An Account of Some Saxon Coyns Found in Suffolk; Communicated by Sir P. S. R. S. Soc.

An Account of some Saxon Coyns found in Suffolk; Communicated by Sir P. S. R. S. Soc. In May 1687, at Honedon nigh Clare in Suffolk, the Sexton, as he was digging a Grave in the Church-yard, met with some say a Skull; and near it his Spade broke a Yellow Earthen there was Pot, wherein were many Silver pieces of Saxon Mony, no Pot. Some of which I have seen, and endeavoured to read the Inscriptions, which are so various, that there are scarce two alike, tho' they are generally of the same bigness, viz. of a Groat, and about the same weight. I guess this variety of Inscriptions ariseth from the many Masters of the Mint who were appointed to coyn Mony in several Places, and who might each of them have a different Stamp: and I find this Conjecture of mine countenanced by a Passage in K. Æthelstan's Laws, Printed by Lambard. Cantuariae Monetarii VII Sunto, quorum quidem IV Regis, II Praefuli ac unus Canobiarchæ deservito. In Civitate Roffensi tres sint, Regii duo, tertius Episcopi. Londini VIII. Vintoniae VI. In vico Lewisio II. In vico Hastingo I. Cicestriæ I. Hamtonæ II. Excestriæ II. Werham II. Schaftsburia II. Ad aliquid quodque oppidum Monetarius unus esto. To confirm my Opinion, That the several Masters of the Mint made different Reverses, I have observed great variety in Henry III. Coyn, viz. NICOLE OV LVND. WILLEI OV LVND. WILLEI OV CINT. Canterbury quær. RICHARD OV GLOV. These Names being probably the Masters of the Mint's, the Laws as to the Mints being not altered. 1 Hen. VI. Cap. 1. The King's Council might assign Mony to be Coyned in as many Places as they will. (a) But now in France, tho' there be Mints in several Cities, yet there is no difference in the Inscriptions, only a Letter of the the Alphabet, to signify where the Mony is stamp'd; as A for Paris, &c. These Saxon Monies were Denarii, or Pennies; for Greaves, of the Denarius, p. 117. says, In Ethelred's time it was the 20th part of the silver Ounce Troy, and bigger than three of our present Pennies; and our Goldsmiths weigh by this Penny-weight or 24 Grains. Five of the Saxon Pennies made a Shilling, and (as Lambarde's Glossary says) therefore 48 of those Shillings made a Pound, and 240 Pennies made a Pound, which is the present Proportion of our Penny and Pound, tho' the intrinsic value be about three to one different. I cannot yet meet with any satisfactory Reason, why this Mony should be thus buried; tho' very probably it was upon a superstitious Account: I shall only offer a bare Conjecture of mine; There were, they say, between 200 and 300 pieces found in the Grave; and if 240, i.e. 1 l. then the Deceased might order so many to be buried with him, as a kind of Expiation for having privately killed a Dane of servile Condition; for in Ethelred's Law there is this Penalty, Servilis conditionis Dacum si Anglus morte affecerit, integram solvito Libram. If more or less was found, it might answer another Mulet enjoined by the Saxon Laws for killing or maiming some Person of another Quality. Or the aestimatio capitis might be laid in the Grave with the Person that was killed. Those who believe they were Peter-Pence, Rome-Scot, Rome Feok, or Hearth-Penny, I think are under a Mistake; for that Mony was collected every Year, and carry'd out of the Nation. Nor it cannot be the Soul Scot mentioned in Canute's Laws, (but first required by the Council or Parliament at Eanham in Ethelred's time) to be paid at the opening of the Grave, (whence Sir Henry Spelman, De Sepulturâ, thinks the Fee demanded for the Office of Burial is derived) for it is not likely that Fee or Soul-Scot paid to the Priest did amount to the Sum found in this Grave; and it is more unlikely that the Priest should so easily part with his Mony, by burying it. I shall, as well as I can, give you the Inscriptions on those I saw; viz. On some of these Monies there are very odd Saxon Characters, which are not drawn here very exactly. It would be a useful piece of Learning to have an Alphabet of the several Characters or Shapes of Letters observed in antient MSS. Coyns, and Monuments of Stone, &c. and there might be added an Explanation of Words abbreviated, as in these Monies III II, L for M; &c. Some Pieces are diminished in their Weight, by lying long under ground, and several of them coloured Green. (e) Spanheimius, in his Dissertations de Numismatibus, tells us of the way of Writing Letters backwards, In Antiquissimis aliquot Graecorum Numismatibus, in quibus ΞΑΛΕΙ pro ΤΕΛΑΣ; ΝΟΙΑΤΣΕΛΕΞ pro