Edward I, 1272 - 1307 We finished part 1 of this survey of the Plantagenet kings with the de-facto abdication of the feckless Henry III. Henry’s successor was his son Edward I. Edward’s nickname was “longshanks” because he stood 6 feet, 3 inches tall which was an impressive height for a man at that time. Edward was a great warrior king, but he made his lasting mark in history because of his reforms in the administration of government and the establishment of Parliament as an influential governing body. The basic structure of English Common Law was instituted during Edward’s reign. As a warrior, Edward conquered Wales and made it a British colony. His efforts to dominate Scotland were less successful. Although he defeated William Wallace (The hero of the Mel Gibson film, Brave Heart.), he was unable to bring the Scots completely under British control. Edward took the Stone of Destiny (a.k.a The Stone of Scone), which had been the pedestal for the crowning of Scottish kings, and placed it under his throne as a symbol that the Scots were under British rule. It was not a reflection of the political realities. The Scots retrieved the stone clandestinely in 1996. It has remained in Scotland since, but will be returned to England temporarily when a new British king is crowned. Although he expanded English dominance on the British Isles, Edward was far less successful in his efforts to take more French territory. He formed alliances with other European nations against the French, but those efforts ultimately fell apart. His French campaign forced him to raise taxes in England which became a very unpopular policy among the noble classes. Ultimately Edward left England deeply in debt and was only able to negotiate a truce with his French enemies. On a negative note, Edward expelled the Jewish People from England and seized their assets to help pay for his military actions. An Edward I penny, S-1408. This piece shows "ghosting" on the obverse from the long cross on the reverse. The coin planchet was too thin to prevent this minting defect. Edward’s Coinage Edward improved the quality of British coinage during his reign, and introduced a new denomination, the four pence or groat. The groat was not successful during Edward’s reign, but it subsequently become an important coin in the British economy. Edward also issued half pennies and farthings (one quarter of a penny) in sufficient quantities so that those pieces could be used in daily transactions. Edward’s pennies are fairly common and often available to collectors. Edward II, 1307 – 1327 Edward II was a weak monarch who allowed his personal life to override his duties as the king and head of state. Edward lived over 700 years ago, and although one can never be entirely sure about his sexual orientation, it is a safe bet that he was gay. While most men of his age and station were drawn to jousting and hunting, Edward preferred boating, swimming, and arts and crafts to those more masculine pastimes. Further evidence of his sexual orientation came from his choices of intimate companions As a teenager, Edward’s favorite companion was Piers Gaveston. Realizing that something was not right between his son and Gaveston, King Edward I banished Gaveston from the kingdom. When Edward I died and Edward II came to power, the young king brought him back. At his coronation Edward dressed Gaveston in garments that upstaged the queen, Isabella of France. Edward dressed his favorite in purple robes with pearls and gave him a more prominent place in the ceremony than the queen. None of this sat well with the French, the British nobles or the queen. Gaveston was an accomplished jouster and frequently defeated the nobles in those contests. Unfortunately, he made the mistake of taunting his opponents after he defeated them. Edward also awarded lands to Gaveston that had traditionally been assigned to more important people. Ultimately the nobles rebelled. They hired two Welch knights abducted Gaveston and beheaded him. Edward was devastated, but it did not take him long to find another special friend. His new favorite was Hugh Despenser, son of the Earl of Winchester. Edward lavished gifts on Huge and his father at a time when England was suffering from a famine. In addition, Edward led a poorly designed military action against Scotland which resulted in a disaster. After Edward awarded lands in Wales to Hugh and his father, the Welsh barons, led by Roger Mortimer, rebelled. The English nobles also rebelled and succeeded in driving Hugh Despenser and his father from England. Over the next two years, Edward waged a successful war against Mortimer and another noble, Thomas of Lancaster. Edward won that phase of the war and brought the Hugh and his father back to England where they started collecting royal gifts again. Edward had Mortimer and Lancaster imprisoned in the Tower of London. Lancaster was beheaded, but Mortimer escaped, which lead to Edward’s undoing. In 1325, Edward sent Queen Isabella to France on a diplomatic mission. By this time the queen had had enough of Edward’s male companions. She and Roger Mortimer became lovers and raised a mercenary army. During this period, the queen issued the following statement which explains a great deal about the state of their marriage: “I feel that marriage is a joining of a man