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$Title{History Of Monetary Systems
Chapter VII: Moneys Of The Heptarchy}
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$Author{Del Mar, Alexander}
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See Table 34*0211702.tab
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Title:       History Of Monetary Systems
Book:        Chapter VII: Moneys Of The Heptarchy
Author:      Del Mar, Alexander

Chapter VII: Moneys Of The Heptarchy

Chapter Contents

     Summary of historical evidences furnished by the materials of this
chapter - No coins of the Anglo-Saxons exist earlier than Ethelbert - Pagan
gold coins - Gothic coins of Ethelred - Interpolations in ancient texts -
Moslem coins of Offa the Goth - Rome-scat, or Peter's pence - Egbert adopts
the Roman system of L. s. d. - Danish invasions - Burgred is defeated and
interned in a monastery - Guthrum is baptized and reigns as Athelstan II. -
Alfred of Wessex - Mingling of Gothic and Christian coins and denominations -
Changes of ratio - Edward the Elder - Athelstan - Edmund I. - Eadred - Leather
moneys - Ethelred II. - Danegeld - Canute the Dane - Harold the Dane - Edward
Confessor - Harold II. - Evidences derived from these researches.

Moneys Of The Heptarchy

     The monetary systems of the various Anglo-Saxon States were of such
essentially different structure as to denote the existence of different
governments and religions, some Gothic, others Roman, some pagan, others
Christian.  After the era of baugs these States employed oras, scats and
stycas, that is to say, native coins of gold, electrum and bronze, all of
somewhat irregular weights, bearing no marks of a common authority, and issued
by pagan chieftains owning no superior or overlord.  The tale relations were
octonary, and the ratio of silver to gold was 8 for 1.  At a later period some
features of the Arabian monetary system were grafted on the Gothic: the mancus
and half-dirhem - coins of sterling fineness and regular weights - were issued
or circulated in the various States, the tale relations exhibit the influence
of the Arabian decimal system, and the ratio was 6 1/2 for 1.

     When they successively adopted Christianity these States received their
monetary systems from Rome.  The coins now used were besants (5 to the libra),
shillings and pence; the denominations were L. s. d.; the weights were
accommodated to these tale relations, which, as between shillings and pence,
were duodecimal; the ratio of silver to gold was duodecimal; and the coinage
prerogative, as to gold, was exercised exclusively by the emperors of Rome,
and granted by them to the English princes as to silver - practices that are
held to denote both the feudal form of government and the Roman religion of
the vassal States.  Of these various features of money the abstention from the
coinage of gold by the converted princes, and the marked difference between
the Christian, Gothic and Moslem ratios between the value of gold and silver,
are the most significant.

     It will simplify the subject to observe: first, that with few exceptions,
which will be noticed as we go along, the only English coins now extant of the
heptarchical period are silver scats, half-dirhems and pennies, all of which,
being of somewhat similar weight, are usually, though erroneously, classed as
pennies; ^1 second, that as the Roman ratio was always 12 for 1, the denarii
(of which 40 went to the Roman aureus, when the latter was struck 60 from the
pound weight of standard gold) weighed 23 26 1/4 grains gross; third, that the
denarii (valued at 40 to the aureus, solidus or besant, when the latter was
struck 72 from the pound weight) weighed 21 7/8 grains gross; fourth, that the
denarii (when valued at 240 to the Pound., or 48 to the solidus) weighed about
19 1/2 grains gross, or 18 1/4 grains fine.  There were also lower weights to
the denarius, explained elsewhere.  As this was the prevailing system of
valuation in Christian States of the period answering to the heptarchy, it
follows, fifth, that when any so-called denarii, or pennies, belonging to such
period, and being in good condition, are found to contain more metal than is
here indicated, ^1 they were either struck under the Gothic or Gothic-Arabian
systems, and were really silver scats, or half-dirhems, or else, if of
Christian stamp, they were valued in the law, at the time of their issue, at
more than a penny each - a practice concerning the prevalence of which we have
the testimony both of Bishop Fleetwood and M. Guerard.  It does not, however,
follow from this rule that a scat, or half-dirhem, containing more silver than
a penny was worth more than the latter, because, as Christianity and "pennies"
gained ground, and paganism with scats and dirhems lost ground, the latter,
even when heavier, were accorded a lower value in the law.

[Footnote 1: There is nothing but historical inference to prove what these
pieces were respectively called at the date of their issue.]

[Footnote 1: In applying this rule some allowance must be made for the
unskillfulness of early mints in striking coins of a uniform weight.]