ΣΕΤΕΣΤΑΙΩΝ, &c. aliaq; id genus Phoenicum more sinistrorsum non semel scripta leguntur. Eandem quoque scripturae rationem in Antiquis aliquot Gothorum Saxis adnotavit Antiquitatis patriae restaurator Olaus Wormius. This The same Reverse with the last. This Reverse is written round the +, whereas most of the Reverses are not so; but there are two Lines of Letters with three Crosses between 'em. The little o in some of these Monies is periodical. These following Reverses are written round the + The H is a very clear Character, and stands for a Letter that is not defaced. Sterling, &c. P. & T. passim confundi Docti observant, num pro virte, anna pro saul &c. Ruffina pro Rostina, &c. Bochart. Geogr. pag. 450. 706. Denarium & Sterlingum eundem esse Nummum, (Matth. Paris. in Hen. III. tredecim solidis & 4 sterlingis pro Marc'd qualibet computatis) Vox ipsa, Sterling, utrum formatur à signo quod imprimebatur isti Nummo, & Sterlingus sit quasi Stellatus, an potius Easterlingus denominatus à Populis, qui Easterlings dicuntur, ambiguum faciunt Scriptores. Gronovius de Sistertiis, pag. 346. (1) But But I find Gronovius may be corrected in what he writes in the Addenda to the same Treatise by this Reverse; Dubium non est (says he) si Saxonibus Anglis deberetur ea Vox, Sterling, in monumentis illorum repertam iri. — constat inter omnes ante Normannorum ingressum in Angliam, non reperiri mentionem hujus Vocabuli; cum ipso Gulielmo primum legi, Sterlingos, &c. appellatos, ergo his debetur eaVox in Anglia. Yet I believe what he writes just before, Denariis autem nomen etiam Sterlinges fuisse, in Continente quâ Normanni imperabant, ostendunt duo rescripta Pontificum Romanorum in Decreto Gregorii; and he might well have added, That the Normans borrowed of the Franks that Word Sterling, as well as descriptionem Librae per solides denariosque. But it may be, when Gronovius writ, no Coyn or Monument of Antiquity was then discovered in England that mentioned Sterling before William I. whose Name brings to my mind, that on his Coyn P is put for W. (n) Sir Henry Spelman, in his Glossary, speaks of Sterling and Denarius to be the same; and he directs to the Statute made An. 1302, 31 Edw. I. wherein the Penny is called Sterling, and the weight of the Sterling is 32 Grains of dried Wheat; (and I have weighed 32 Grains of Wheat, and they are equal to 24 Grains Troy-weight, which is our Saxon Penny.) And Ann. 1496, 12 Hen. VII. Cap. 5, there is another Statute wherein the Sterling is of the same weight. I am credibly inform'd, some of Egbert's and Ethelbert's Coyn were found amongst them: Tho' I saw, were Ethelstan's, who began his Reign about the Year 925. Edmund Etheling's his Brother, (for I take the Edmunds to be his) who began his Reign 940; Edred, another Brother, who began his Reign 946. I hope others more skilful in Antiquities, and that have better advantage by our Records and ancient Histories, will give a clearer Interpretation of the Words, Characters, and other Circumstances relating to these and other Saxon Monies. In the Church-yard at Foulsham in Norfolk, there is a Tomb-stone with this Inscription, which some of the Learned in these Curiosities may perhaps explain. On one side ΑΚ ΚΟΓ ΓΘΕ At one end ΘΘΘ On the other side ΕΔΕ ΔΕΣΒΕΑ On the other end ΒΘΕ Remarks upon the foregoing Observations by W.W. Reg. Soc. Soc. (a) This Law was in force till Henry VII. who, first, that I can find, quartered the Arms of England and France in his common silver Coyns, on their Reveres: This his Successors have since followed; before they writ, Civit. London; Civitas Cantuariae, Villa Calesiae. The want of knowing this Custom, has caused some Learned Men to mistake some Coyns of Edward IV. with Civitas Norwic. on the Reverse, for Medals stamped in memory of Kett's Insurrection, by Edward VI. Golden Medals, in memory of great Actions, are of ancient use amongst us; witness that golden Coyn of Edward III. where a Shield, with the Arms of England and France over a Ship, is stamped, to shew his Title to the Kingdom of France, which he then claimed; yet this can hardly be shewn in silver Coyns which then passed for current Money: that seems to have been peculiar to the Greeks and Romans, except some Instances in these two last Ages. The single Exception of Edward III. who quarter'd England and France in his Mony, doth not weaken my Assertion, since it was extraordinary, as a more publick Proclamation of the Justice of that Title, which he set on foot against Philip de Valois. (b) This Reverse is to be read PENE FEHO; i.e. Penny-money, a Duplication