English coinage in the Middle Ages evolved at a very slow pace. At the start of 1279 every English coin for the last 125 years had born the name HENRICVS in spite of the fact that there had been kings named Richard, John and Edward. Stability it was believed bred confidence and for a medieval king confidence in his kingdom’s money supply was of paramount concern. Later in the year a re-coinage would take place, but we are not concerned with that just yet, instead we are going to take a brief look at a Penny minted during the first seven years of the reign of Edward I. This silver Penny was minted at Bury Saint Edmunds between 1272 and 1279. On the obverse it shows a transitional portrait of the king with the familiar crown and scepter on the earlier coins of Henry III, but the long, flowing locks common to the later coins of Edward I and his successors. In spite of the fact that Edward I had now been king for several years, the inscription still reads HENRICVS REX III. We learn more by reading the reverse of the coin. Between the four quarters of the voided long cross (a design element that replaced the older Short Cross style in 1247) are the letters ION ONS EIN TED. Ion (Jon) On Seint (Saint) Ed(munds), this coin was minted by Jon at Bury Saint Edmunds. These unusual coins were once very rare, but a find in the latter half of the 20th Century in Colchester, England changed that. In 1969 a lead container was discovered that contained 14,064 Silver Pennies of Henry III, most were issued before the 1250s, but 1,916 of them were of this type. Listed in Spink as S-1377, Class VI and issued from 1272 to 1279. Because the hoard was found in a location where Jewish homes were known to have been located in the 1270s and because Edward later expelled all Jews from England, it is probable that these coins were deposited by a Jewish money lender who never recovered them because he was the victim of persecution. For me that brings this coin to life, you can look at this coin and imagine the fear and uncertainty that led this person to hide these coins.
Great writeup @Aethelred I have been doing quite a bit of reading concerning medieval English coins. I have very much enjoyed reading the reference books by Wren on English pennies. In the course of my reading I have become interested in the coins minted in Bury St Edmunds. I like the style of them very much. I would love to find one as nice as yours. I also love coins that tell a story. This is one of the reasons I wanted a portrait denarius of Julius Caesar. Here is my English penny of Edward I ( I also have 2 Anglo-Gallic coins of him) England, Plantagenet Kings ND AR Penny Edward I 1272-1307 London (19.1 mm 1.4 g) Class III g, late “S”. North 1022 S 1393 Purchased from H. J. Berk May 15, 2017 201stBid or Buy sale lot 516
Having 14,000 + silver coins in one place would be a very worrying prospect for any person at most points in history.. even in many places in the world today. Can't even imagine how it would have been then.. that is enormous wealth.
Very nice coin @Aethelred I really like it. I still have yet to get a nice Edward I VLC penny. The Colchester hoard was actually found in 2 parts. The first part was discovered in the early 1900s and as about 12,000 coins, mostly short cross pennies with some Irish and Scottish included. The second hoard, which you wrote about, has a nice breakdown here: https://www.britnumsoc.org/publications/Digital BNJ/pdfs/1974_BNJ_44_5.pdf One of Edward's major motivations for the expulsion of Jews from England was that he was deeply in debt and Parliament was balking at his request for higher taxation. When the Jews were expelled their property reverted to the Crown and all outstanding debts the Crown owed to them were negated. Many of the English Jews immigrated to Poland, which at the time protected Jews by law. It wasn't until the rule of Oliver Cromwell that Jews were allowed to settle in England.
The source of the wealth of the person who buried the hoard may have been from success at being a merchant. Jews were not allowed to own real estate so they were forced to be merchants, tradesmen, tailors, smiths,teachers, scribes, doctors, clergy and moneylenders. However the "loansharking Jew" itself was a stereotype that was promulgated to cause further hatred and persecution.
@TheRed That makes me wonder if all the coins in a hoard like this get photographed? I doubt it, but wouldn't it be interesting to find my specific coin recorded somewhere. They really should keep a visual record of everything contained in historic hoards, who knows in what ways that information could prove useful to future researchers?
While it would be nice if they did, but I doubt it could be feasible. The time it would take to photograph all of the coins in a hoard like Colcheter II would be enormous. It would also result in a lot of common or unremarkable coins being photographed. While large, the combined Colchester hoards (I & II) arent even the largest medieval coin hoard. In 1908 a hoard was discovered in Brussels that contained over 140,000 medieval coins. Roughly 80,000 were Irish, Scottish, or VLC of Henry III and roughly 60,000 were continental coins. The English coins were purchased by Baldwins while the continental coins were purchased and them melted down for their silver.
Very nice write-up. I have no silver pennies in my collection, but this influenced me to take a look at what is being offered out there.
According to the account linked below, the hoard was photographed. What is not clear is if the 1550 coins kept by the museum were photographed or the entire hoard. If one were truly interested, I suspect correspondence with the British Museum or British Numismatic Society may prove fruitful. Assuming either or both are still in existence. https://www.britnumsoc.org/publications/Digital BNJ/pdfs/1974_BNJ_44_5.pdf
