Coins that William the Conqueror's Men Brought

Jehan de Pelham · Post by **Jehan de Pelham** » Sat Dec 13, 2008 12:43 pm

Okay, I figure that the Anglo-Saxons in Britain in 1066 had coins from Edward the Confessor--what sort of money would William the Conqueror's men have had with them? When I do a search for Norman coins, I end up with William's mintages after 1066. I'm looking for what they would have had before or during the invasion.

John
Jehan de Pelham, ecuyer and servant of Sir Vitus
www.mron.org

Derian le Breton · Post by **Derian le Breton** » Sat Dec 13, 2008 1:22 pm

Probably various bits of <A HREF="http://home.eckerd.edu/~oberhot/feud-home.htm">French feudal coiange</A>.

I'm fairly sure William minted his own coins in Normandy as well, but I can't seem to find an image with a quick search now.

-Donasian.

Jehan de Pelham · Post by **Jehan de Pelham** » Sun Dec 14, 2008 3:03 am

That would be good--I found an additional option for the anglo-saxon side as well. Harold II minted coins during his short reign as well. I think there would have been a mix of Edward the Confessor and Harold II pennies in the purses of the Anglo-Saxons--though it seems to me that there wouldn't have been time to reclaim and remint much of Edward the Confessor's coinage.

As for William's coinages--he had been Duke of Normandy for some time and his father had a coinage, but I also have been unable to find any coins of William from his feudal Norman lands.

John
Jehan de Pelham, ecuyer and servant of Sir Vitus
www.mron.org

Derian le Breton · Post by **Derian le Breton** » Sun Dec 14, 2008 3:15 am

Jehan de Pelham wrote:That would be good--I found an additional option for the anglo-saxon side as well. Harold II minted coins during his short reign as well. I think there would have been a mix of Edward the Confessor and Harold II pennies in the purses of the Anglo-Saxons--though it seems to me that there wouldn't have been time to reclaim and remint much of Edward the Confessor's coinage.

Well, mint records may be available. There's certainly a huge amount of information from Edward the Confessor's mints! Henry did have quite a lot of expenses, and recoinages were a common method of taxation.

Determining the relative availability of a given coinage at a particular moment of history is quite difficult.

As for William's coinages--he had been Duke of Normandy for some time and his father had a coinage, but I also have been unable to find any coins of William from his feudal Norman lands.

I'll see what I can dig up. We're still guessing at what the Normans and Anglo-saxons had in their pockets though. A thorough examination of hoards from the time period might be useful. I'd expect quite a bit of diversity, especially given the large number of coinages available in the immediate geographic region.

-Donasian.