Sceat
Encyclopedia
Sceattas were small, thick silver coins
minted in England
, Frisia
and Jutland
during the Anglo-Saxon period.
and Beowulf
. It is likely, however, that the coins were known to contemporaries as pennies, much like later Anglo-Saxon silver coins. They are very diverse, organised into over a hundred numbered types derived from the British Museum Catalogue of the 1890s, and by broader alphabetical classifications laid out by Stuart Rigold in the 1970s.
The huge volume of finds made in the last thirty years by metal detector
ists has radically altered understanding of this coinage, and whilst it is now clear that these coins were in everyday use across eastern and southern England in the early eighth century, it is also apparent that the current organisation is in considerable need of adjustment.
and others carry short runic
legends such as 'Aethiliraed' and 'Efe', which probably refer to moneyers rather than kings. One series, U, has been linked to King Aethelbald
of Mercia
(716-57) on the basis of its iconography, though this attribution is tenuous and recent research suggests it is very unlikely. It has also been suggested on the basis of the iconography of certain sceattas that they were issued by ecclesiastical authorities, such as bishops or abbots. Minting may not have been a strictly urban or secular prerogative, and coins were used for many payments and purposes beyond pure commercial buying and selling.
users since the 1970s. In this way it has been possible to attribute some types with considerable confidence, such as series H with Wessex
and in particular Southampton
and series S with the Kingdom of Essex
. In Denmark
, series X has been plausibly associated with the early trading centre at Ribe
.
The chronology of the sceattas is also very hard to unravel. Some of the earliest series use the same designs as pale gold thrymsas (Latin 'tremissis
', one third of a gold solidus
) and by analogy with coins from the better-understood Frankish
material can be dated to the 680s. It is known that these coins were minted in the Frisian town of Dorestad
(just south of Utrecht in the Netherlands
, they were a commonly circulating currency in the Frankian realm until the monetary reform of Pepin the Short (institution of Ver in 755)
The thirty or forty years after 680 saw the production and circulation of the 'primary series' of sceattas, which were generally of good metal quality and weight (c. 1–1.3 grams). They were largely restricted to Kent
and the Thames Estuary
, though a few were produced in Northumbria
bearing the name of King Aldfrith (685–704). The 'secondary series', struck from c. 710 to c. 750, saw a massive expansion of minting all over southern and eastern England
to every major Anglo-Saxon
kingdom: one or more types can be attributed with more or less confidence to Wessex
, Mercia
, Sussex
, Essex
, Kent
, Northumbria
and East Anglia.
There was much copying and debasement, and weight could fluctuate considerably (c. 0.8–1.3 grams). There are relatively few hoards from this period with which to construct even a relative chronology, and any new discovery could radically alter our current understanding. The end of the sceattas is especially difficult to pinpoint, and it is likely that there was a period of some decades in the middle of the eighth century when very few if any coins were being produced in England
.
, classical
and Germanic
influences. These designs include human figures, animals, birds, crosses, plants and monsters, all of which have been recently elucidated by Dr. Anna Gannon in her erudite The Iconography of Early Anglo-Saxon Coinage. Tony Abramson's illustrated guide is a visual route to proper identification specifically for non-experts. In September 2006, this guide was qualified as 'recent'.
COinS
ContextObjects in Spans, commonly abbreviated COinS, is a method to embed bibliographic metadata in the HTML code of web pages. This allows bibliographic software to publish machine-readable bibliographic items and client reference management software to retrieve bibliographic metadata. The...
minted in England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, Frisia
Friesland
Friesland is a province in the north of the Netherlands and part of the ancient region of Frisia.Until the end of 1996, the province bore Friesland as its official name. In 1997 this Dutch name lost its official status to the Frisian Fryslân...
and Jutland
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
during the Anglo-Saxon period.
History
Their name derives from an Old English word meaning 'wealth', which has been applied to these coins since the seventeenth century, based on interpretations of the law-code of King Ethelbert of KentEthelbert of Kent
Æthelberht was King of Kent from about 580 or 590 until his death. In his Ecclesiastical History of the English People, the eighth-century monk Bede lists Aethelberht as the third king to hold imperium over other Anglo-Saxon kingdoms...
and Beowulf
Beowulf
Beowulf , but modern scholars agree in naming it after the hero whose life is its subject." of an Old English heroic epic poem consisting of 3182 alliterative long lines, set in Scandinavia, commonly cited as one of the most important works of Anglo-Saxon literature.It survives in a single...
. It is likely, however, that the coins were known to contemporaries as pennies, much like later Anglo-Saxon silver coins. They are very diverse, organised into over a hundred numbered types derived from the British Museum Catalogue of the 1890s, and by broader alphabetical classifications laid out by Stuart Rigold in the 1970s.
