United Kingdom, where the silver pennies were preceded by stycas, a small coin of mixed metal, peculiar to the north of England, and the Saxon skeattæ of silver, much smaller than the silver pennies.

The departure of the Roman legions about 414 A.D., left the inhabitants of South Britain an easy prey to the first bold invaders. But before the Saxon occupation of the island it may be presumed that some sort of coinage, in imitation of the Roman, to which the people had been long accustomed, must have been adopted, and traces of it exist in rude pieces of the Roman style, which are very scarce, as they have hitherto been rejected by cabinets as bad specimens, or forgeries of Roman coin.

The next sort of money we find in use is of a totally different character, bearing not the slightest resemblance to the Roman, with the exception of one or two devices, copied perhaps from some of the coin of Constantine or his immediate successors; and it appears, therefore, that this money must have been brought by the Saxons, with a new set of weights, values, and denominations.

The new coins alluded to are called Skeattæ (Latinised scata), a term which Ruding derives from a Saxon word, meaning a portion, and supposes that these coins were a portion of some merely nominal sum by which large amounts were calculated. They remained partially in use probably long after the general adoption of the Saxon silver penny, as they are mentioned in the laws of Athelstan, where it is stated that 30,000 skeattæ are equal to 1207., which would make them in value about one twenty-fifth part less than a penny.

The skeatta is probably, in form and value, an imitation, by the Saxons, of some Byzantine coin, finding its way, in gradually debasing forms, from Constantinople through tho

east and north of Germany.* It is thought by some that the Saxons also derived their weight, called Colonia (Cologne) weight, from the Greeks of the lower en pire. It was only used by them for their money, and afterwards in England called Tower weight, in consequence of the principal mint being in the Tower. Troy weight, so called from being first used in France, at Troyes, is three quarters of an ounce more than Tower weight; so that in coining, the prince, or other privileged person, gained considerably upon every pound weight of metal coined, which at last induced frequent re-coinages; to obtain the discontinuance of which custom, the people agreed to a tax called moneyage. Such impositions formed part of what was in Norman times called seignorage, or, the profit of the sovereign. The skeattæ vary from twelve to twenty grains in their weight, and it is therefore difficult to ascertain their current value. The specimens about to be described, and indeed most of the skeattæ, are of very debased art, and the production, probably, of several distinct invading colonies in different parts of the island, and some, perhaps, of foreign importation. The art displayed on them became gradually worse after their first appearance; and one case may be mentioned, in which a head, tolerably distinct at first, became gradually so barbarous as to be mistaken by some for a distinctly different type-the wolf and twins; the whole connecting series may be seen in the British Museum, showing the gradual but well-connected links of decadence. Ruding and Clarke have stated that the art exhibited on coins, up to the eighth century, was not better on the continent than in England, but I could point out several examples of far superior art of a Roman character in France during that period. Many skeattæ are without inscription at all, others unintelligible some without Christian emblems, others with; but the following are a few of the most striking types, which will serve to give a general idea of the whole :-first, a profile surrounded by a pretty interlaced band; the reverse, the Christian emblems of the dove and cross. Another has curious but unintelligibly orna

* A work has been published (by Mr. Till), with a view to trace the direct descent of the English silver penny from the Roman denarius, througa the coins of the lower empire and the skeattæ.

mented devices on both sides. Another type is a decided copy of a common coin of Constantine, showing Romulus and Remus suckled by the wolf. The one engraved above (page 409) is an interesting specimen, bearing a name, and supposed to be one of Ethelbert the First, king of Kent, which would place it in the sixth century, and before the introduction of Christianity; indeed, it bears no Christian emblem; and the debased form of a head on the obverse is so rude, that few would be able to recognise it as such.

COINS OF THE SAXON HEPTARCHY-THE SERIES
OF SILVER PENNIES.

(See Plate IX.)

KINGS OF KENT.

