and a small cross. The heads on the coinage of this reign approach the style of the continental art of the period more nearly than any other specimens of the series.

EADGAR (958 to 975) had been elected to, or rather had usurped, during his brother's life, a portion of the country, and on his death became sole monarch; the first Saxon king who has a real claim to that title. He renewed the edict of Æthelstan respecting the uniformity of the coinage, and also enacted, in addition, that none should refuse it, an edict rendered necessary by the clipping of the pennies, which had reduced them to half their value. St. Dunstan refused to celebrate mass on Whitsunday, until three moneyers, who had falsified the coin, had undergone their punishmentloss of the right hand. The coins of Eadgar present few distinctive characters from those of his predecessors, and he is styled simply "Rex," but sometimes the letters TO. BI. occur, which may be "Totius Britanniæ." His coins are numerous; the moneyer's name frequently occurs without the place of mintage.

EDWEARD the Martyr (975 to 978), son of Edgar, after reigning three years, was murdered at the age of 17, by command of his step-mother, Elfrida. Notwithstanding his early death and short reign, his coins are common, but they appear somewhat ruder in execution than those of his father. He is styled "Rex Anglorum," the title being more or less abbreviated on the coins.

ÆTHELRED, the son of Elfrida (978 to 1016). This weak prince succeeded to the throne at the early age of 10, and the improvement in the coinage must probably be attributed to Dunstan, who, tired of the political intrigues which had occupied too much of his earlier career, devoted himself in his declining years to those arts in which he is known to have been a great proficient. On the coins of this reign the king is represented in a sort of mailed armour peculiar to the period, and wearing a crowned helmet, partially of mail, but protected by a longitudinal ornamented bar; the whole sufficiently well executed to form an interesting record of the arms of the period. The reverse is one of the first examples of the voided cross, which, with the addition of the martlet in the angles, formed subsequently the device of some of the coins of Edward the Confessor, and con.

sidered by some to be his armorial bearings. A sceptre also appears for the first time, on some of the coins of Ethelred, in front of the profile, which in subsequent reigns became general. There is much controversy respecting some coins bearing this king's name, which have a strong resemblance to some early Irish coins, and they are consequently supposed to have been coined by Ethelred, but in Dublin, his father having possessed himself of a large portion of Ireland.

EDMUND IRONSIDE, the son of Ethelred (1016 to 1017). On the death of his father this prince found the kingdom in the greatest confusion from the contest with the Danes, who had landed in 1013, under Sweyn, and whose son, the youthful Cnut, now disputed the kingdom with the successor of Ethelred. It was eventually agreed to divide it; but Edmund dying in 1017, Cnut became sole monarch. Of Edmund Ironside no coins have been discovered.

CNUT (1017 to 1035). His coins are very numerous, above 340 variations of moneyers' names being known, and they bear the names of more places of mintage than the coins of any other reign. They resemble, in execution, those of Æthelred, and some are supposed to commemorate the peace established with Edmund Ironside in 1016 having the word "Pacx" (peace) in the angles of a voided cross on the reverse. Coins have been found, but they are very rare, on which Cnut is described as "Rex Danorum," but they were of course coined in Denmark. There are coins of his, also, which have the name of Dublin on the reverse; which proves that he also held in subjection a portion of Ireland.

HAROLD I. (1035 to 1040). His coins resemble closely those of his father, and those of Æthelred. They have his portrait in a sort of mail armour, with a sceptre, and "Harold Rex;" the reverse being the voided cross, &c.

HARTHACNUT (1040 to 1042) was elected king of England on the death of his brother. English and Danish coins (both rare) of this king are found, and it is difficult to separate them, as there was a place of mintage in Denmark, the name of which cannot be distinguished from London. The reverse has sometimes a cross formed of four ovals, similar to crosses on some of the coins of his father. He is merely styled "Rex," without any reference to Denmark or England.