     The earliest coin of the heptarchical kings now extant is a certain
unique one stamped "Ethelbert," containing about 20 grains of fine silver.
Some writers ascribe this monument to Ethelbert I., but there is not
sufficient evidence to warrant the inference.  It is very much more likely to
have been an issue of the second Ethelbert, king of Kent (748-60), replacing
the composite scat, which by this time was disappearing in the refining
crucibles of the Arabian moneyers.  Mr. Keary prefers, indeed, to attribute it
to Ethelbert, king of the East Angles, who died in 792 or 793, and, moreover,
hints that its genuineness is not above suspicion.  Of this class of coins
twenty went at this period to the gold mancus, or solidus, of 60 grains fine,
and five of them to the gold ora or shilling - a ratio of silver to gold of 6
2/3 to 1, thus 20 X 20 = 400 Divided by 60 = 6 2/3.  In some Anglo-Saxon
coinages of this period the ratio was 6 1/2 to 1, in others 6 to 1.  In other
words, gold in England was valued as in Asia and Arabia, that is to say, at
half the price (in silver) at which it was maintained by the sacred empire of
Rome.  The adoption of the oriental ratio in England, though probably due
directly to the influence of the Arabian coinages of Spain, may also have been
superinduced by the Gothic-Arabian trade of this period through Russia and the
Baltic.  Whatever the cause, the fact is believed to be indisputable, and as
its acceptance solves many of the otherwise inexplicable problems of this
period, it is commended to the careful consideration of the reader.  Similar
ratios of 6, 6 1/2 and 6 2/3 for I will be found in the contemporaneous
coinages and valuations of Spain and southern France.

     Hawkins and Keary both intimate that during the reign of Ethelbert II.
there was a silver penny of twelve to the shilling, and leave it to be
inferred that there was either a silver shilling coin or a shilling of account
employed in England at this period.  A silver shilling coin is hardly worth
discussing; there is none extant and there is no evidence that such a coin
ever existed until the reign of Alfred, and even then it is by no means
certain.  At all previous dates the shilling, whenever embodied in a coin, was
made of gold.  With regard to a supposed silver "penny," of which twelve went
to the shilling of account, this is an inference drawn from extant copies of
the laws of Ethelbert, in which such denominations are mentioned. But as it is
quite unlikely that two coins, namely, the scat and the penny, of nearly
similar weight and contents, circulated in the same kingdom side by side, the
one five, the other twelve, to the shilling, we must regard the latter as an
anachronism introduced into copies of the law at a later period, when there
were indeed twelve pence to the shilling.  Ethelbert's laws are unique in
being written in English, but the Ms.  is Anglo-Norman of the twelfth century,
and the original laws have evidently been frequently altered. ^1 Bishop
Fleetwood has proved several anachronisms in the monetary terms employed in
the earlier English texts of laws.  The ratio of 9 silver to 1 gold, assumed
by Keary for the coinages of Ethelbert's reign, rests upon this same literary
and probably anachronical penny, and must stand or fall with it.  It will
probably be found difficult to overthrow the ratio of 6 2/3 derived from the
Anglo-Saxon valuation of 20 silver pence to the besant. Some of the other
conclusions of Mr. Keary - for example, that the thrimsa was a tremissis, that
the pound or livre of money always consisted of 240 pence, and that the mark
weight was (in England) half a pound weight - will incidentally receive
consideration as we proceed.

[Footnote 1: Sir Francis Palgrave, i., p. 44.]

     The tax of Peter's pence was first collected in England by the Roman
pontificate from Ina of Wessex. ^2 It is also alleged that after the
conversion of Offa (about 790) it was levied upon that prince, who testified
his submission to the pope by going to Rome in 793, and paying him homage in
person; but this is doubtful.  At this period Charlemagne was at the height of
his power.  France, Germany, Saxony, Hungary, Italy and even a portion of
Spain acknowledged his sovereignty.  Pope Hadrian I. had vowed himself
Charlemagne's liege subject and vassal, and governed in his name.  If Offa
acknowledged the suzerainty of the pope, it is not clear whether he intended
to admit or ignore that of Charlemagne, the pope's political superior or
suzerain.  Egbert, a Christian king of Wessex (800-36), ^3 had been for three
years a soldier in the army of Charlemagne.  He obtained his kingdom through
the good offices of that emperor, to whom he swore fealty and did homage. When
Charlemagne died (814), and the weak-minded Louis le Debonnaire was brought
under the domination of the pontificate, the latter seems to have at once
claimed Egbert as its vassal; but there are no evidences - at least not of
that period - that the latter conceded this claim.  The slender remains of
Egbert's coinage system throw no certain light upon the question.  The only
coin of his reign extant is the silver penny of fifteen grains fine. The
mutilated texts of the period mention a shilling of five-pence and a pound of
sixty shillings, both of which may be anachronical, and supplied by the
copyists of the extant Ms.  If the shilling was an actual coin, it was
probably the old ora of 12 1/2, worn down to 11 1-6, grains fine.  At five
pence to the shilling, this would give the Arabian ratio of 6 1/2 for 1 - a
result that would hardly tally with the Christian attitude ascribed to Egbert,
for no Christian prince, except the Basileus, could lawfully coin gold, and he
only coined it at 1 for 12 silver.