usual amongst the Saxons; so afterwards Sterling. Sterling-money. Febo, or Feoh, is a common Word for Mony. St. Mark xii. 41. ἐὰν τὸ ἀλεῖν ὁνγεν ἤπειρον τοῦτο ἐστίν, ἢ γεραὶ ἡ ἑράκλεις ἐπὶ πολέμῳ; Then set Jesus over against the Treasury, and saw the People put in Mony. (c) LAND WEHO; This was coyned in Memory of a Land Tax, raised by Æthelstan, to support his Wars against the Danes and Scots; against whom, especially the Scots, he was always victorious. Our Writers (Ingulph. Hist. Croyland. p. 29.) say that he killed Constantine King of the Scots, with five more Kings at the same time; but the Chronicle of Mailrose, written by the Abbot of Dundrainand, a Scottish-man, says only, Regem Scottorum Constantinum prælio vicit, & fugavit; (ad An. 926. p. 147.) And this is the only Æthelstan who was ever King of England: There was another Æthelstan King of Kent only, Son to Egbert, who beat the Danes at Sandwich in Ann. 852. The variety of Letters in these Reverses is remarkable: The last Word in these two Reverses is manifestly to be read alike, yet the form of the Letters is vastly different. This variety arose from the multitude of Mints, which did not all tie themselves up to one Stamp, nor to the same Letters. A R E M (d) This I should read REGia Moneta, to distinguish it from the Bishops or Abbots, for it was probably coyned at Canterbury; A, I take to be a Mint-masters Mark. (e) Tho' these Coyns, as far as I can judge, are as good Silver as any current with us, if not better; yet since what Alloy is in them is of Brass, I am apt to think, that the acid Steams in a long series of Ages arising from the Humane Bodies, might corrode so far into the Metal, as to raise some little Verdigrase upon the Surface of the Coyns; to which that Greennels is to be imputed. (f) Probably this Albericus was a Nobleman, and they might have had the Jus monetae as well as Bishops and Abbots; but I must confess I cannot make that out clearly. H before G is an usual Transposition; so HClotharius, HLudowicus. (g) This I read *IVE MONETA*, or *Ive Money*, that is, Mony coyned at *St. Ives* in *Huntingdonshire*. The *H*, as also *Π*, both used for *M*, are remarkable. *Bouteroue*, in his Disquisitions on the old *French Monies*, gives us some *Gallick Epitaphs* from which he draws an Alphabet of the old *Gauls*: in that, *H* and *Π* are used for *M*; so that possibly the *Britains* might likewise use them: it is manifest they are not *Saxon Letters*; and I see no Absurdity to allow the *Saxons* to have borrow'd them from the *Britains*, and to have used them amongst their own Capitals. There is a Coyn in *Tab. 3. Coyn 14.* of the Collection prefixed before *Ælfred's Life*, which has two other of those *Gallick Letters* of which *Bouteroue* has given us an Alphabet. The Coyn is, ``` ΣΩΡΟΝΤΑ ΒΕΡΙΛΕ- ÆLFRED + + + ΦΙΡΔΑ ΚΛΕΔΜ- ``` The *Σ* and *Φ* are *S* and *F* in his Alphabet; and I am apt to think, that that Inversion of Letters in these *Saxon Monies*, as *ΣΙ* for *M*, *Π* for *Π*, *Φ* for *F*, took its rise from them; for in this Alphabet we have *Δ* and *∇* for *D*; *Σ*, *Φ*, *Ζ*, for *S*: however, this will evince, in some measure, the Practice of such Inversions, which made some Learned Men take them for *Runic, Gothic*, or indeed for any Characters with which they were little acquainted. (h) This and the Reverse of the *II*, are to be read alike, tho' they were coyned at different Places, as appears from the variety of the Letters. (i) *Π* which is used here for *M*, is frequently used in that Collection of *Saxon Coyns* prefixed to *Ælfred's Life*. (k) This *Gotæ mone*, or *Gods Mony*, was the *Peter-Pence* which was collected yearly, and sent to *Rome*. *Ina*, one of the Kings of the *Mercians*, first gave it: thence it was constantly paid paid afterwards, tho' now and then intermitted in the heat of the Danish Wars, I suppose this Coyn came out of an Ecclesiastical Mint. (l) The true Original of Sterling is Starry. The Common People observing the Crosses upon the Coys, which looked like so many Stars, called them Sterlings, Starry pieces. Ling is an adjective Termination in the Saxon Language; so in time, the Word became Substantive, and was used promiscuously for Penny. (m) The 19 and 21 Reverses are to be read alike, tho' possibly they might be made from different Stamps. The Letters in both (for neither are very clear) will mutually explain each other. I read it MTHECHI HONE, or Malmesbury Mony: The H-, which is an entire Letter, seems to have been taken from the square B, or B. (n) This P was the old Saxon p or W; so it was Willem, not Pillem. The Saxon Character, which was full and plain, gave rise to that small beautiful Character which we usually call the Roman Letter. The ancient Romans, for ought as yet appears to the contrary, wrote all with one uniform Character, sometimes greater and sometimes less, of the same Figure with the great Letters in our Alphabet. This they took from the Greeks; and it is usual in all the Alphabets of the Oriental Nations. The three Inscriptions in Gruter, (pag. 185. 