Featured Fitz's Medieval Book Review

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Thanks! Amd thanks to the additional contributors! Hopefully it will continue to grow when I have time to pick up some more books...

 

Metcalf, D.M. An Atlas of Anglo-Saxon and Norman Coin Finds, c. 978-1086. Royal Numismatic Society Special Publication No. 32. London: Royal Numismatic Society and Ashmolean Museum, 1998.
ISBN: 1854441108
Cost: $85 (Currently $24 on Amazon)



Grade: B

As the title suggests, Metcalf’s study is that of coin finds in Great Britain from coins minted between the time of King Edgar’s reform and Domesday Book (essentially the death of William the Conqueror). This is by no means a catalogue of coin types, but a study of find evidence to attempt to explain the monetary history of England and the flow of money. The reasoning for the time period chosen is that due to Edgar’s reforms, the coin types were re-minted every six years (and then later every two years come the reign of Edward the Confessor) so that any coins found in the ground can be attributed to a particular time period. This has allowed Metcalf to chart the distance between the mints (which are recorded on the coins) and their find spot, resulting in a picture of England which seems to focus on North-South trade along the East Coast, with little circulation of money in the west.

While on the surface, this seems like brilliant research. Indeed, Metcalf’s assertion that single find are much more useful to monetary historians than hoards is incredibly persuasive. However, Metcalf is admittedly working from a paucity of material, and often relies on conjecture. He admits in his book that the find material is scarce, and that as more finds are recorded and available, better conclusions could be made, but his reasoning for writing the book when he did was that “...at some point one has to close the books and draw up the balance sheet (p. xvi). You’ll note that Metcalf’s book was completed in 1998, some five years before the Portable Antiquities scheme began conceiving of an online database of single finds in England (see here: https://finds.org.uk/database/search). No doubt this has greatly increased the amount of information that would have been at Metcalf’s disposal. However, Metcalf cannot be faulted for writing when he did. It is more the frustration of accepting certain guesses of amounts that was never fully explained (such as how many die types were estimated to exist), or the amount of math that was used that is difficult to follow. I also found the lack of captions for maps to be frustrating, and only realized halfway through the book that each map contained an annulet for every coin find, but only the colored-in dots represented the find spots of the coins being discussed.

Despite some frustrations, this is an excellent book for theory and methodology of studying coin finds. It would be particularly useful for anyone who specialized in the coins of England from 978 to the Conquest (William I’s reign is treated mostly as an afterthought). Otherwise, it is a bit of a tough read.

 

I always enjoy your book reviews. There is a Numismatic Bibliomania Society that puts out a newsletter...maybe you should submit some of your articles for their newsletter?

 

I’ve seen that suggested before. I’m happy with justboosting here, and they are always welcome to link to this thread as they have other threads on CoinTalk (Ikm assuming this society is the E-Sylum newsletter...)

 

Thanks for the book review @FitzNigel what an interesting subject. While not an Anglo-Saxon or Norman coin collector, ill have to add it to my coin book shopping list.

 

You are correct, it is the E-Sylum newsletter.

Just a fun bit of info, someone here posted a question about the engraver/designer of a modern Korean coin and someone there was actually able to answer the question.

 

@FitzNigel I have bought a few books as a result of this thread, please keep the reviews coming.

 

I will when I get around to reading more books. Feel free to contribute if you have read something relevant!

 

Frynas, Jędrzej George. Medieval Coins of Bohemia, Hungary, and Poland. London: Spink, 2015.
ISBN: 978-1907427527
Cost: £45



Grade: B

Medieval Coins of Bohemia, Hungary, and Poland is an excellent catalogue of these fascinating coins from eastern Europe. The layout is logical, with a section for each kingdom or duchy then broken down by issuing authority (be it the king or regional issue) in roughly chronological order (I say ‘roughly’ only because some kings had an interruption in their rule, and rather than give them two section, their coins are kept in one). Most of the coins listed have a color photograph include, and those without the photograph have a line drawing. The author noted that he did not receive the cooperation of the Czech National Museum, which accounted for more of the Bohemian coins having line drawings than the rest of the catalogue. Frynas also informs the reader that he is hoping to issue a second edition to rectify this, relying on collectors to help fill the gaps. Each section begins with a nice history of the coinage, relative rarity is given for every coin, and each issuing authority has a brief biography to help put the coins within their historical context.