[Footnote 2: For examples of Rome-scat, see Ruding, ii., pp. 205, 210, 212,
218, 230, 366, etc.]

[Footnote 3: Not Egbert, or Egfrid, son of Offa, who died in 796.]

     Following Offa on the Mercian throne were Egbert, his son (heterodox,
died suddenly, 796), Coenwlf, or Kenulph (706-18,) Kenelm, Coelwlf, Beornwlf,
Ludica, Wiglaf (interned), Berthwlf, Burgred (interned), and Coelwlf, the last
of the line.  The church had employed excommunication, female influence,
monastic internments, and other resources to reduce the Mercian and
Northumbrian princes to submission, but without definite success.  The Danish
invasion served its ends better.  London was taken in 851, York fell in 867,
Guthrum, the East Anglican, was baptized in 878, ^1 and both Mercia and
stubborn Northumberland were at length brought beneath the dominion of Rome.
From 831, when the seven kingdoms of England were merged into the three
kingdoms of Wessex, Mercia and Northumberland, until the date of the
Alfred-Guthrum Treaty of 878, the intrigues of the pontificate and the
military operations of the Danes were incessant.  Gotfried, king of Denmark,
having been poisoned in 819 and Harold installed in his place, the latter was
baptized at the court of the conqueror, Louis le Debonnaire.  Ridding himself
of Regenfroy, his pagan rival for the throne, Harold made preparations to
continue on a large scale the war against the English kingdoms, which had been
inaugurated a quarter of a century previously by Ragnar Lodbrok, under king
Sigurd Snogoje.  This circumstance, together with the suddenness of Harold's
conversion, and the fact that his expedition was mysteriously directed from
the south of England against the not yet converted kingdoms of the north,
warrants the suspicion that papal intrigue was at the bottom of the entire
project.

[Footnote 1: There are reasons for believing that Guthrum was a Christian
before this time.  In 875 he succeeded in dividing the Anglo-Danish army, of
which a portion, under Halfdane, took possession of Northumberland and applied
themselves to agriculture.]

     In 832 the Danish forces landed on the isle of Sheppey; in the following
year they overran the coasts of Dorset, and in 835 those of Cornwall.  At this
juncture died Egbert of Wessex, yielding the crown to his son, Ethelwolf, at
that period a subdeacon of the cathedral at Winchester.  In 844, at the
Council of Winchester, upon the instigation of the bishop of Sherborn and the
bishop of Wilton, and perhaps also influenced by the menaces of the Danish
commander, Ethelwolf, as king of the West Saxons, made a donation to the
church, by which he granted to it "the tenth part of the lands throughout our
kingdom in perpetual liberty, that so such donation may remain unchangeable
and freed from all royal service and from the service of all secular claims."
^1 This embraced the Three Necessities - building bridges, fortifying and
defending castles, and performing military service. So soon as this grant was
duly executed the Danish forces disappeared. [Footnote 1: "Anglia Sacra," i.,
p. 200.]

     A few years after this happy relief - that is to say, in 854 - Ethelwolf
went to Rome, where he did homage to the pope, and presented him with a crown
of pure gold weighing four pounds, a sword adorned with pure gold, two golden
images, two golden vessels, a service of plate, and a donation of gold to the
clergy and of silver to the people of Rome.  On his return from this
pilgrimage, he married Judith, the daughter of Charles the Bald, of France. In
the following year (855) the bishop of Sherborn played Ethelbald, one of the
king's sons, against the father, and won from the latter another donation to
the church, which donation was to last - to quote its own terms - "as long as
the Christian faith shall flourish in the English nation."

