The Norman conquest made no change in the coinage or mint system and we even find that pre-conquest moneyers stayed in office and struck coins for William I. (P1. VI.-7). But the coin types were now regularly changed partly as a source of tev enue, for the moneyers had to make a payment when new dies were issued, partly as a check on forgery. The dies were made in London and sent to the country mints. The pennies of William II. have nothing in their legend to distinguish them from his father's issues but students have been able to allot eight types to William I. and five to his son. Forgers gave Henry I. much trouble and one step he took to prevent it was to issue his later coins with a snick in the edge to show that the silver was good. The civil wars of Stephen's reign produced many interesting coins such as those struck in Matilda's name and the pennies of Eustace Fitzjohn and other barons.
Henry II. ceased the practice of regularly changing the types which had been the custom since William I.'s reign and struck one type till 118O. In this type the work of the English mints reached its lowest level ; the coins frequently have only a letter or two of the legends and fragments of the type. His second type the "short-cross," so called from its reverse design, first issued in 118o, remained unchanged—including the name Henricus—not only by Henry II. but also by Richard and John and Henry III.
till 1247. In 1247 Henry III. coined the "long-cross" penny with the arms of the cross extended to the edge of the coin with a view to preventing clipping. He also reduced considerably the number of mints. In 1279 Edward I. introduced a new type of penny obv.: bust of the king and reverse : long cross with three pellets in each angle, a type which was much imitated abroad and per sisted in the silver coinage till the reign of Henry VII. The moneyer's name disappeared from the reverse legend and its place was taken by the name of the mint CIVITAS LONDON, etc. He also struck halfpennies and farthings to replace the cut pennies which had hitherto done duty for small change. He also introduced a groat or fourpenny piece (Pl. VI.-9) (groat =gros= grossus, large denarius-penny) but the time was not yet ripe for this larger coin and it did not establish itself till Edward M.'s reign. The coins of Edward I., II., III. cannot be distinguished by their legends; a minute study of them has, however, enabled them to be attributed satisfactorily.
Henry III. had attempted to issue a gold coinage by striking the gold penny (Pl. VI.-8) of the value of 20 pence silver, later raised to 24, but the difficulty of rating gold to silver proved insuperable and the coinage was withdrawn. In 1344 Edward III. with the issue of his fine series, the florin, leopard, and helm (-I and florin) again attempted without success to introduce a gold currency : the attempt was renewed with the noble and after various experiments with its weights a gold coinage was finally established in currency in 1351 with a noble of 120 grains of gold and its subdivision the half and quarter noble. The silver penny was reduced to 18 grains and the groat first issued in the same year. The noble (Pl. IV.-4) was valued at 6s. 8d. The ob verse type of the noble, the king in a ship, is supposed to allude to the naval victory of Sluys. The reverse type is a floreate cross with considerable ornamentation. Edward IV. distinguished his noble by a rose on the ship (rose-noble or ryal) and raised its value to los., while a new gold coin, the "angel," was introduced to replace the old value of the noble at 6s. 8d. ; the penny was reduced to 12 gr.
The angel (Pl. IV.-8) is so called from its type of St. Michael and Lucifer. The reverse is a ship with a cross in front of the mast. The angel in the 16th century became the piece given to those touched for king's evil ; it was struck for this purpose down to the reign of Charles I. ; it was not again issued as legal tender but small copies of it were struck by the later Stuarts and pre tenders for presentation at the ceremony of touching for king's evil. The next important change in the coinage was not till the reign of Henry VII. This was the introduction of the sovereign (Pl. IV.-I I), a large gold coin of 24o grains current for 20S. ; the obverse type was the king seated in an elaborate throne and the reverse a Tudor rose with a shield of arms in the centre. The same ruler also issued the first English shilling or testoon, a handsome coin with a fine portrait, in 1583, but this did not attain much currency. Henry VIII. altered the types of the smaller silver coins by replacing the three centuries old cross and pellets by a long cross and shield while the inscription POSUI DEUM