With the coins of the heptarchy commences the interesting series of silver pennies, which formed the only money of the country (with occasional halfpennies) up to the reign of Edward III. The word penny is variously spelt, as peneg, peninc, &c., and some derive it from the Latin word pendo, to weigh others consider that pecunia is the parent word. It was intended that a pound, Tower, should make 240 pennies, giving 24 grains each, but this weight was gradually decreased by the successive princes; 224 grains being afterwards deemed full weight, and twenty grains was about the average weight in the reign of Henry III.: their standard purity seems to have been 11 oz. 2 dwts. fine, and 11 dwts. alloy. The name of the moneyer, or mint master of the district in which the piece was coined, was now generally placed on the reverse, with some ornament. The long series of coins of the heptarchy are perhaps the most interesting of any monuments of the period, remaining to us. Of those of the kings of Kent, the silver skeatta of Ethelbert the First, previously alluded to, is the earliest example which, having no symbol of the cross in any part, is presumed to have been coined before 606 A.D., the period of the introduction of Christianity. It has on one side ETHILID, surrounded with three circles of beading, and on the other the debased head, formerly supposed to be a "bird" or "wolf.” Only a few

impressions of this rare coin are known: the British Museum has one. No other weil authenticated Kentish coin occurs till after 725 A.D., Ethelbert II. A coin of his exists, supposed to be a penny-if so, it is the first known silver penny; the inscription is ETHILBERHT II., but its genuineness has been doubted. The next existing Kentish coins are the silver pennies of Eadbert, from 794 to 798 A.D., the earliest known, with the exception of the previous doubtful coin. One of the Eadbert pennies has the king's name and title REX in three lines, and on the reverse the moneyer's name, with an ornament. Its authenticity is undoubted. The pennies of Eadbert have the name of the moneyer IAENBERHT on the reverse.

The coins of Cuthred, from 798 to 805 A.D., have the king's bust, and Cudred Rex Cant., for Cantiæ (Kent); reverse, a cross, with a small wedge in each angle, and the moneyer's name. All the coins of Cuthred are pennies, and there are four types of them, all rare, except those with the head, the style of which has evidently been suggested by debased Roman coins.

The coins of Baldred, the last king of Kent, who was subdued by Egbert, 823 A.D., have the king's bust rudely done, and Baldred Rex. Cant.: the reverse, in the centre, has DRVR. CITS. for Dorovernia Civitas (Canterbury), this being the earliest known example of a Saxon coin with the place of mintage upon it. There are other types of the coins of this king, but all rare.

A gold triens has been found, with the inscription DOROVERNIS CIVITA, which, from the spelling, is thought to be of the seventh century, and if geuine, is a proof that the triens of the Merovingian princes of France was imitated in Kent, though, perhaps, very few were issued.

KINGS OF MERCIA.

Of the South and West Saxons no well authenticated coins have been found, but of the kings of Mercia a fine series exists, all silver pennies.

There are coins of Eadwald (716 A.D.), supposed by some to be the same as Ethelwald. The silver pennies of Offa (757 A.D.) are among the most interesting and

beautiful in the Saxon series; the heads are much better executed, with some attention to variety of relief: and the designs on the reverses very elegant and various for the period. It is supposed that his residence at Rome, in the pontificate of Adrian, possibly bringing back Italian artists, may account for this superiority. The inscriptions generally read, Offa Rex Merciorum. The different moneyers' names on his coins amount to above 40. There are also silver pennies, but rare, supposed to be of Cynethryth, the queen of Offa, having Cynethryth Regina on the reverses. They are evidently of the same period as those of Offa. On the coins of Offa the moneyer's name sometimes occupies the obverse, but the king is then transferred to the reverse, and never omitted. Egbert, the son of Offa, 796 A.D., survived his father only six months, yet there are pennies with his name having the same moneyers' names as those of his father.

Coenwlf, 796 to 818 A.D. The pennies of this king present a great variety of types, evidently copied from those of Offa, but becoming gradually more and more rude in execution. Ceolwlf, 819 A.D., succeeded, and reigned only a year. There is great difficulty in separating his coins from those of Ciolwf, 874 A.D. Of Beornwulf, who reigned from 820 to 824, a few pennies are known, but they are very rare. Of Ludica, from 824 to 825, and Wiglaf, from 825 to 839, the coins are very barbarous, and those of Wiglaf extremely rare; the specimen in the Museum was once sold for 127. Those of Berthulf, 839 to 852 A.D., which are much in the same style as those of Wiglaf, are not so rare; and those of Burgred, 852 to 874 A.D., the last of the Mercian princes, who reigned two-and-twenty years, are more numerous than any of his predecessors. When driven from his dominions by the Danes he escaped to the continent, and retired to Rome, where he died, and was interred in St. Mary's church belonging to the English school there. The coins of Mercia had gradually declined from the reign of Offa, and Burgred's are the most rude of the series.

On the expulsion of Burgred, his minister Ciolwf seized the reigns of government, but held them but for a short time, when his expulsion terminated the independence of Mercia. Nevertheless, he struck coins, which I have alluded to as being confounded with those of Ceolwlf, but, with the