     Bearing in mind the fact that a ratio of 12 for 1 during this period was
always a mark of Roman government, an attentive examination of the tables of
ratios in a previous chapter will afford a tolerably correct indication of the
dates when Roman domination was thoroughly re-established in the various
provinces or kingdoms of Britain.  However, the new domination, though
practically the same, was not altogether identical with the ancient one: its
appearance was changed, as though viewed through a defective glass.  The
ancient domination of Rome, so far as Britain is concerned, was in great
measure a military one; the re-established domination was practically an
ecclesiastical one.  Both brought in their train the benefits of the ancient
Roman civilization and the ancient arts.  This civilization during its
banishment had borrowed something, both from the anti-hierarchical spirit of
the Norsemen and the scientific spirit of the Arabians.  It bore a new aspect:
it lacked the refinement of the old imperial civilization, but it was fresher,
healthier and stronger.  To the student and philosopher who contemplates the
mediaeval ages, the civilization that accompanied Christian government must
have appeared like the face of a friend whom ill-health had banished to remote
climes, but who had returned after a long absence - his frame the same, his
features bronzed, his gestures coarse, but his step vigorous, and his eye
animated with a new and hopeful vitality.  Such seems to have been the
character of that Roman civilization which, cleansed in the fire of
Christianity, had returned to regain its wonted influence upon the Western
world.

     Resuming our consideration of the heptarchical monetary systems, the
appearance of the extant coins and the study of the valuations accorded to
them in the texts, make it evident that Burgred struck silver coins of 15
grains fine, which were valued by Christians at one penny each, with five
pennies to the shilling.  This gives a ratio of 6 silver for 1 gold, but owing
to the varying weights of Burgred's coins, the ratio was in fact more commonly
6 2/3 to 7 1/2 for 1. ^1 In 874; after Burgred was driven from his throne by
the Danes, he repaired to Rome, where he was quietly interned in the convent
of St. Mary's, ^2 from which, it is perhaps needless to say, he never emerged
alive.  We next turn to Guthrum, several of whose moneyers (like those of Offa
and other Gothic kings of England) were Arabian.  It does not appear whether
these officers were retained or not after Guthrum's public avowal of
Christianity.  If his monetary system accorded with the valuations in his
treaty with Alfred, it embraced the Saxon gullskilling (now reduced to 10
grains), the Arabian gold mancus of 60 grains as the equivalent of 30 silver
pennies (each of 15 grains), and the mark of gold (a money of account) as the
equivalent of 30 Saxon shillings.  The ratio was 7 1/2 for 1. ^1


[See Table 33: Table Of Supposed Moneys Of Guthrum.]

[Footnote 1: In Schmid's "Gesetze der Angelsachsen" the scale of monetary
equivalents relating to this period is confused and defective.  Comparing the
anachronical money "pound" of sixty shillings, mentioned in the texts of
Egbert's reign, with the contemporaneous money mark of thirty shillings,
mentioned in those of Guthrum's reign, he deduces a money pound of two money
marks.  Whereas, in point of fact, whenever the mark and pound were
contemporaneous and belonged to the same system, whether they were moneys of
account or weights, the former was two-thirds of the latter.]

[Footnote 2: Henry, ii., p. 71.]

[Footnote 1: An eminent English numismatist says of this period that the
mancus was "one-thirtieth of the pound, or thirty pence." The mancus was,
indeed, thirty pence, but there was no pound, and if there had been, it would
not have been valued at 30, but at 7 1/2 mancuses.  The equivalent in silver
coins was not 900, as our authority would argue, but 225 pence.]

     The monetary systems of Alfred of Wessex exhibit a curious mingling of
Arabian, Gothic and Roman influences.  The standard of fineness and the old
mancus coin were Arabian, the ora was Saxon, the L. s. d. system and the ratio
of 12 silver to 1 gold, in his third system, was Roman.  It will be remembered
that after the immense benefice which Ethelwolf granted to the church of Rome,
the Danes disappeared from Wessex.  This maneuver appears to have occasioned
some dissatisfaction in Denmark, for we hear no more of Harold the Christian,
who, in 850, was succeeded by Eric the pagan.  Under this monarch preparations
were made to conquer England for the Danes, and in 851 a fleet of 350 vessels
landed an army on the Isle of Sheppey, which soon afterwards captured and
plundered Canterbury and London.  In 853 the Danes invaded Mercia, and upon
the accession of Eric II. (pagan) in 854, they landed an expedition on the
northern coast of Britain.  In 858 Ethelwolf died, and Ethelbald, his eldest
son, married Judith, his step-mother.  This, and some other scandalous acts of
the new prince, seem to have rendered the English nobles indifferent to the
progress of the Danes, who (in 867) took York, and thus gained control of
Northumbria.  Two years afterwards the conquerors occupied the county of Fife
in Scotland; in 871 they defeated the Anglo-Saxons at Merton, in Surrey; in
875 they divided into two armies, led severally by Guthrum and Halfdane the
Black; in 876-7, although previously repulsed at sea, they invaded Alfred's
dominions by land, and before they were checked took Wareham, Exeter and
Chippenham.  In 878 Guthrum publicly accepted baptism, and made a treaty with
Alfred, by which Britain was virtually divided between these princes.  In 885
Alfred turned the River Lea, where a number of pagan Danish warships were
lying, and compelled their abandonment.  In the following year he occupied,
rebuilt and strengthened London.  In 893 the famous viking, Hastings, with 300
ships, one of which was commanded by Rolla, seized Appledore and
Melton-on-Thames.  In 894 Alfred defeated Hastings' forces at Farnham, and
captured that leader's wife and children.  In 897 the pagan Danes were
defeated at sea, near the Isle of Wight, and although their forces afterwards
roamed through Mercia, and even invaded Wales, they gave for a time a wide
berth to Alfred's dominions, and made no substantial progress in their
conquest of England.  However, a very considerable portion of the island was
already in their hands, and, evident as was Alfred's desire to submit his
kingdom in all respects to the ordinances of Rome, it can hardly be supposed
that, so far as his monetary system is concerned, he could bring this at once
into harmony with the Roman system, while the very different system of the
Danes was employed so close to his frontiers.

