MEDAL. 
S20 
creature, lias prevented the progrefs of coinage in any de¬ 
gree throughout thofe regions which it has overfpread. 
The infcriptions on the ancient Spanifh coins are in the 
Cufic or old Arabic chara&ers. 
Portugal. No defcription of the coins of this kingdom 
has yet appeared. 
Germany. No account of the German coins has been 
publifhed : the coinage, however, commences from Charle¬ 
magne, and the feries of emperors is thought to be nearly 
complete. Many of the cities, alfo, particularly thofe 
called Han/e-towns, i(Tued money§ and Tome of the coins 
there ilfued v/ere fuperior in elegance even to thofe ifiued 
by the emperors. 
Denmark, Here the coinage begins with Canute the 
Great in 1014. The pieces are at firft extremely rude, 
ornamented only with rings and Runic characters. Thefe 
are fucceeded by copper pieces, fome of which have a 
crofs, others a paftoral ftaff, on one fide, with the letter A 
on the other. Later coins have ftrokes mi, &c. all round 
them; but thofe of Harold, Hardicanute, and Magnus 
Bonus, in 104,1, are of neat workmanfhip, and have the 
portraits of the princes at half-length. The coins of Ni¬ 
colas, or Niel as he is called by the Danes, are rude, as 
well as thofe of Waldemar I. and the celebrated Margaret. 
In 1376 Olaf caufed money to be ftruck with a grinning 
full face, and a crowned O upon the other fide. “ The 
Swedes (fays Mr. Pinkerton) took thefe coins extremely 
ill, as they thought they grinned at them.'’ Silver was 
firft coined in Denmark by Philippa, queen of Eric, and 
daughter to Henry IV. of England. 
Sweden. The coinage of this kingdom began in 818 
under Biorno, on the plan of Charlemagne. The coins 
are marked with a crofs. Next follow thofe of Olaf in 
1019; which Mr. Pinkerton fuppofes to have been the 
firft true Swedidi coins; and that the art of coinage firft 
pafled from England into Denmark in the time of Canute 
the Great, and from Denmark into Sweden. Thefe coins 
were ftruck on the Englifli model. During the time that 
Sweden was fubjeft to Denmark, or miferably harafled by 
the Danes, the coins of both kingdoms were the fame; 
but after the time of Guftavus Vafa many elegant pieces 
appear. In 1634, dollars were coined with the portrait 
of Guftavus Adolphus, who was killed two years before: 
on the reverfe they have the arms of Sweden, with the 
chemical marks of mercury and fulphur. In 1716, 1717, 
and 1718, Charles XII. being in extreme want of money, 
iffued fmall copper coins with Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, See. 
upon them, to go for dollars; and, on account of this 
fcheme, baron Goertz, the fuggeftor of it, was brought to 
the block. 
Norway. The coins of this country begin with Olaaf in 
soo6 ; after which time there are various coins of Magnus, 
Harold, See. Copper was not coined till the year 1343. 
Befides the coins already mentioned, there are ecclefiaftic 
coins of France, Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, 
See. Thofe of Denmark and Sweden are numerous; but 
the Norwegian coins of this denomination are rare. Mr. 
Pinkerton deferibes a filver one in his pofieftion as having 
arms and a mitre, with the inferiptionon one fide, sanctvs 
claws rex norvey; on the reverfe, claws dei gra. 
arcep. nid’sen, meaning nidrosiensis, or archbifhop 
of Nidros , how Drontheiin. 
Bohemia , the molt wefterly Sclavonic kingdom, boafts 
the earlielt coinage. The firft coins are of the year 909, 
bearing the head and name of duke Bolefiaus I. Thefe 
coins are followed by others of Bolefiaus II. and Emma 
his wife in 970; of Bolefiaus III. in 1002 ; Jaroumir in 
iozo; Udalrich in 1030, and other princes. The bratteate 
money of Ottocar I. was coined in 1197. 
Poland. The coinage of this country is nearly as an¬ 
cient as that of Bohemia. 4 The coins are on the German 
model, but no particular account of them has been pub- 
liftied. 
