DESCRIPTION OF THE COINS OF 
EDWARD THE CONFESSOR 
IN THE COLLECTION OF THE 
YORKSHIRE PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY, 
By Charles Wakefield, 
IIon. Curator, Numismatics, and Hon. Curator, Archaeology. 
U PON the death of Harthacnut in 1041 the succession 
reverted to the old line and Edward III., King of the 
Anglo-Saxons, the surviving son of ^Ethelred II. and 
Emma, daughter of Richard I. of Normandy, ascended the throne; 
Edward had lived from his youth in exile at the Court of 
Normandy. It is said that “ a halo of tenderness spread in 
aftertime round this last King of the old English stock; and 
legends told of his pious simplicity, his blitheness and gentleness 
of mood, the holiness that gained him his name of ‘Confessor’ and 
enshrined him as a Saint in his abbey-church at Westminster.” 
His weak character and his feeble interest in worldly matters 
caused the real government of the kingdom during his reign to be 
placed almost entirely in the hands of favourites, notably Godwine 
and his son Harold. “ Godwine is memorable in our history as 
the first English statesman who was neither king nor priest. Of 
obscure origin, his ability had raised him high in the royal favour. 
Shrewd, eloquent, an active administrator, Godwine united 
vigilance, industry, and caution with a singular dexterity in the 
management of men,” but it is to his son Harold, Earl of East 
Anglia, that we probably owe the large increase in our coinage. 
“ Harold came to power unfettered by the obstacles which had 
beset his father, and he was for twelve years the actual governor 
of the realm. The courage, the ability, the genius for administra¬ 
tion, the ambition and subtlety of Godwine were found in his son. 
In the internal government of England, he followed out his 
“ A Short History of the English People, 1892,” p. 12S, et seq. 
*J. R. Green. 
