Henry III., 1216-1272.
Of Richard I. and John there is not any known English money. Rud. ii. 8. and Sup. i. 14. Sn. i. 33 and 34
are now known to be forgeries. Having restored to Henry II. the short cross money, of which he had
been deprived by Mr. North and subsequent writers, the only silver money to be ascribed to Henry III.
are pennies with the word TERCI, or numerals, to indicate that he is the third king of that name. From
records it appears that there were more coinages than one in this reign, but there are not any sure
means of separating one from the other.
The types of his coins are,
- The king's head, bearded, full faced, within an inner circle, outside of which is his hand holding a
sceptre; he is styled HENRICVS REX III. Rev. cross of double limbs, each botone extending to the edge
of the coin, generally a pellet in the centre, three pellets in each angle. (287). Rud. ii. 18. MB.
14.
All the coins of this type were struck at Canterbury or London, one, (288) MB. 2. which reads
PHELIP ON LUND, has the U in Lund of the old English character, not the Roman V as upon all the
others; the workmanship, too, is very different, especially about the hair, which is formed in wavy
curls as upon the coins of the Edwards; whereas upon all the others it is expressed by two curls on
each side, like the volutes of an Ionic capital. As the L is united to the preceding N, the U of a perculiar
form looking like a B, and the oblique line of the N omitted, the word has been read BID instead of
LVND, and thereby erroneously considered to have been struck at Bideford.
- King's head as No. 1, but not hand and sceptre; over the head a mullet, HENRICUS REX III. Rud. ii. 16.
MB. 29, or TERCI, 17. Sn. i. 41. MB. 9. Rev. same as No. 1.
- Same as No. 2, but crescent under the mullet, HENRICUS REX ANG. Rud. Sup. i. 16. Sup. ii. 7. Sup. 2.
i. 14. Sn. i. 42. MB. 2. Of these the Museum has one which reads LIE TERCI' LON (289). This
legend is a continuation of that of the obverse, thus: Henricus Rex Ang-liae tertius, London. There can
be little doubt that this is the correct mode of reading the legend, though other modes have been
suggested, as TERCIL ON LIE, i e. Tercil on Leicester; but the mark of abbreviation after TERCI shews
that to be incorrect; or TERCI L ON LIE, i. e. tertius L. on Leicester. A coin of Mr. Cuff's decides the
point, for it reads LVN, which can only be LIE TERCI LVN. A somewhat similar coin is represented, Rud.
Sup. 2. i. 14, which reads LIE TERCI HED. This also is read in various ways, as Hedlie, for the name of the
place of mintage, or of the moneyer Hadley, which occurs upon a penny of Edward I.; or it is suggested
that the reading ought to be AED for St. Edmundsbury or Shaftesbury. This coin was first published by
Mr. North; we have not seen it, and rather suspect it may be a blundered representation of the
former coin.
There are not, upon any of these three types, any single letters after the moneyers' names, as upon
the coins of Henry II. With these monies of Henry III. commences that simple device of a cross with
three pellets in each angle, which continued almost without variation till the 18th year of Henry VII., a
period of nearly 300 years, and was not abanded upon the smaller coins till about the close of the reign
of James I.
Ruding, Sup. 2. ii. 23, after Mr. North's undescribed plates, gives a coin, of the size of a groat, and of
the type of No. 1. This piece is now unknown; it looks like the drawing of a genuine coin, and may
have been the pattern for a groat, which according to Grafton, was ordered to be struck in 1227; or, it
may be taken from a common penny and magnified, as was not unusual in representations of coins in
former times, a barbarous inaccurate practice, not altogether abandoned in modern days of diluted
science and diffused knowledge.
Henry II |
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Edward I
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