     In arranging the coins of Alfred, Mr. Hawkins says that "they seem to
fall into four principal divisions, struck, apparently, at different periods
of his reign." ^1 This opinion is corroborated by a study of the tale
relations of his different moneys, which cannot be harmonized without
admitting at least three different coinage systems.  The Arabian mancus was
certainly in use, or else its value was well understood, down to a certain
period of Alfred's reign, for the king himself, writing of his translation of
the pastoral of Gregory, says: "I sent a copy to every bishop's seat in my
kingdom, with an aestel, or handle, worth 50 mancuses." ^2 The Guthrum Treaty
and the writings of Aelfric the Grammarian both testify that the mancus at
this period was valued at thirty pence.  Dr. Ruding has deduced a silver
mancus of about the year 838, but no silver mancus has been found, and its
existence is doubtful.  A silver coin, possibly a two-shilling piece of this
reign, is mentioned farther on. ^3

[Footnote 1: "Silver Coins of England," 2nd edition, p. 121.]

[Footnote 2: Spelman, in Henry, vol. ii., p. 58.]

[Footnote 3: Both the mark and the ora are mentioned in the Edward-Guthrum
Treaty of between 901-24 (Ruding, i., p. 314).  Keary says that the ora is
first mentioned in Guthrum's Laws, vii., and is there valued at 2 1/2
shillings.  In the earliest Anglo-Saxon coinages and valuations, the ora and
shilling, both gold coins, were of like weight and value.  The shilling
afterwards lost weight.  The difference in the value of the ora probably arose
when the shilling, no longer made of gold, was represented by a sum of silver
pennies, the ora of gold still surviving and the ratio being changed to 12.]

     Of the silver scats or pennies of this reign there are two sorts extant -
one containing 19 to 20 grains, the other about 15 grains, of fine silver. The
Alfred-Guthrum Treaty values the mark of account at thirty shillings; Aelfric
the Grammarian valued the shilling at fivepence.  In another text ^1 he says
"they are twelve shillings of twelve pennies." These last are regarded as
coins and valuations which belonged to Alfred's third system. Bearing in mind
Mr. Hawkins' opinion that the light pennies of Alfred were of his first
coinage, his first monetary system, about 874-8, appears to have been
precisely the same as that supposed above of Guthrum.  The contents of 60
grains fine, accorded to the mancus, is a measure derived from the
contemporary dinars of Abd-el-Raman II., of Cordova. ^2 There is a silver coin
of Alfred, now in the British Museum, 15/16 of an inch in diameter, and
weighing 162 grains gross, presumably containing about 150 grains fine - a
measure which would exactly answer for that of a two-shilling piece in this
system.  Humphreys and Hawkins regard it "more in the light of a medal than of
a coin" - a convenient if not a convincing method of avoiding a practical
contradiction of their theory of the ratio, the ratio being the significant
and political feature of the whole matter.

[Footnote 1: His translation of Exodus xxi., 10.]

[Footnote 2: The dinars of Al-Mostain-Billah were of the same weight.]

Alfred's Second System

     This may be conveniently dated about the year 878.  The principal
features were the coinage of sterlings, containing about 20 grains fine
silver, and an enhanced valuation of the foreign gold coins, in such
sterlings.  The Arabian mancus of 60 grains fine was still valued at 30
standard silver pennies, but as the latter were 5 grains heavier than the
previous penny, this valuation makes a ratio between silver and gold of 10 for
1.  The mark (money of account) of 5 mancuses was valued at 150 standard
silver pennies. ^1 The shilling was represented by 5 sterling pennies.  If the
"pound" was in use it consisted of 45 shillings, or 225 pence.

