MEDAL. 
who engraved and struA a series of all the 
kings of England, then thirty-six in number, 
which were executed with great spirit, and 
are of copper. Dassier was a native of 
Geneva, and made this addition to English 
medals about 1740. 
The reader will perceive that we have 
been principally indebted to Mr. Pinker- 
ton’s excellent essay on medals for the pre- 
ceding facts, nor do we hesitate to acknow- 
ledge that we shall be equally so for the 
following sketch of the history of British 
coins, except some few particulars towards 
the close of the article. That gentleman ob- 
serves the heptarchic coins were of two de- 
scriptions, one the silver skeatta, or penny, 
and the copper, or billon styca ; the latter 
was confined to Northumbria, and in the 
later peiiod of that kingdom the size was 
diminutive, and the value not more than 
half a farthing of our money ; it is the sil- 
ver penny therefore which is to be consi- 
dered as the general coin of the heptarchy, 
for neither gold or any other kind of silver 
was issued for a long time after. The ad- 
mirers of this study are indebted to Dr. 
Combe for their present knowledge of the 
skeata, who caused several of them to be 
engraved ; the most ancient have figures of 
serpents impressed on them, sometimes 
with the addition of one or two letters, but 
legends were subsequently introduced: it is 
obvious, from the symbols, they all belong 
to tlie period when the Pagan mythology 
prevailed. The heptarchic pennies do not 
occur till after the year 700, though there 
are skeatas of Ethelbert I. King of Kent, 
between .560 and 616; and of Egbert, mo- 
narch of the same district, anno 664. It is 
by no means necessary to trace all the 
coins of the heptarchy, it will be sufficient 
to say that those of the principal sovereigns 
exist, almost in a complete series, from 
Egbert in 832 to Edgar 959 ; the generality 
of them have badly executed portraits on 
the obverse, but the reverses are far more 
interesting, presenting elevations of cathe- 
drals and other structures, particularly 
York Minster, on one of Edward, senior, 
A. D. 900. 
The coins of Anlaf, King of Northum- 
bria, bear a raven ; Egbert's have the 
legend Saxonum instead of Anglorum ; and 
the pennies of Athelstan have Rex tot. Brit. 
Exclusive of these royal coins, there were 
others purely ecclesiastic, which are extant 
between 804 and 889, and were struck by 
several archbishops of Canterbury. Except 
on the money of Alfred and Edward I. that 
has towns added, only the names of the 
moneyers were introduced ; from the time 
of Athelstan, anno 925, the conjunction be- 
came general. Neglect or policy prevented 
William of Normandy from making any 
alteration in the English penny, and in some 
instances he adopted the same reverses 
used by his predecessor, Harold the usurper. 
This penny possessed many intrinsic quali- 
ties, which rendered it more acceptable to 
the inhabitants of the northern kingdoms, 
Italy and France, ihan their own ; hence it 
may be concluded that the commerce of 
England was extensive even at that remote 
period, particularly as the first mentioned 
nations had scarcely any other medium. It 
is a singular circumstance, and much to the 
credit of our native land, that it furnishes a 
complete series of pennies from the reign 
of Egbert to the present moment, with the 
exception of those of John and Richard I. 
whose coins were in the first case Irish, and 
in the last French ; if these monarchs had 
any struck in England they have not yet 
been discovered : in this particular we ex- 
ceed every nation on the globe. The ear- 
liest pennies weigh 22i grains, troy ; at the 
close of the reign of Edward III. they 
weigh 18 grains, they then fell to 15 ; and 
in that of Edward IV. they are 12; Ed- 
ward VI. reduced the penny to 8 grains ; 
and Elizabeth to 7ff The next coins of 
antiquity are the halfpennies and farthings, 
of silver, which were first made permanent- 
ly by order of Edward I. and continued till 
the revolution in the time of Charles I. ; btit 
the fartiiings were discontinued after the 
death of Edward VI. Those were succeeded 
by the groat piece, introduced by Edward 
III. and the testoon, or shilling, by Henry 
VIL; the former term is said to be derived 
from teste, or tete, the head of the king 
impressed upon it; the latter evidently 
comes from the German word .schelling. 
The crown piece, of silver, was first issued 
by Henry VHI. ; and Elizabeth coined 
three-halfpenny and three farthing pieces, 
which were not continued by her suc- 
cessors. 
Henry VIII. was the first of our monarchs 
who ventured to debase the money of his 
realm ; and Mr. Pinkerton justly exclaims 
“ it was a debasement indeed ! for it ex- 
tended to 66j per cent:” that issued by 
him, bearing his profile, is of the ancient 
standard; but that with his portrait in 
front, is of the description alluded to. Ed- 
ward VI. who was the last monarch that 
had his bust thus represented, exactly re- 