EDWARD THE CONFESSOR (1042 to 1066). On the death of Harthacnut, who perished from excess of gluttony, thoroughly detested for his cruelty by the whole nation, the Saxon line was restored; and the throne reverted to Eadward, the surviving son of Ethelred. His coins are very various; on some of them the head is bearded, possibly as intimating his coming to the throne at a late period of life- -a somewhat unusual circumstance in those times, or possibly from his wearing a beard, in fulfilment of some vow or penance connected with his well-known devotional character, to which he owed the cognomen of "Confessor." His pennies vary exceedingly in size, from half an inch to an inch, but appear to have been all of the same nominal value, every intermediate gradation occurring without any regularity.* It appears that halfpence and farthings were formed at this time by cutting the pennies into two or four, as parcels of coins have been found so cut, which had evidently never been in circulation, seeming to prove that they were so issued from the Mint. The coins of this king exhibit, for the first time on the Anglo-Saxon coinage, a full figure of the sovereign, seated on a throne, holding the orb and sceptre; this device is surrounded with EADPRD. REX ANGLO., for "Eadward Rex Anglorum," the Saxon P being used for w in Edward. The reverse bears the voided cross with martlets in the angels, called the Confessor's arms. On coins with more usual style of portrait the head is generally bearded, with a helmet; and on these there is a voided cross, and the place of mintage, on the reverse. In a communication, by Sir H. Ellis, to the Numismatic Society, a halfpenny also of his reign is mentioned. Edward is supposed to have first introduced from Normandy, where he had long resided in exile, the oppressive custom of frequent re-coinages, each alteration causing a great loss to the nation and great gain to the prince; a practice abundantly abused by the first sovereigns after the Norman Conquest.

There is a gold coin of this period termed a gold penny, now in the cabinet of Mr. Spurrier, which is considered genuine; and which may prove that, although silver pennies formed the bulk of the coins, yet a few gold coins were

* Hawkins.

possibly issued, and if so, they are the last gold issued in Western Europe, till the reign of Henry III.

;

HAROLD II. (1066). A son of the powerful Earl Godwin, whose daughter the late king had married, now usurped the throne. His father had married a daughter of Cnut, so that he had some pretension to the crown through the Danish line, and, overlooking the claim of the infant Edgar Atheling, he assumed the title of king. His reign terminated nine months after his accession, in the battle-field of Hastings; but though he reigned only nine months, there are coins that may undoubtedly be ascribed to him, as they have been discovered in parcels which contained no others except those of William the Conqueror and Edward the Confessor otherwise they might have been attributed to Harold I. They exhibit the profile of the king, with a double-arched crown (like that on some of the coins of his predecessors), and a sceptre. The reverses have the word "Pax," the meaning of which is thus explained by Ruding, (quoting North, who states that the same word occurs on a coin of Edward the Confessor, struck, he thinks, in commemoration of a peace, or compact, made with Earl Godwin (Harold's father), by which that family was to succeed to the thronethe word was also adopted, in rivalry, by William of Normandy, in token of his own alleged compact with Edward, for his succession to the throne. It was continued by Rufus, probably with the same feeling. The portrait of Harold is represented bearded, like that of Edward the Confessor; imitated, possibly, to convey an idea of his being the adopted successor, as beards were not worn generally at the period, but merely a moustache on the upper lip, which the imme diately succeeding Norman coins represent very clearly. The coins of Harold close the Anglo-Saxon series.

CHAPTER XXX.

COINS OF THE ANGLO-NORMAN KINGS.

(See Plate IX.)

THE great political changes following the Norman conquest might be expected greatly to affect the coinage in some way-probably by the introduction of gold coins, as used, though sparingly, by continental nations. But such was not the case. In Anglo-Saxon times the gold bezants (Byzantiums) of Constantinople circulated in the country, but no attempt had been made to supplant them by a national coin, unless in a few isolated and unimportant experiments, as referred to in the reign of Edward the Confessor. The only changes now made were those affecting imaginary coins (money of account) or rather, denominations for certain sums, of which no positive coin existed: such as the mark, &c., &c., and the mancus, which was also a nominal sum rather than coin, though we have seen that the Arabic mancus was positively imitated by Offa, but the imitation soon disappeared, leaving merely its name and value, as a means of defining larger sums than it was convenient to estimate by the small silver coin of the land. The mancus expressed a value equal to thirty pennies, or six shillings of five pence each; the then value of the shilling.

The shilling-the Saxon scil, or scilling-was equally an imaginary coin. By this term, the Saxons at one time intended five pennies, and at another four. William I. settled the Saxon shilling at four pennies, but also established the Norman shilling at twelve pennies, the value which eventually prevailed; yet no positive coin of that denomination and value appeared till the reign of Henry VII. The term shilling has been favoured with many derivations; some trace it to the Latin sicilicus, which signified a quarter of an ounce; others to a Saxon word meaning a scale, or measure.

The mark was a Danish term of computation, introduced