Saxon
After the final departure of the Romans, about the year 450, the history of the coinage is involved in
much obscurity; the coins of that people would of course continue in circulation long after the people
themselves had quitted the shores, and it is not improbable that the rude and uncouth pieces, which
are imitations of their money, and are scarce because they are rejected from all cabinets and thrown
away as soon as discovered, may have been struck during the interval between the Romans and
Saxons.
During the Saxon period the earliest coins are those which are known by the name of Sceattae, but
whether brought into this country by that people when they first arrived, or actually struck in this
country afterwards, there are now no means of ascertaining. They are not of common occurrence,
nor does it appear that many of them have been discovered within the limits of this island. They are of
silver, and specimens of some are given in plate III. by which it will appear, that, if some were struck
before the introduction of Christianity, by far the greater number were struck afterwards. No
successful effort has yet been made to explain the types or the few letters they bear. Though the
exact period of the issue of the various types of sceattae cannot be ascertained, it can scarcely be
doubted that they form the connecting link between the genuine Roman and Saxon coins. The heads
upon such as (32), are clearly Roman from the peculiar form of the diadem. The wolf suckling the
founders of Rome, (41) is clearly copied from a common coin of Constantine. The strange object upon
(42), which, in (43), is improved into a bird, is more probably a very rude imitation of the wolf and
twins, and being placed upon the coin of king Ethelbert, (50), shews a traceable connexion between
the Roman and Saxon coinage. One or more figures holding a cross is a well known type upon Roman
coins, ad it is found upon the sceattae (33), (45) to (49). (47) having one of these figures upon the
obverse, has the reverse not unlike in idea to that of king Ecgfrid, (99). (49) having also a figure of this
description is very similar to that of king Eadbert and archbishop Ecgbert, (102), (104), (104), while the
animal upon the reverse connects it with the coins of the succeeding Northumbrian kings, (103) to
(108.) A careful comparison of other sceattae will shew the connexion between the Roman and Saxon
coins, and lead to a conviction that they were issued some time between the commencement of the
sixth and close of the seventh century.
The average weight of about seventy of these coins, which were put into the scale, was about 17
grains; some weighing as much as 20 grains, others not more than 12 or 13. The value it is difficult to
ascertain. The sceattae being named in the same laws with the penny, was probably of a different
value; in the laws of Aethelstan, about 930, it is stated that 30,000 sceattae were equal to 120 pounds,
it must therefore by this estimation have been one twenty-fifth part less valuable than a penny; in
other places it is considered the twentieth part of a shilling, while a penny is the twelfth part, so that in
fact nothing is known that can be accurately stated.
When the several kingdoms of the Heptarchy had become established, coins were struck in each with
the names of their respective kings; and from that period the coins, assuming a definite form, may
with probability be ascribed to their proper localities and personages, and their history generally traced
with safety and security. Each Kingdom shall be taken separately, commencing with that of Kent,
which was established before the rest, and whose coins are the earliest of this series.
Roman |
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Kent - Ethilberht I
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