By the Rev. William Allan, M.A. 



285 



and the spoliation of Cricklade by Canute in the year of his accession 

 (1016), Godeman and Toca managed to hold their own, but the 

 other three drop out of sight, and we meet, instead, with the names 

 of Hildred, Sidewine, Lifinc, Wulfwine, and Edelwine {alias Ielwine, 

 Aelwine, Aelgelwine, and Aedelwine). The last is the only one 

 known to the writer as a moneyer at Cricklade in the reign of 

 Harold, and he flourished then under the additional title of* Aelwinne. 

 The Anglo-Saxon monevers usually held their office by a very pre- 

 carious tenure, but this individual was an exception, and under the 

 cognate names of Aeielwine, Eielwine, Eilwine, and Aelwinee 

 flourished also in the days of Edward the Confessor, his only rival 

 in business appearing to have been Leofred or Liofred. In the 

 reign of William I. and II., the latter at any rate retained his office. 

 Ielfwine was also at this period a Cricklade moneyer, but whether 

 he was a descendant of the original and Protean Edelwine, who 

 inherited his progenitor's partiality for aliases, or a different person 

 altogether, it is, perhaps impossible to decide. It is by no means 

 easy to discriminate between the coins issued in the reigns of 

 William the Conqueror and his successor Rufus, but some think it 

 probable that the coins which bear the name of Wulstan were struck 

 in the reign of the latter. So far as the writer knows there are no 

 Cricklade coins extant minted during the brief reigns of Edmund II., 

 Hardicanute, and Harold II. 



Of course it must not be supposed that these moneyers necessarily, 

 or even usually, confined their minting operations to this one locality. 

 To take Aelfwine as an example. A mere examination of Mr. 

 Head's paper on the Chancton find will prove that his ubiquity was 

 as remarkable as his varied nomenclature, inasmuch as he appears 

 to have carried on his business in the days of Edward the Confessor 

 at Bristol, Chichester, Colchester, Hertford, Huntingdon, Ilchester, 

 Ipswich, London, Oxford, Southampton, Southwark, Thetford, 

 Wilton, Winchester, and Worcester. 



And now it may be interesting to state where the various specimens 

 of Cricklade coins known to the writer are to be found. In the 

 British Museum there are four of Canute, eight of Edward the 

 Confessor, and three of William I. and II. In the Museum at 



z 2 



