It has been a long time since I've ordered a Medieval coin...

@Milesofwho Those are ALL on my list. I'd also like to find something that devotes a few pages each to all the English monarchs from at least Egbert or Alfred all the way to QE2.

 

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I’ve been collecting coins from the Crusades for about a year now. They are historically interesting, and as you say, they are reasonably priced.

The books mention the Knights Templars frequently, since the main character was once a Templar. And the Crusaders are mentioned, but only in passing, as the characters talk among themselves. So far, there is no warfare in the books, but they are worried about the Despensers, the advisors of King Edward II.

 

The Plantagents is excellent as are Dan Jones other titles. The Plantagents is what sparked my interest in their coins.

 

Oops, double post.

 

That is quite a fun reading list @Aethelred I see short-cross pennies and denier in your future. If I were going for a general collection of the Angevins I would buy the following:

Henry II
English Short-Cross type penny
English Tealby type penny
Anglo-Gallic Bl Denier (though some claim these were actually struck by Henry III)

Eleanor of Aquitaine
Anglo-Gallic Bl denier of Aquitaine

Richard Coeur de Lion
English Short-Cross type penny
Anglo-Gallic Bl Denier from Aquitaine
Anglo-Gallic Bl Denier from Poitou

John Lackland
English Short-Cross penny
Irish AR Penny 3rd Rex/Triangle coinage

If I had lots of disposable income I would also go after a number of rarities and expensive coins.

Richard Coeur de Lion
Anglo-Gallic Bl denier from Issoudun
Cyprus AE Tetarteron of Richard I minted during 3rd crusade.

John
Irish AR Halfpence 2nd DOMinus coinage
Irish AR Farthing 2nd DOMinus coinage

Geoffrey Plantagenet
Duchy of Brittany Bl Denier

 

That is a great list, I have a couple, but feel the need for more.

 

Just thought i would snap a pic of this subject area in my library (these are all secondary sources - primary I keep in another bookshelf).

(Just noticed that ‘Domesday Studies’ is in the wrong spot - this is in my classroom, so I have no doubt some students may have gotten things out if order).

@TheRed has a nice list for the Angevines. I might add a denier of Fulk IV from Anjou. While was long dead when Henry rulled Anjou, the type became immobilized and would have been used in Henry’s time. The Norman coins which contains initials might be from Henry’s time (based on one having the letters HRII which someone suspected meant ‘Henricus Rex II,’ but this doesn’t explain the other coins with initials...), and might be worth chasing, but I have yet to see one offered for sale.

 

I agree, that is a great list. I have several of those but definitely not all.

 

Thanks guys. It was a list I've been kicking around in my head for awhile, though expanding to mints an moneyers. The first part would be easy to get with some patience or paying high prices. The second part would be tough even with a Large budget. The Cyprus and Issoudun coins are not seen one the market very often. The same holds true for John's DOMinus coinage, though to a little bit less degree.

@FitzNigel what type of institution do you teach at, if you don't mind me asking? If the great books on medieval history weren't enough, the next shelf has Swift, Goethe, Berlioz, and Wilde. Very impressive authors/subjects.

 

The Cyprus Richards seem to come up with some surprising regularity (I’m suspecting a hoard may have come available and was not publicized - if you search CNG’s archives, the prices have been steadily declining). There’s even one up for auction now. I’ve never seen an Issoudun for sale, but I believe half of the known examples are in museums to begin with.

I currently teach at a private high school. I was doing the adjunct professor thing, and did receive an offer for a full time position, but the current climate is Academia for employment is so bad right now that I did not feel comfortable staying at that level. As for the diversity in my bookshelf, I teach Ancient and Medieval History (much more emphasis on medieval since that’s my area of expertise), and then also AP European History, which is 1450 to the present.

The job is a good excuse to dabble in all areas of our hobby, as I can use the coins as teaching tools. I still have a desire to implement a project where my students would be identifying Roman coins, but havn’t had the funds to buy enough coins to make it work.

 

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Funny this came up recently, as one of these coins I mentioned here was offered at a recent CNG sale, and I managed to nab it. Very rare, and ugly as sin:


French Feudal, Normandy
Robert Curthose, r. 1087-1106
AR Denier, 20 mm x 0.93 grams
Obv.: +NOR[MAN]NA. Cross patted with pellets in angles
Rev.: RI/AV in two lines
Ref.: Dumas Group D XXI-17, Duplessy 32, Roberts 3901-9
Ex BRN Collection, purchased from Andy Singer June 2012
(Photos by CNG - while I have the coin in hand, I have yet to photograph it myself)

 

@FitzNigel That is a wonderful piece of history, but it has a face only a dedicated medieval collector could love!

 

Collecting medieval coins is certainly a labor of love. Coins are often downright ugly and the idea of "completion" is more or less impossible.

I have been focused on the early Anglo-Saxon period but plan to eventually branch out to later periods.

 

That's is a very nice deneir @FitzNigel. When I saw all those French fuedal coins in the education CNG I thought you might be bidding. I lost on the two I bid on.

 

The one actually listing Curthose as “Comes” was the highlight of that group. Unfortunatly, it was going to be out of my price range...

 

Hey Fitz, I headed to the Whitman Baltimore Expo and paid a visit to Andy Singer. He always has a wonderful selection of medieval European coins, Anglo Gallic included. And what was sitting in the tray today? Only the rarest coin of Richard Coeur de Lion, a denier from Issoudun. He was asking $2500, way beyond my budget, so I had to pass. Andy confirmed that the majority are in public collections and less than 10 are known to be held privately. It was cool to be able to hold such a rare coin and I thought you might like to see it.

 

Very nice! I don’t know how to comment on the price - it may be worth it, if I had the money. How was the rest of Baltimore?

 

That Edward II coin is nicer than mine. After Edward’s first companion was beheaded, he found another “friend,” Hugh Despenser. Hugh and his father lived well from the king’s gifts while the rest of England living through a famine. Ultimately Edward’s long ignored wife and her lover, Roger Mortimer rose up and deposed him. Desperser was executed in a way consistent with the reported demise of the allegedly gay king.

Edward II’s son, who became Edward III, lived under the thumb of Edward’s former queen and her lover. Mortimer, until he came of age. At that time he sent his mother into exile and had Mortimer executed for treason. Edward III would be one of England’s successful kings. He would introduce gold coinage to the British monetary syste,.

 

Here is one of Edward III's gold coins, a half noble.