The huge volume of finds made in the last thirty years by metal detector
Metal detector
A metal detector is a device which responds to metal that may not be readily apparent.The simplest form of a metal detector consists of an oscillator producing an alternating current that passes through a coil producing an alternating magnetic field...
ists has radically altered understanding of this coinage, and whilst it is now clear that these coins were in everyday use across eastern and southern England in the early eighth century, it is also apparent that the current organisation is in considerable need of adjustment.
Legends and iconography
Sceattas rarely carry legends of any kind, though a small number do name the mint of LondonLondon
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
and others carry short runic
Runic alphabet
The runic alphabets are a set of related alphabets using letters known as runes to write various Germanic languages before the adoption of the Latin alphabet and for specialized purposes thereafter...
legends such as 'Aethiliraed' and 'Efe', which probably refer to moneyers rather than kings. One series, U, has been linked to King Aethelbald
Ethelbald of Mercia
Æthelbald was the King of Mercia, in what is now the English Midlands, from 716 until 757. During his long reign, Mercia became the dominant kingdom of the Anglo-Saxons, and recovered the position of pre-eminence it had enjoyed during the seventh century under the strong Mercian kings Penda and...
of Mercia
Mercia
Mercia was one of the kingdoms of the Anglo-Saxon Heptarchy. It was centred on the valley of the River Trent and its tributaries in the region now known as the English Midlands...
(716-57) on the basis of its iconography, though this attribution is tenuous and recent research suggests it is very unlikely. It has also been suggested on the basis of the iconography of certain sceattas that they were issued by ecclesiastical authorities, such as bishops or abbots. Minting may not have been a strictly urban or secular prerogative, and coins were used for many payments and purposes beyond pure commercial buying and selling.
Minting
Associating sceattas with particular mints or kingdoms is very difficult, and must be based primarily upon study of find-spots, mostly made by metal detectorMetal detector
A metal detector is a device which responds to metal that may not be readily apparent.The simplest form of a metal detector consists of an oscillator producing an alternating current that passes through a coil producing an alternating magnetic field...
users since the 1970s. In this way it has been possible to attribute some types with considerable confidence, such as series H with Wessex
Wessex
The Kingdom of Wessex or Kingdom of the West Saxons was an Anglo-Saxon kingdom of the West Saxons, in South West England, from the 6th century, until the emergence of a united English state in the 10th century, under the Wessex dynasty. It was to be an earldom after Canute the Great's conquest...
and in particular Southampton
Southampton
Southampton is the largest city in the county of Hampshire on the south coast of England, and is situated south-west of London and north-west of Portsmouth. Southampton is a major port and the closest city to the New Forest...
and series S with the Kingdom of Essex
Kingdom of Essex
The Kingdom of Essex or Kingdom of the East Saxons was one of the seven traditional kingdoms of the so-called Anglo-Saxon Heptarchy. It was founded in the 6th century and covered the territory later occupied by the counties of Essex, Hertfordshire, Middlesex and Kent. Kings of Essex were...
. In Denmark
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
, series X has been plausibly associated with the early trading centre at Ribe
Ribe
Ribe , the oldest extant Danish town, is in southwest Jutland and has a population of 8,192 . Until 1 January 2007, it was the seat of both the surrounding municipality, and county...
.
The chronology of the sceattas is also very hard to unravel. Some of the earliest series use the same designs as pale gold thrymsas (Latin 'tremissis
Tremissis
Tremissis was a currency of the Late Ancient Rome, equal to one-third of a solidus. Tremissis coins continued to be minted by descendants of the Roman Empire, such as Anglo-Saxon Britain or the Eastern Roman Empire.-External links:*...
', one third of a gold solidus
Solidus (coin)
The solidus was originally a gold coin issued by the Romans, and a weight measure for gold more generally, corresponding to 4.5 grams.-Roman and Byzantine coinage:...
) and by analogy with coins from the better-understood Frankish
Franks
The Franks were a confederation of Germanic tribes first attested in the third century AD as living north and east of the Lower Rhine River. From the third to fifth centuries some Franks raided Roman territory while other Franks joined the Roman troops in Gaul. Only the Salian Franks formed a...
material can be dated to the 680s. It is known that these coins were minted in the Frisian town of Dorestad
Dorestad
In the Early Middle Ages, Dorestad was the largest settlement of northwestern Europe. It was a large, flourishing trading place, three kilometers long, situated where the rivers Rhine and Lek diverge southeast of Utrecht in the Netherlands near the modern town of Wijk bij Duurstede...