and woman holding fast to the practice of a life together. (But) someone has come between my husband and myself and is trying to break the bond; I declare that I will not return until this intruder is removed, but discarding my marriage garment, shall put on the robes of widowhood and mourning until I am avenged of this Pharisee.” They landed in England, persuaded Edward’s one time followers to abandon him and took charge of the country. They had Hugh Despenser and his father executed in particularly, symbolically gruesome, medieval manner. They overthrew King Edward and had him imprisoned. Historians continue to debate Edward II’s fate. Some say that he escaped his prison cell and lived out the rest of his days in Italy. Others cite a story that he was put to death by having a red hot poker pushed up his rectum. Whatever his fate, Edward II’s weak reign would require a strong hand to restore the British monarchy. His son, Edward III, would provide that robust leadership. An Edward II penny in the typical state of preservation. S-1459 Edward II’s Coinage Edward II’s coins differed little from the pieces that England issued during his father’s time. The chief indicators are in the shape of the crown upon the cartoonish head that appeared on all English coins of the period. No groats or four pence pieces were issued, half pennies and farthings were struck. Generally, the prices for Edward II’s coins are reasonable for such coins of the period, but most of the examples I have seen are in the lower grades of preservation. I several years of searching, I have never seen a high grade King Edward II penny. Edward III, 1327 – 1371 Edward III became king when he was 14 years old. Given his youth, the government was under the control of Roger Mortimer (a.k.a. The Earl of March) and Edward’s mother, the former queen. After Mortimer led a militarily disastrous campaign to take Scotland, Edward learned from his mistakes and began to assert his birthright. Mortimer set a trap to imprison the young king, but Edward outmaneuvered him and had Mortimer arrested first. Edward had Mortimer convicted as a traitor, had him executed and sent his mother into exile. Edward reasserted his claims to French territory. With an outnumbered force, he won back Crecy and took Calais by siege. His most effective military tactic was to shower his opponents in a hail of arrows that were capable of piercing armor. Edward’s military exploits came at a price. He raised taxes to very high levels which made him unpopular. Given the large expenditures that Edward made, he expedited those transactions by introducing the first successful British gold coinage. His initial gold coins, the florins, which were modeled after the French pieces of period, were not well received, but his second series, the gold nobles, were quite successful. Those pieces show a monarch, presumedly Edward, riding in medieval war ship, called a cog, presumedly to France. This design would appear on the gold nobles for many years. The initial value of the noble was 6 shillings and 8 pence or 80 pence. Edward’s most famous son, who was also named Edward, was known as the Black Prince because of the color of his armor. He was an effective leader in the wars with France and was a popular figure. The Black Prince would die before he had a chance to become king. Edward tried to model his court after the legendary King Arthur. Instead of a round table, he instituted the Order of the Garter. Its blue and gold ribbons became symbolic of honor and prestige and continues to be a highly honored British institution. The great tragedy of Edward’s reign was the Plague or Black Death which devastated the European Continent and England. It killed one-third of the British population which resulted in the deaths of important government officials and labor shortages. In his later years, Edward became old and feeble. With the death of the Black Prince, another of Edward III’s sons, John of Gaunt, took over most of the governmental responsibilities. Upon Edward III’s death, Richard, the son of the Black Prince, became king. This Edward III half noble shows the king riding his ship, a cog, to victory in France. This hardi d'argent French coin was issued on behalf of Edward III's warrior son, the Black Prince. His nickname may have had two sources. It could have stood for the color of the armor that he wore, or could have represented the opinion the French had of him, who fell under his rule. Edward III’s Coinage Edward III’s silver coinage is relatively plentiful and available for collectors. Groats (four pence), half groats, pennies, half pennies and farthings (1/4 of a penny) are all within the financial reach of many collectors. The real prizes are Edward’s gold coins. His first gold pieces, the florins, are rare and very expensive. The noble and its fractional parts, the half nobles and quarter nobles, are often available, but since they are gold coins, they too are expensive. Richard II, 1377 – 1399 Weakness of Richard III’s reign could be summed up by the fact that his best day as king occurred when he was 14 years old. Following the death of Edward III, there was a peasant revolt. High taxes plus the lingering effects of the Black Death had brought the people to a boiling point. A shortage of laborers, because of the Plague, had