[Footnote 1: During the Mediaeval ages, the English mark of account is valued
variously at 80, 100, 150 or 160 actual scats or pennies.  It would seem that
the mark of account was always two-thirds of the pound of account; it was
also, from the analogy of weights, counted as eight oras of account, and from
this it was also, though erroneously, reckoned at eight times the value of the
gold coin ora.  The ora of 2 1/2 shillings has been mentioned in the text.]

Alfred's Third System

     This must be dated some time between 878 and 901.  Its principal features
were the adoption of the modified Roman system of 5 X 48 = 240 pence to the
pound of account, and the definite relinquishment of gold coinage.  This meant
the eventual acceptance of the Byzantium gold coins and ratio of 12.  By this
time all gold coins, except old and greatly worn mancuses, had probably
disappeared from circulation. Assuming that these mancuses (really zecchins)
contained about 50 grains fine gold, the ratio was now 12, as follows: - 5
standard pence = 1 shilling of account; 6 shillings of account = 1 mancus or
zecchin; hence 600 grains of coined silver equaled in value 50 grains of
coined gold, or 12 for 1.

     In the earlier portion of the reign of Athelstan III., ^2 Christian king
of Wessex (925.41), the Byzantine shilling was valued at 5 silver pence, in
the latter portion it was altered to 4 pence. ^3 This involved an alteration
in the value of the Gothic thrimsa, which before was 2 1/2, and was now rated
at 3 scats.  It also involved a change from 5 X 48 = 240 to 4 X 60 = 240 pence
to the Pound., while the mark of account was valued at 160, instead of 150
pence as before. ^4 There can be little doubt that this adjustment was made by
Athelstan.  At this period the terms "mark" and "pound of account" were
chiefly employed in the valuation of "retts," taxes, and fines, all of which
went to the king.  The adjustment, therefore, was in favor of the crown.  The
ordinary transactions of trade were conducted in pennies, or scats and stycas,
and these were not affected by the changes mentioned. Guthrum had been the
first English prince to assume on his coins the pretentious title of "King of
England." Athelstan III. improved on this style by stamping his coins "Rex
toticus Britanniae." It was after the battle of Brunanburg, when flushed with
triumph and backed by an overwhelming display of power, that he was most
likely to have adopted this measure.  In one of his edicts Athelstan orders
that no coins except those struck or authorized by himself shall pass current
in England, that none shall be struck except within the precincts of a town,
and that no names, titles, nor effigies shall be placed upon the coins except
those of himself.  It is evident that coins were being struck by rival princes
independent of his authority, and that the object of his edicts was to prevent
the chieftains whom he claimed as vassals from striking coins in the name of
such rival princes.

[Footnote 2: There were three Athelstans or Aethelstans.  The first was a son
of Ethelwolf by his first wife.  His father made him king of Kent, Sussex, and
Essex, in the year 836 (Henry, ii., p. 65).  The second was the converted
Guthrum.  The third was the son of Edward the Elder, and the victor at
Brunanburg.]

[Footnote 3: Hawkins, pp. 268, 269.]

[Footnote 4: Fleetwood, p. 23.]

     Because the extant texts of the period mention but few alterations in the
value of coins and moneys of account, we are not at liberty to assume that no
others occurred.  On the contrary, from the appearance of the various coins,
it is probable that many changes occurred, the only uncertainty about the
matter being the precise date and manner of their occurrence.  The weight of
the penny, the proportion of alloy in this and other coins, the composition of
the scat, the relation between penny and scat, the number of pennies and scats
to the shilling, the number of scats to the mark, or pennies to the pound of
account, and the ratio of value between silver and gold in the coins, were all
altered.  The kings of the heptarchy were no less ready to exercise the
prerogative of "coining moneys and regulating the value thereof" than were the
Romans before or the Normans after them.  There were but few princes, form
Offa to William I., who hesitated to avail themselves of some form of this
financial resource.

