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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;TheRed, post: 4421560, member: 87080&quot;]Kelleher, Richard. A History of Medieval Coinage in England. Greenlight Publishing. Essex, 2015.</p><p>ISBN: 978-1-897738-57-3</p><p>Pages: 213</p><p>Cost: aprox $45 in 2017</p><p>Grade: A</p><p>[ATTACH=full]1108776[/ATTACH] </p><p>To write a history of English coinage during the medieval period is a daunting task.&nbsp; It is a period that covers roughly 400 years and 4 dynasties, during which the coinage evolved from a single denomination in one metal to a bi-metallic coinage with roughly a dozen denominations spread across multiple geographic regions.&nbsp; And yet that is exactly what Richard Kelleher has done, and done it amazingly well.&nbsp; His book begins with three chapters that can largely be considered background information.&nbsp; They cover a brief overview of medieval English coinage, how to identify said coins, and how to record them.&nbsp; The rest of the book is a chronological discussion of the coins struck by the kings of England, from Willian I to Henry VII, and is divided into chapters that roughly correspond to each monarch.&nbsp; Each chapter follows a similar pattern, with an introduction, history of the reign of the king(s) and a discussion of the coinage associated with the king(s).</p><p><br /></p><p>While the chapters may sound simple, Kelleher packs each one with an incredible amount of information.&nbsp; The historical discussion is filled with accompanying photographs of relevant locations, illuminations, and illustrations.&nbsp; When the book turns to the coinage there is a lot of information presented.&nbsp; The coins are wonderfully photographed in color and clearly labeled.&nbsp; All the major types, and even a few rarities, are presented and discussed by the author.&nbsp; But it isn’t limited to just the English coins.&nbsp; Irish, Scottish, and Anglo-Gallic coins are also covered, though not to the same level of depth.&nbsp; There are even contemporary European, Byzantine, and Islamic coins to give context to the English ones.&nbsp; One of the more interesting features is the inclusion of PAS and Hoard data for the respective coinages plotted on a map of England. There are also several appendices in the book that stand out.&nbsp; The first is a visual guide to English pennies from William I to Edward II that shows every type/class that was struck.&nbsp; The second is a list of all of the mints, known or suspected, that minted coins in England, Wales, and Ireland from 1066 to 1485.&nbsp; Each mint is broken out by king, denomination, moneyer, and class.&nbsp;&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>Richard Kelleher has written an absolutely wonderful history of medieval English coinage that I cannot recommend highly enough.&nbsp; It strikes a nice balance between readability and level of detail, not getting bogged down in the minutia of the coinage yet covering it in enough detail so as to give the reader insight into distinguishing features.&nbsp; When coupled with the historical information and all of the interesting asides on topics like Norman coinage in Italy or the famous Fishpool hoard this book is a joy to read.&nbsp; I have only two minor complaints about this book.&nbsp; I have read it several times, flipped through it on countless occasions, taken it on trips, and lent it to friends.&nbsp; All of this has started to take a toll on the book because it is softcover.&nbsp; If the book had been published as a hardcover it wouldn’t be getting dog-eared and worn.&nbsp; The other minor complaint is that almost all of the coins, while wonderfully photographed, are show at their actual size.&nbsp; It would be nice if a few of the coins were shown at large size in order to make the distinguishing features more visible.&nbsp; That said, these are minor criticisms, and I would encourage anyone that is interested in the history of the coins struck by the medieval English kings in England, Ireland, and Wales to pick up a copy of this book.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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