(just south of Utrecht in the Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
, they were a commonly circulating currency in the Frankian realm until the monetary reform of Pepin the Short (institution of Ver in 755)
The thirty or forty years after 680 saw the production and circulation of the 'primary series' of sceattas, which were generally of good metal quality and weight (c. 1–1.3 grams). They were largely restricted to Kent
Kingdom of Kent
The Kingdom of Kent was a Jutish colony and later independent kingdom in what is now south east England. It was founded at an unknown date in the 5th century by Jutes, members of a Germanic people from continental Europe, some of whom settled in Britain after the withdrawal of the Romans...
and the Thames Estuary
Thames Estuary
The Thames Mouth is the estuary in which the River Thames meets the waters of the North Sea.It is not easy to define the limits of the estuary, although physically the head of Sea Reach, near Canvey Island on the Essex shore is probably the western boundary...
, though a few were produced in Northumbria
Northumbria
Northumbria was a medieval kingdom of the Angles, in what is now Northern England and South-East Scotland, becoming subsequently an earldom in a united Anglo-Saxon kingdom of England. The name reflects the approximate southern limit to the kingdom's territory, the Humber Estuary.Northumbria was...
bearing the name of King Aldfrith (685–704). The 'secondary series', struck from c. 710 to c. 750, saw a massive expansion of minting all over southern and eastern England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
to every major Anglo-Saxon
Anglo-Saxons
Anglo-Saxon is a term used by historians to designate the Germanic tribes who invaded and settled the south and east of Great Britain beginning in the early 5th century AD, and the period from their creation of the English nation to the Norman conquest. The Anglo-Saxon Era denotes the period of...
kingdom: one or more types can be attributed with more or less confidence to Wessex
Wessex
The Kingdom of Wessex or Kingdom of the West Saxons was an Anglo-Saxon kingdom of the West Saxons, in South West England, from the 6th century, until the emergence of a united English state in the 10th century, under the Wessex dynasty. It was to be an earldom after Canute the Great's conquest...
, Mercia
Mercia
Mercia was one of the kingdoms of the Anglo-Saxon Heptarchy. It was centred on the valley of the River Trent and its tributaries in the region now known as the English Midlands...
, Sussex
Kingdom of Sussex
The Kingdom of Sussex or Kingdom of the South Saxons was a Saxon colony and later independent kingdom of the Saxons, on the south coast of England. Its boundaries coincided in general with those of the earlier kingdom of the Regnenses and the later county of Sussex. A large part of its territory...
, Essex
Kingdom of Essex
The Kingdom of Essex or Kingdom of the East Saxons was one of the seven traditional kingdoms of the so-called Anglo-Saxon Heptarchy. It was founded in the 6th century and covered the territory later occupied by the counties of Essex, Hertfordshire, Middlesex and Kent. Kings of Essex were...
, Kent
Kingdom of Kent
The Kingdom of Kent was a Jutish colony and later independent kingdom in what is now south east England. It was founded at an unknown date in the 5th century by Jutes, members of a Germanic people from continental Europe, some of whom settled in Britain after the withdrawal of the Romans...
, Northumbria
Northumbria
Northumbria was a medieval kingdom of the Angles, in what is now Northern England and South-East Scotland, becoming subsequently an earldom in a united Anglo-Saxon kingdom of England. The name reflects the approximate southern limit to the kingdom's territory, the Humber Estuary.Northumbria was...
and East Anglia.
There was much copying and debasement, and weight could fluctuate considerably (c. 0.8–1.3 grams). There are relatively few hoards from this period with which to construct even a relative chronology, and any new discovery could radically alter our current understanding. The end of the sceattas is especially difficult to pinpoint, and it is likely that there was a period of some decades in the middle of the eighth century when very few if any coins were being produced in England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
.
Imagery
Although sceattas present many problems of organisation, attribution and dating, they also carry a breathtaking variety of designs bespeaking extensive CelticCeltic art
Celtic art is the art associated with the peoples known as Celts; those who spoke the Celtic languages in Europe from pre-history through to the modern period, as well as the art of ancient peoples whose language is uncertain, but have cultural and stylistic similarities with speakers of Celtic...
, classical
Roman art
Roman art has the visual arts made in Ancient Rome, and in the territories of the Roman Empire. Major forms of Roman art are architecture, painting, sculpture and mosaic work...
and Germanic
Germanic peoples
The Germanic peoples are an Indo-European ethno-linguistic group of Northern European origin, identified by their use of the Indo-European Germanic languages which diversified out of Proto-Germanic during the Pre-Roman Iron Age.Originating about 1800 BCE from the Corded Ware Culture on the North...
influences. These designs include human figures, animals, birds, crosses, plants and monsters, all of which have been recently elucidated by Dr. Anna Gannon in her erudite The Iconography of Early Anglo-Saxon Coinage. Tony Abramson's illustrated guide is a visual route to proper identification specifically for non-experts. In September 2006, this guide was qualified as 'recent'.
External links
- http://www.kernunnos.com/porc/index.html
- http://www.allmetal.karoo.net/saxcoins1.html
- http://www.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/coins/emc/