     A later monetary scale of Athelstan shows a further intrusion of the
Roman system into the moneys of Northumbria and Mercia.  It consisted of Roman
L. s. d. in the numerical proportions of 4 X 60 = 240 pence to the Pound., and
of the following Gothic coins and moneys of account: - 8 stycas = 1 scat; 3
scats = 1 thrimsa; 7 thrimsas = 1 ora; 8 oras = 1 mark; 1 1/2 marks = L1.  The
foregoing two classes of moneys were united by the following scale of
equivalents: - 4 1-6 scats = 4 pennies, or 1 shilling; 160 pennies = 1 mark.
Hence, 250 (exactly 252) Gothic scats, or 240 Christian pennies = 1 "pound" of
account.  Hence also, 20 pennies to the ora, "Denar qui sunt XX in ora," as
mentioned in Domesday Book, vol. i., fol. i.  The styca of this reign was a
small brass coin, the scat a small lumpish silver coin containing about 17
grains fine, the penny contained about 18 grains fine, or 22 grains alloyed,
the sterling, or half-dirhem, was slightly heavier than the penny.  The ratio
of fine silver to gold in the coins of Athelstan was 12 for 1. ^1

[Footnote 1: The mark of silver was reduced to two gold mancuses, whereas
previously it was worth five.  This was mainly due to the rejection of the
Arabian and adoption of the Byzantine valuation of gold, an act which lowered
the value of silver to a moiety.]

     During the reign of Edmund I., king of Wessex (941-46), the silver
pennies contained from 16 1/3 to 22 1/3 grains fine. ^2 We are aware of no
alterations in the valuation of money during the reign of Edred, king of
Wessex.  The reign of Edgar, king of Wessex, is marked by the issuance of
leather moneys and an effort to unitize the numerous and heterogeneous
coinages of England - an effort which proved futile.  The sterlings of this
prince contain 18 to 20 grains of fine silver, but we do not know at what
valuations they passed.  Many of these coins were surreptitiously reduced by
clippers to half their weight.  After executing a batch of these criminals, a
new coinage was ordered, and it was probably to fill the void thus temporarily
created in the circulation that the leather moneys were issued. [See table on
page 182.]

[Footnote 2: Ruding, i., p. 292.]

     Ethelred II. (the Unready) has left us silver "pennies" of three
different weights, containing respectively 20, 25 and 18 1/2 grains fine,
which were struck respectively about A. D. 978, 990, ^1 and 1016, and valued
respectively at five, four and twelve to the shilling, there having been three
systems of L. s. d., with respectively forty-eight, sixty and twenty shillings
to the pound of account, the latter payable with five gold besants. When the
last-named system of L. s. d. was fully established the heavy penny, or scat,
of 25 grains fine, and belonging to the 4 X 60 = 240 system, undoubtedly went
for three halfpence.

[Footnote 1: The type of this coin (silver scat) is said to have been imitated
by Haco of Norway (977-95), and for this reason we have dated the issue by
Ethelred at about 990.]


[See Table 34: Table Of Leather Moneys Of The North.]

     Contemporaneously with these systems, Gothic-Arabian moneys were employed
by the Danish population (which, previous to the massacre of St. Bride's, had
become very numerous), and valuations in such moneys were employed in the
laws, treaties and other texts of the period, also for the payment of
Danegeld.  In Brompton's translation of the laws of this reign, fines are
expressed not only in L. s. d., but also in marks, oras and scats.  These
appear to have been related as follows: - 8 bronze stycas = 1 silver scat
(probably the heavy "penny" mentioned above); 8 scats = 1 Danish gold ora; 3
oras = 1 Arabian mancus; 6 mancuses = 1 mark. ^1 The "mancus" of this scale
was evidently not a mancus, but a gold zecchin, or ducat, weighing 50 to 54
grains.  There is a specimen of this coin extant, with the effigy of Ethelred,
weighing 51 1/2 grains.  It is heretical, and was probably struck without
authority of the king. ^2 In this system thirty (light) pence went to the
zecchin. ^3 Regarding the penny as containing 18 1/2 grains and the zecchin 51
1/2 grains, this would imply a ratio of 10 3/4 for 1.

[Footnote 1: In Anderson's "History of Commerce," Mr. Lampard, the antiquary,
is relied upon to prove that a thrimsa of this period was valued at three
shillings; but this is evidently a blunder and means three scats.]

[Footnote 2: Zikkah, the Arabian word for stamp, die, coinage and mint, gave
the name to the zecchin, sequin, ducat, florin, etc., all of which were
different names for a gold coin, varying from 50 to 54 grains, something
between the ancient dinar and the maravedi.  The standard varied from 22 to 23
carats fine.]

[Footnote 3: Aelfric the Grammarian.]