While there are many good aspects to Frynas’ book, there are a few issues. My primary complaint is that it is incomplete. In several places, Frynas’ notes that the book is only including coins which can be accurately attributed to an issuing ruler, and that there are more pieces which are anonymously issued and the scholarship has yet to be done to determine when and by whom these coins were released. While I applaud Frynas’ honesty in his omissions, I think many who collect coins of such early periods of history are, and should be, comfortable with a certain amount of ambiguity. There are other issues which could potentially be included in this book which were not, such as the Ban issues of Slovenia when under Hungarian rule. Frynas notes this, but also makes us aware of Dimnik and Dobrinić’s book on Medieval Slavic Coinages in the Balkans (also by Spink) which could fill these gaps.

While the text has clearly defined the end of “medieval coins” as when the beginning of dates on coins can be found, this does feel a little arbitrary, and a little frustrating that some of the most common (and I suspect more collected) hammered coins from Hungary, the “Maddonnenmunzen,” are not included (aside from the first issue by Matthias Corvinus, 1458-1490). Nevertheless, this is an excellent resource for Eastern European coins, particularly for an English speaking audience (the vast majority of the books in the thorough bibliography are not in English - only a few general works, and two books on gold florins of Hungary). I hope that the proposed second edition will eliminate many of the known flaws in the first.

 

Very nice review @FitzNigel I would agree with your points regarding the book. As you noted, there aren't many other options written in English. I would add that this book will be very familiar to anyone that has a copy of the Standard Catalogue of British Coins (SCBC) in terms of layout and photography. I think Frynas provides the reader with more in-depth historical information than SCBC. My main areas of interest, what prompted me to buy the book, were the coinages of the Hussite period and George of Podebrady, John Hunyadi, and Matthias Corvinus.

 

Thanks to the excellent recommendation of our fellow medieval coin enthusiast Orfew I just received this great book. I just got it today so I can't make a detailed review but it looks like a winner.

 

I hope you enjoy it @alde! You can see my take here, and I’d love to see your thoughts!

 

I’ll add that Roberts’ book is one of my most frequently used books...

 

Thank you. I'll sure to post my impression once I have a chance to dig into it. Over the last few years I've managed to aquire a decent number of nice 9th to 13th century French coins that could use some better attribution and I know more will find their way into my collection in the future. Aside from hammered English it's my favorite area of medieval coinage.

 

Can't wait for your review @alde Let's see some of those French fuedal coins you've picked up.

Thanks to the influence of @FitzNigel and his great posts I've also become much more interested in them and picked up some French fuedal coins myself. The large variation in coins and regions is really fun and offers an amazing amount of options as compared to English hammered coins.

 

I'll try to get going on pictures next week or maybe even tomorrow. I'm way behind on pictures and attributions.

 

Does anyone have a recommendation for a book on Medieval and Renaissance era coins of Germany or German States? I bought a CD full of old German numismatic books in PDF format and while they are somewhat useful I unfortunately don't read German.

 

I am not aware of a comprehensive book on German Coins in English. John F. Lhotka wrote a short introduction on Bracteates in the 80s (which I am about to start reading...), and R. Svensson also wrote on Bracteates in 2012 (Renovatio Monetae - Bracteates and Coinage Policies in Medieval Europe). Neither of these will be comprehensive catalogues. The MEC series has volume I on Western Germany in preparation, but when it is actually published (or when the other two volumes would even begin) is anyone’s guess.

There is an online collection that is pretty comprehensive, even if the pictures aren’t great. That is Die Saurmasche Münzsammlung. Unfortunatly it is just a catalogue with no explanation. Another option, which is not quite as comprehensive, is the Kunker catalogue for the de Witt sale. There are four in total, and the second catalogue covers his German collection. De Witt did a nice write up for most of the areas that issued coins, and spent more time on certain coins or types that have interesting stories or elements to them. All four catalogues can be found on the ISSU app, and the first three can be found online with a bit of searching (if you can’t find it let me know and I’ll find a way to send you the file).

Anyway, this is what I use for my small number of German Coins. There may be other things out there that I am unaware of.

 

Fitz, thank you for taking the time to give me some guidance. It's a great start. I keep looking for the MEC volumes but as you say it may be a while. It's definitely a very large subject to cover but the coins are interesting and many very attractive and of course historic. The subject matter seems so much more varied than most other European contries with all the religious subjects especially. Many of them are also very well made and artistic.