pushed up wages. The government tried to set them are artificially low levels which prompted the revolt. The rebels killed the Archbishop of Canterbury and the treasurer. Richard and his brother were holed up in the Tower of London for their protection. Finally Richard emerged to meet the mob. During the third meeting, things were tense. When Wat Tyler, the leader of the rebellion made a threatening move toward the king, the Mayor of London struck Tyler dead. The situation might have become violent, but Richard stepped forward and said, “Sirs, will you kill your king? I am your leader. Follow me.” The crowd disbursed with promises that the king would initiate reforms, but he did not keep his word. It was an indicator of what was to come. While the country continued to suffer from hard times, Richard hosted elaborate parties, sumptuous banquets and elaborate court ceremonies. At first Richard had the support of the nobility because he had impressed them by his performance in front of the London mob. Over time, as he raised taxes, picked favorites among the nobles and failed to keep his promises, Richard’s popularity declined. Part of Richard’s successes came from the advice and support of his uncle, John of Gaunt. John was fabulously wealthy and very influential. He held things together during the final days of Edward III’s reign. He played a similar role for Richard, but not even John could quell the unrest among the nobility. A rebellion nearly ended Richard’s reign, but Richard was able hold on the crown by promising to alter his behavior. Richard toed the line for a while, but then he became more erratic. The king was unwilling or unable to negotiate with his critics. He called two Parliaments, but none of the issues were resolved. He razed a building simply because his wife had died in it. To some, the king appeared to be mentally ill. Richard’s chief benefactor, John of Gaunt, died in 1399. Without John’s support to guide him, Richard disinherited John’s son, Henry Bolingbroke. Whether Richard acted out of greed or vindictiveness is not known, but it was a mistake of monumental proportions. Richard and Henry knew each other well. They had grown up together and had been inducted into the Order of the Garter as young men. Yet Richard had treated his childhood friend harshly and arbitrarily. If a mentally unstable king could take the property of a rich and powerful lord, what sort of treatment could the other nobles expect? Henry Bolingbroke returned from a brief exile. As he traveled toward London, he gathered a growing number of supporters. Richard was in Ireland when Henry returned and was unable to overcome the momentum that Henry had built against him. Richard was forced to abdicate and was imprisoned. Subsequently he was starved or chose to starve himself to death. Henry Bolingbroke became king and is known as Henry IV. The abdication of Richard III brought the Plantagenet dynasty to an end. Although the subsequent kings were a part of the Plantagenet family, historians divide them between their two factions, the House of Lancaster and the House of York. For more than 80 years, those two factions initiated a period of unrest that was known as the War of the Roses. The Lancaster faction took the red rose as its symbol while the Yorkists chose the white rose as their emblem. Peace and stability would not return until Henry Tudor, Henry VII, took charge in 1485. A Richard II half penny, S-1699 Richard II’s Coinage Richard II’s gold and larger silver coins are scarce and expensive. Some of the pennies and all of the half pennies that were issued later in his reign are more affordable although high grade pieces are quite scarce. Finding attractive Richard II coin is difficult, and even the pieces that receive high grades, like Extremely Fine, are not attractive and usually over graded if they are in certification holders.
That is another great post @johnmilton that was a very enjoyable read. Your half-noble of Edward III is spectacular! I've rarely seen half nobles in that fine a condition, usually just the noble. My theory is that nobles were too valuable, at 80d, to circulate in the economy with much regularly whereas the half-noble and especially the quarter noble did. I also think it's of interest to note that Edward I was rather prolific in issuing pennies of the Irish type. Several million were minted during his reign. After that, it wasn't until Edward IV that significant minting in Ireland occurred. Also, Edward III, upon the capture of Calais, opened a mint in said city. Over the next roughly 200 years that it was in English hands themint was prolific at times, even out producing the mint at London for certain issues. I'll add a few of my coins, all ones I've shown before. Edward I Edward III Richard II My groat of Richard II is an ugly coin, but it typifies a lot of the surviving groats from his reign. The half groats are even more rare and command higher prices.
A wonderful write-up. "When Adam delved and Eve span, who was then the gentleman?" - John Ball. One of my favorite memories from my 14th Century English History course in college.
Yes, I don't have an Edward I groat because of the high prices, even for the pieces are not very nice. Heritage had a damaged example in a slab they they auctioned for a few thousand dollars.