Rujfia, None of the Ruffian money appears to be more 
ancient than the thirteenth century. The firft are the 
kopecs or filver pennies, which have upon them rude figures 
of animals on one fide, and a man (landing with a bow 
or fpear on the other. There are likewife coins of Mof- 
cow ftruck by Arilloteles the architect in 1482. The 
rouble , or dollar, and its half, began under Ivan, or John, 
in 1547. There are fome of the impoftor Demetrius in 
1605, which are very fcarce. 
PruJ/ia. The firft Prufiian coins were ftruck at Culm 
by the Teutonic knights (who had conquered the pagan 
inhabitants of that country) in 1230 s they were filver 
pennies, and upon the German plan. In the next cen¬ 
tury were ftruck (hillings, groats, and fchots ; the laft were 
the largeft, and extremely rare: they have the Prufiian 
fhield, an eagle furmounting a crofs, with a rofe-(haped 
border, moneta dominorvm prvssite ; on the reverfe 
is a crofs fleurie, within a border of a fitnilar kind, having 
the infeription honor magistri, jvstitiam diliget. 
Gold coins were ftruck in the fame century. In 1525 
the money was fo debafed, that twelve or thirteen marks 
were worth but one of pure filver. 
England. The Englifli coins are of various kinds. 
1. Heptarchic. Thefe are only of two forts, viz. the Jheatia 
or penny of filver, and the Jlyca of copper; fig. 30. 31. Few 
of the pennies appear till after the year 700; though fome 
are met with which bear the name of Ethelbert I. king 
of Kent, as old as 560. At firft they had only rude figures 
of ferpents, but in latter times legends were likewife added. 
Moft of thefe pennies have pagan fymbols upon them. 
The ftyca was only coined in Northumberland, and was a 
very fmall piece, about the value of half a farthing. 
2. Coins of the chief monarch of England. Mr. Pin. 
kerton denies that an end was put to the heptarchy by- 
Egbert in 832, as is commonly fuppofed § though he owns 
that he was chief monarch of the country, as feveral others 
had been before him. Edgar, who reigned in 959, ac¬ 
cording to him, was the firlt king of England ; and the 
coins of the chief monarchs form almoll a complete feries 
from the time of Egbert to Edgar. The only chief mo¬ 
narch of whom there are no coins is Ethelbald, who 
reigned in 857. Moft of thefe coins bear rude portraits; 
but the reverfes are fometimes curious and interefting. 
Some have views of cathedrals and other buildings; par¬ 
ticularly one of Edward the Elder in 900, which has the 
cathedral of York with three rows of windows, round 
arched like the other Saxon and Norman buildings, the 
Gothic arch being quite unknown till after the twelfth 
century. Some coins of Anlaf king of Northumberland 
have the famous raven, the Danifii enfign: and thofe of 
other princes have frequently very curious reverfe*. 
3. Ecclefafic coins appear of the archbifhops of Canter¬ 
bury, Wulfred in 804, Ceolnoth in 830, and Plegmund 
in 889. 
4. Coins of the kings of England. The filver penny, 
which had begun during the heptarchy, continued to be 
the general coin after the kingdom had been united under 
one head ; and extends in a continued feries from Egbert 
almoll to the prefent reign. The only kings wanting are 
Edmund Ironfide, Richard I. and John. The Norman 
conqueft in 1066 made no alteration in the Englifli penny, 
the only coin. The old Englifli penny, or anglicus, Mr. 
Pinkerton obferves, was a coin celebrated all over Europe 
in the middle ages, and almoft the only money known in 
the northern kingdoms. In neatnefs of fabric, and in 
purity of metal, it is fuperior even to the Italian and 
French coins of that period. The firft Englifli pennies 
weigh 22I grains troy ; towards the clofe of Edward III. 
the penny weighs but 18 grains, and in the reign of Ed¬ 
ward IV. it fell to 12. In Edward Vi’s time, 1551, the 
penny was reduced to eight grains, and after the 43d of 
Elizabeth to 7|f grains, at which weight it continues to 
this day. The next coins in antiquity, purfuing the filver 
coinage, are the halfpence and farthings, firft ftruck by 
Edward I. about 1280, fome having been previoufly iffued 
in Ireland by John. The firft were continued down to 
the commonwealth, fince which time none have been 
ftruck 
