BRITISH COINS The earliest coins struck in Britain were rude uninscribed imita tions of the stater of Philip II. of Macedon (359-336 B.c.), one of the great currencies of the ancient world; they reached Britain through Gaul where they had been imitated by the various tribes there (Pl. V1.-1). The exact distribution of the earliest coins of this type found in Britain between British and Gaulish mints is still uncertain. These coins are of gold of gradually diminishing purity and are at first uninscribed. Under Roman influence we have the introduction of silver and copper coins towards the end of the last century B.C. ; inscriptions also now appear on the coins so that we can identify the coinage of Tincommius and Cuno belinus (Cymbeline) (Pl. VI.-2) and others known and unknown to history. With the Roman conquest native coinage disappears and if we except the Roman coins from the mint of London in the 3rd and 4th centuries A.D., we have no British coinage again till the departure of the Romans. Gradually degenerating copies of Roman types formed the currency of Britain from the 5th to the 7th century, when we are once more able to attribute the coins to definite rulers. In the 7th century we have the extensive coinage of little silver pieces known as "sceats" with a considerable variety of types and legends in Runic letters, which enable some to be attributed, for example to Peada, king of Mercia, (655-57 A.D.). About the same time in the kingdom of Northumbria we have the small copper coins known as "stycas" (Pl. VI.-3), which record a long series of kings from Ecgfrith (67o-85) onwards. But it is from the reign of Offa (757-96) who introduced the silver "penny" that English coinage may be said to date. In its broad flat fabric, contrasted with the thick fabric of its prede cessors, it shows the influence of its Carolingian prototype but the designs are thoroughly Anglo-Saxon and the portrait of Offa (Pl. VI.-4), a remarkable piece of work, reaches a level not equalled again in English coinage till the reign of Henry VII. The inscriptions, obverse name of the king and reverse that of the moneyer, were to remain unchanged in form till the reign of Edward I. ; for the same period also the silver penny was the only
English coin. A remarkable coin struck by Offa is his imitation of an Arab dinar of the Caliph al-Mansur with the additional legend OFFA REX, one of the few and exceptional gold coins of the Anglo-Saxon period. About the same time we find the Archbishops of Canterbury beginning to issue coins, the earliest being those of Jaenberht (766-9o) bearing the names of the suzerain Offa also. The kings of Kent and the kings of East Anglia also began to strike pennies : the rise of Wessex after the battle of Ellandune in 825 can be traced in the coinage ; the earliest coins of Wessex were those struck at Canterbury by Ecgberht and his conquest of Kent, and the mints of Alfred's reign (Pl. VI.-5) re veal how West Saxon power had expanded. The Danish invaders have also left extensive numismatic records, some of exceptional historical interest like the London coinage of Halfdan. The troubled state of the country is reflected in the many barbarous and hurriedly struck coins of this period. The peace and prosperity which returned after the peace of Wedmore (878) is seen in the improved workmanship of the coinage, with a more careful treat ment of the portrait and a great variety of original work in the reverse types, a feature which was not long maintained. In the loth century it became the regular practice to add the name of the mint as well as that of the moneyer on the reverse. In the edicts of the Council of Greatley (928) we have the earliest sur viving mint ordinances. Coins were only to be struck at certain towns and each town was to have only one moneyer with certain specified exceptions (e.g., 8 for London). The number of mints increased till in the reign of Aethelred II. we have over seventy; from about his time also the king's portrait, which had only been occasionally used, became the regular obverse type on the coinage, while the reverse type also became stereotyped to some form of cross (P1. VI.-6).