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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;sylvester, post: 114502, member: 708&quot;]This is true, on Maundy Thursday (which is near Easter sometime) it was common practice for the monarch to give out coins to those that needed them.</p><p><br /></p><p>It was only in George IV&#039;s reign that full sets were issued to recipients (don&#039;t quote me on that), prior to that (from Charles II&#039;s reign to George III&#039;s) the coins given out were only the silver pennies. The 2-4 pence coins were strictly currency pieces.</p><p><br /></p><p>Before Charles II&#039;s milled coinage, hammered silver pennies used to be given out instead. I think this practice goes back to at least Edward II in the early 1300s. (I typed all that from memory, what i can&#039;t remember though is whether that was for the maundy handout or whether that was for the touching ceremonies).</p><p><br /></p><p>Onto touching ceremonies, that was when holed coins (often gold Angels) were given out to the poor to cure them of the king&#039;s evil. The King&#039;s evil being Scrofula (a type of Tuberculosis), which it was believed that if a monarch touched a person infected with it then they would be cured. A king being like a priest of course he was God&#039;s representative on earth and therefore gifted with ritualistic healing powers.</p><p><br /></p><p>Up until Charles I&#039;s reign hammered gold angels (initially in the 1480s they were 6/8d coibs, but by their demise in the 1620s/30s they were 10/- coins) these were given out. From Charles II&#039;s reign in the 1660s onwards special gold touch pieces (ready holed) were minted instead and handed out to the people attending the touching ceremony. The last recorded ceremony of this nature was in the early 1700s under Queen Anne. Although it should be noted that William III (Anne&#039;s predecessor) as a strict Protestant was having none of it and saw it as Popish superstition and refused to take part.</p><p><br /></p><p>I believe footwashing was also involved in touching ceremonies. Imagine a monarch washing a pauper&#039;s foot... bad image? You bet... especially as they&#039;re infected with T.B. (And i believe scrofula version includes not only the lungs but also the limbs too, henxce why Edward VI&#039;s fingers and toes turned funny).[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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