Here is a chain of events that changed English history. During his reign, Edward the Confessor (ruled 1042 - 1066) told the future William the Conqueror that he should be the next king of England. William took him at his word, but when Edward died in January 1066, Harold Godwin grabbed the throne and became Harold II. Edward the Confessor penny Harold II had family problems. His brother, Tostig, opposed him and cast his lot with the Viking invaders. In the fall of 1066, Harold and his forces defeated Norse invaders and Tostig's forces. The Norse king and Tostig were both killed in that battle which was called the Battle of Stamford Bridge. Harold II penny Harold barely had time to celebrate his victory when he heard that William had invaded England. Harold's forces were naturally beaten and tired from having just fought a battle, but now they had a new foe to face. Harold's and William's forces met at the Battle of Hastings. There William was triumphant and Harold was killed. The crown passed from the Saxon kings to the Normans, who have continued to rule, under various house names, to this day. William the Conqueror penny
Wow, nice coins! I've been looking for some of these but haven't found any I like ... at least that I can afford. Your written summary catches all the main details. One item of interest I would add was that William was illegitimate, and thus known as William the Bastard. But you win a battle and you become William the Conqueror.
I would have mentioned the B-word, but I was concerned about the monirator. It's a perfectly legit word and it's not cussing but ...
"Bastard" was a title of nobility in France in medieval times. For example, one of Joan of Arc's generals was the "Bastard of Orleans".
Edward the Confessor and William the Conqueror are often available at the big shows. Harold II is another story. His pennies are quite scarce. I got lucky with a specialist dealer who had that in stock.
I can do half a Harold! I don't know where your primary loyalties lie, but I know all of us on the Dark Side in the Ancients forum (which is really ancient & medieval) would love to see this post. Maybe ask the mods to move it?
These are medieval coins, not ancients. I don’t think that they would be appropriate additions to that area.
Actually, the Ancients forum should be renamed "Ancient & Medieval." It's the standard forum on CoinTalk for medieval posts.
Sure, I'm just saying the convention on CoinTalk is for medievals to go into the Ancients forum. There's not necessarily any rhyme or reason for it, that's just the way it is. That said, if you prefer to sacrifice the benefit of a larger target audience so as to expose more modern collectors to medievals, more power to you!
Okay, what is the cut-off date is the cut-off between ancients and medieval? Is the beginning of the Plantagenet era, 1165, or does it go to the end with the demise of Richard II, 1399? Or is some time later, perhaps with the Tudors or the Stuarts? (early 1600s.)
This sometimes gets discussed in the forum, with no firm conclusions. In practice, anything before 1500 is definitely OK. (That was the cut-off date for entries into our Imperator tournament.) With British coins, people seem very comfortable with stuff even as late as Elizabeth I. Regular posters can also get away with posting an occasional coin later than that, although milled coins are almost never shown.
After some more thought I think that circa 1500 should be the cut-off date with Henry VII of England as the swing monarch for me. That was when the English coinage went from the medieval period the Renaissance. In other words the coins stopped looking like this: And started looking like this: I don't want to say any more about Henry VII because I'd like to cover him in an opening post.
For me modern coins begin with the Renaissance so your Henry VII as the swing monarch makes perfect sense. 2 wonderful condition coins too
There's an awful lot of nobility, and a lot of folks nowadays, with "Fitz" in their title/name. I believe it meant the "bastard son of...' Steve