The Saxon coine before the conquest is in maner vtterlie vnknowne to
me: howbeit if my coniecture be anie thing, I suppose that one
shilling of siluer in those daies did counterpeise our common ounce,
though afterward it came to passe that it arose to twentie pence, and
so continued vntill the time of king Henrie the eight, who first
brought it to thrée shillings and foure pence, & afterward our siluer
[Sidenote: Copper monie.]
coine vnto brasse & copper monies, by reason of those inestimable
charges, which diuerse waies oppressed him. And as I gather such
obscure notice of the shilling which is called in Latine Solidus, so I
read more manifestlie of another which is the 48 part of a pound, and
this also currant among the Saxons of our Ile, so well in gold as in
siluer, at such time as 240 of their penies made vp a iust pound, fiue
pence went to the shilling, and foure shillings to the ounce. But to
procéed with my purpose. After the death of K. Henrie, Edward his
sonne began to restore the aforesaid coine againe vnto fine siluer: so
quéene Marie his successour did continue his good purpose,
notwithstanding that in hir time the Spanish monie was verie c[=o]mon
in England, by reason of hir mariage with Philip king of Spaine.
[Sidenote: Siluer restored.]
After hir decease the ladie Elizabeth hir sister, and now our most
gratious quéene, souereigne and princesse, did finish the matter
wholie, vtterly abolishing the vse of copper and brasen coine, and
conuerting the same into guns and great ordinance, she restored
sundrie coines of fine siluer, as péeces of halfepenie farding, of a
penie, of three halfe pence, péeces of two pence, of thrée pence, of
foure pence (called the groat) of six pence vsuallie named the
testone, and shilling of twelue pence, whereon she hath imprinted hir
owne image, and emphaticall superscription. Our gold is either old or
[Sidenote: Old gold.]
new. The old is that which hath remained since the time of king Edward
the third, or béene coined by such other princes as haue reigned since
his deceasse, without anie abasing or diminution of the finesse of
that mettall. Therof also we haue yet remaining, the riall, the George
noble, the Henrie riall, the salut, the angell, and their smaller
peeces, as halfes or quarters, though these in my time are not so
common to be séene. I haue also beheld the souereigne of twentie
shillings, and the péece of thirtie shillings, I haue heard likewise
of péeces of fortie shillings, three pounds, fiue pounds, and ten
pounds. But sith there were few of them coined, and those onelie at
the commandement of kings, yearelie to bestow where their maiesties
thought good in lieu of new yeares gifts and rewards: it is not
requisit that I should remember them here amongst our currant monies.
[Sidenote: New gold.]
The new gold is taken for such as began to be coined in the latter
daies of king Henrie the eight, at which time the finesse of the
mettall began to be verie much alaied, & is not likelie to be restored
for ought that I can see: and yet is it such as hath béene coined
since by his successors princes of this realme, in value and goodnesse
equall and not inferiour to the coine and currant gold of other
nations, where each one dooth couet chiefelie to gather vp our old
finer gold: so that the angels, rials, and nobles, are more
plentifullie seene in France, Italie, and Flanders, than they be by a
great deale within the realme of England, if you regard the paiments
which they dailie make in those kinds of our coine. Our peeces now
currant are of ten shillings, fiue shillings, and two shillings and
six pence onelie: and those of sundrie stamps and names, as halfe
souereigns (equall in weight with our currant shilling, whereby that
gold is valued at ten times so much siluer) quarters of souereigns
(otherwise called crownes) and halfe crownes: likewise angels, halfe
angels, and quarters of angels, or if there be anie other, in good
sooth I know them not, as one scarselie acquainted with any siluer at
all, much lesse then (God it wot) with any store of gold.
