The earliest coins of the Anglo-Saxon period appear to have been
rude imitations of some of the later current pieces of their Roman
predecessors in our island. It seems doubtful whether at first they
had a coinage of their own, the probability being that those of the
Romano-Britons continued, as they naturally would, to be circulated.
Some of the sceattæ bear more or less rude figures and uncouth heads
and devices, some being evident imitations of the well-known type of
Romulus and Remus suckled by the she-wolf, and others of equally well
known types. From the sceattæ, one of our common expressions at the
present is derived. The word in the singular is _sceat_ or _scæt_,
and the Saxon _sc_ being pronounced soft, as _sh_, became _sheat_ or
_shæt_. From this it naturally became corrupted into “shot,” and thus
“paying your shot” simply meant paying your money, or clearing your
reckoning, and “not having a shot in your locker,” being without money
in cupboard, or purse. These early coins, some of which appear to bear
Runic characters, cannot with any degree of certainty be appropriated
to any kings.
The penny, _penig_, _pening_, or _pending_ (said to be the diminutive
of _pand_, a pledge, and also by some said to be derived from
_pendere_, to weigh) is first named in the laws of Ina, king of the
West Saxons, who began to reign A.D. 688. It was, as now, as has been
conclusively shown, the 240th part of a pound, which weighed about 5760
grains; the weight of a penny was, therefore, 24 grains, which still in
our tables constitute a “dwt.” or “pennyweight.”
The generally received opinion is that the first pennies as succeeding
the sceattæ; and quite independent of the stycas, were struck by
Offa, king of Mercia, from A.D. 757 to 796. “When the kingdoms of
the Heptarchy were united in one sovereignty,” as I have written on
another occasion, “the mints were regulated by laws framed by the
Wittenagemote, or Great Council of the Nation; but it was not till the
time of Æthelstan (924-940), that it was appointed there should be
one kind of money throughout the whole realm, and that no one should
coin but in a town. According to Stow, ‘Æthelstan made, seven coining
mints at Canterbury, four for the king, two for the archbishop, and one
for the abbot; at Rochester three, two for the king, and one for the
bishop. Besides these, in London eight, in Winchester six, in Lewes
two, in Chichester one, in Hampton two, in Shaftesbury two, and in
every other town one coiner.’ The coins remaining pretty well prove
this, and show there were very few considerable towns without a mint;
for besides those particularly mentioned in Æthelstan’s law, there are
coins of Derby, Bristol, Evesham, Exeter, Gloucester, Ipswich, Lincoln,
Norwich, Shrewsbury, Thetford, Wallingford, Worcester, York, and other
places. The probability is that the custom of impressing on coins the
name of the town of the mintage began in the early part of the reign of
Æthelstan.”
One of the largest “finds” of Anglo-Saxon coins was made at Cuerdale,
where, along with a vast number of foreign pieces, there were found:--
2 of Æthelred.
24 of Æthelstan II.
1 of Ciolwulf.
857 of Alfred.
45 of Eadwerd.
1 of Abp. Ceolnoth.
59 of Abp. Plegmund.
2 of Sitric.
1770 of St. Eadmund.
etc.
Under the ordinary order of arrangement, the following may be taken as
indications of the coins of Anglo-Saxon rulers:--
_KINGS OF KENT._ ÆTHILBERHT I., 725-764.
The _sceat_ attributed to this king is doubtful.