 

 wages and expenses of himself, of the deputy masters under 

 him, and to provide his other servants with meat, drink, and 

 dress. He was to pay for charcoal, repair of dies, and other 

 expenses about the money. The king, however, was to pro- 

 vide convenient houses, to satisfy the cuneator or hereditary 

 die-engraver, for his fees, and Turnemire was then bound to 

 deliver the coin to the king of right standard, blanched and 

 perfect in all respects, and he was to receive from his majesty 

 in return, sevenpence on every pound weight of sterlings — 

 namely, :!{</. for the wages of the " Monetariorum percutientium 

 et fabricantium monetam," 1±</. for adjusting and sizing the 