The first currant shilling or siluer péeces of twelue pence stamped
within memorie, were coined by K. Henrie the eight in the twentith
yeare of his reigne, & those of fiue shillings, and of two shillings
and six pence, & the halfe shilling by king Edward the sixt: but the
od péeces aboue remembred vnder the groat by our high and mightie
princesse quéene Elizabeth, the name of the groat, penie, two pence,
halfe penie, and farding, in old time the greatest siluer monies if
you respect their denominations onelie, being more ancient than that I
can well discusse of the time of their beginnings. Yet thus much I
read, that king Edward the first in the eight yeare of his reigne, did
first coine the penie and smallest péeces of siluer roundwise, which
before were square, and woont to beare a double crosse with a crest,
in such sort that the penie might easilie be broken, either into
halfes or quarters: by which shift onelie the people came by small
monies, as halfe pence and fardings, that otherwise were not stamped
nor coined of set purpose.
Of forren coines we haue all the ducats, the single, double, and the
double double, the crusadoes, with the long crosse and the short: the
portigue, a péece verie solemnelie kept of diuerse, & yet oft times
abased with washing, or absolutelie counterfeited: and finallie the
French and Flemish crownes, onlie currant among vs, so long as they
hold weight. But of siluer coines, as the soules turnois, whereof ten
make a shilling, as the franke dooth two shillings, and thrée franks
the French crowne, &c: we haue none at all: yet are the dalders, and
such often times brought ouer, but neuerthelesse exchanged as bullion,
according to their finenesse and weight, and afterward conuerted into
coine, by such as haue authoritie.
In old time we had sundrie mints in England, and those commonlie kept
in abbaies and religious houses before the conquest, where true
dealing was commonlie supposed most of all to dwell: as at Ramseie, S.
Edmundsburie, Canturburie, Glassenburie, Peterborow, and such like,
sundrie exemplificats of the grants whereof are yet to be seene in
writing, especiallie that of Peterborow vnder the confirmation of pope
Eugenius: wherevnto it appeereth further by a charter of king Edgar
(which I haue) that they either held it or had another in Stanford.
But after the Normans had once gotten the kingdome into their fingers,
they trusted themselues best with the ouersight of their mints, and
therefore erected diuerse of their owne, although they afterward
permitted some for small péeces of siluer vnto sundrie of the houses
aforesaid. In my time diuerse mints are suppressed, as Southwarke,
Bristow, &c: and all coinage is brought into one place, that is to
saie, the Tower of London, where it is continuallie holden and
perused, but not without great gaine to such as deale withall. There
is also coinage of tin holden yearelie at two seuerall times, that is
to saie, Midsummer and Michaelmas in the west countrie; which at the
first hearing I supposed to haue béene of monie of the said mettall,
and granted by priuilege from some prince vnto the towns of
Hailestone, Trurie, and Lostwithiell. Howbeit, vpon further
examination of the matter, I find it to be nothing so, but an office
onlie erected for the prince, wherin he is allowed the ordinarie
customes of that mettall: and such blocks of tin as haue passed the
hands of his officers, are marked with an especiall stampe, whereby it
is knowne that the custome due for the same hath ordinarilie béene
answered. It should séeme (and in my opinion is verie likelie to be
true) that while the Romans reigned here, Kingstone vpon Thames
(sometime a right noble citie and place where the Saxon kings were
vsuallie crowned) was the chiefe place of their coinage for this
prouince. For in earing of the ground about that towne in times past,
and now of late (besides the curious foundation of manie goodlie
buildings that haue béene ripped vp by plowes, and diuerse coines of
brasse, siluer, and gold, with Romane letters in painted pots found
there) in the daies of cardinall Woolseie, one such huge pot was
discouered full as it were of new siluer latelie coined; another with
plates of siluer readie to be coined; and the third with chaines of
siluer and such broken stuffe redie (as it should appeere) to be
melted into coinage, whereof let this suffice to countenance out my
coniecture. Of coins currant before the comming of the Romans I haue
elsewhere declared, that there were none at all in Britaine: but as
the Ilanders of Scylira, the old Romans, Armenians, Scythians,
Seritans, Sarmatians, Indians, and Essences did barter ware for ware,
so the Britons vsed brasse or rings of iron, brought vnto a certeine
proportion, in steed of monie, as the Lacedemonians & Bisantines also
did, & the Achiui (as Homer writeth) who had (saith he) rough peeces
of brasse and iron in stéed of coine, wherewith they purchased their
wines.
[Illustration: Endpiece.]
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