     There is little room to doubt that the middle term shilling was changed
from forty-eight to sixty, and afterwards to twenty, to the pound of account.
The first proportion rests upon the authority of Fleetwood (p. 23) and
Anderson (i., p. 98), and the third upon Aelfric Grammaticus, the translation
of Exodus xxi., 10, and the "Historia Eliensis." Both Guerard and De Vienne
testify to the same practice at the same period in France.  Shifting the
middle term affords the best proof that the ora was now too valuable to pass
for a shilling, and that the latter was merely a money of account, payable in
silver pennies.

     Canute, the Christian but anti-papal king of Denmark and England, has
left us a greater variety of coin-types than any other English prince before
the Plantagenet dynasty.  His Gothic coins and valuations were 8 scats = 1
ora; 3 oras = 1 mancus; 5 mancuses = 1 mark of account.  His Christian coins
were valued in L. s. d. on the scale of 5 X 48 = 240 pence to the Pound. ^1
The pence vary in weight from 12 to 18, and the scats from 20 to 24 grains
each, and are all about eleven-twelfths fine, the lighter weights, or the
pennies, greatly pre-dominating.  The intervaluation between the two systems
was 30 silver pence, each of 16 grains fine, equal to 1 "mancus," really a
zecchin, of 50 to 54 grains, bespeaking a ratio of about 9 for 1.  However,
his Danish coinages render this ratio uncertain.

[Footnote 1: "Chron. Preciosum," p. 23.]

     The accession of Edward Confessor marks the decline of Danish power and
influence in England - an event long celebrated by the Catholic portion of the
population in the religious festival of Hokeday.  This prince's friendship for
Normandy and his fealty to Rome manifested itself in the appointment of Norman
favorites to office, in the quarrel with Godwin, the incarceration of Edgitha,
the welcome which he accorded to William of Normandy, and his removal of
Godwin's hostages (his son Ulnoth and grand-nephew Haguin) to William's court.
Although the quarrel with Godwin was patched up, the hostages remained in
Normandy.  After Godwin's death (in 1053), when his son Harold, now the head
of the family, sought to recover these hostages, he was refused by William.
Upon the death of Edward (in January, 1066), Harold usurped the throne, and
until the fatal battle of Hastings reigned for a brief period as Harold II.

     The following scale of equivalents will illustrate Edward's system of
moneys: - Five light silver pennies containing variously from 12 1/2 to 18 1/2
grains fine = 1 shilling, and 48 shillings equal 1 pound of account; four
heavy silver pence (scats), containing from 20 to 25, but for the most part
about 20, grains fine = 1 shilling; and 60 shillings = 1 pound of account. The
shilling of four pence appears to have survived that of five pence.  Thus
there were successively two classes of pounds, shillings and pence, and it is
not improbable that there were three, the third consisting of the factors 12 X
20 = 240 pence to the Pound., and based on a degraded penny containing about 8
1/2 grains fine silver.  Edward's coins were of uneven and oft-changed
weights, and owing to the disturbed state of the government, they were also of
uncertain and fluctuating value.  The gold besant of Constantinople was in
circulation, and, according to Dr. Henry, was valued at eight shillings, each
of five silver pence.  During another portion of Edward's reign the besant was
valued at nine shillings. ^1

[Footnote 1: Henry's "Hist. Brit.," ii., p. 275.]

     There is some reason to suspect that about this time the payment of
Danegeld by the people to the king's officers was made in the degraded coins
above mentioned, but the evidences are not sufficiently conclusive to entirely
warrant the inference.  However, the imposition of this tax was abolished by
Edward, and it was not imposed again until the reign of William I.  The Gothic
moneys of Edward Confessor were valued as in Canute's reign. There is too much
uncertainty about the weights and value of coins in this reign to make any
reliable inferences concerning the relative valuation of gold and silver.  The
gross weight of a heretical zecchin ascribed to this reign, as given by
Kenyon, is 54 1/2 grains.  The ratio may have been any figure between 7 1/2
and 11 for 1.  It was probably often changed. ^2

[Footnote 2: For allusions to mint laws of Edward Confessor, see Kemble, pp.
67-9; for "Treasure Trove," see Ruding, i., p. 390.]

     Harold II. only reigned nine months, yet his coins are very numerous,
nearly one hundred varieties of moneyers' names having been found upon them.
It is quite probable that in the confusion of the times the chieftains and the
prelates who supported Harold's pretensions to the crown took occasion to coin
money for themselves, the profit upon such coinage varying from a twelfth to a
tenth of the metal coined, sometimes more.  Harold's silver scats weigh about
22 grains, and contain about 20 grains of fine silver. There is no reason to
believe that he changed the previously existing system of L. s. d., nor that
any of the coins previously in circulation - such as the Arabian zecchin, the
besant and its fractions, or the Gothic stycas, scats and oras - were decried
or interdicted.