3. p. 652. 2. p. 882.7.) only prove that they had our small t, p, b, h, for we have no Hints in our MSS. of any others. After them succeeded the Francick or Merovingian Character, entirely left off in transcribing Books after Charlemagne. The Notaries kept it longer; only by making it longer, they brought it to something like the Italica, to which it possibly gave rise. The Specimens in Mabillon's fourth Book de re Diplomatica, will put this past doubt. All this while the Saxon Character was used in England, whose Alphabet is evidently the same with the small Roman, except some Letters which expressed Sounds proper to their Language, as ß, ß, ß: wherefore when Alcuinus (Scholar to Egbert Arch-bishop of York) went over into France France to Charles the Great, and afterwards sent for Books out of Egbert's Library, as may be gathered from William of Malmesbury, he introduced that fine way of Writing, which immediately took place with all but the Publick Notaries. Mabillon owns the thing in effect, tho' he dissembles the Original: Primâ stirpe extinxta, Carolus M. Literas expolire capit, aut certe jam tantisper expolitum Scripturæ genus à Merovingino in elegantiorem formam commutavit; quæ in eandem formam evasit, quæ hactenus minuti Romani Characteris nomen retinet. (Lib. i. Cap. ii. num. io.) And if this Change was not wrought in a moment, because the Transcribers us'd to the old Merovingian hand conform'd it to the new, as much as they could, yet that wore off by degrees: so Mabillon, quæ [Carolina Scriptura] principio nonnihil Merovingici Characteris habebat internistum; at subinde politior efficta, in eandem formam, &c. Mabillon acknowledges, that Alcuin introduced the modern Punctuation into the French MSS. and Records, which he learned from the Saxons, particularly [::] for a full Period, as is manifest to all that shall look into the Saxon MSS, or printed Books in imitation of them. Besides, all our Latin MSS. in England, 'till some time after the Conquest, were writ in the Saxon Character. So Archbishop Parker published Asserius Menevensis: and there are several Latin MSS. in the University-Library of Cambridge, written in the Saxon Character. And it is no wonder that those Letters which expressed Sounds not used in the Roman Tongue, should be left out by the French Transcribers, who at the same time might use Saxon Copies: so that it is not strange Vossius should be mistaken, when he thought Ω and Ð were from the Greek Ω and Θ, who did not consider them to be both Runic Letters, which were introduced upon a particular occasion, by Chilperic, who took them from the Visigoths in Spain, as Wormius (de Literaturà Runica) has probably proved from Gregorius Turonensis and a Constitution of the same Chilperic printed in Goldastus: yet I will not deny but Theodore, or some other of those Greeks, who in that Age had so great great Intercourse with England, might introduce some Greek Letters to express those Sounds which they had not in their own Language; from hence they were carried into France, with the rest of the Saxon Alphabet, and so into Italy; which Mabillon also in effect acknowledges when he says, *Hanc tamen Scripturæ formam non Franci à Romanis, qui Langobardicis passim Elementis tunc utebantur, sed à Francis Romani accepisse videntur.* But it would take up too much time here to discourse of the Original of the Saxon Character, and whence those Agreements between it and the pure Merovingian and Lombard Characters might at first arise; and perhaps the thing itself does not deserve any farther enquiry. --- An Estimate of the Quantity of Vapour raised out of the Sea by the warmth of the Sun; derived from an Experiment shown before the Royal Society, at one of their late Meetings: by E. Halley. That the quantity of aqueous Vapours contained in the Medium of the Air, is very considerable, seems most evident from the great Rains and Snows which are sometimes observed to fall, to that degree, that the Water thus discharged out of the Interstices of the Particles of Air, is in weight a very sensible part of the incumbent Atmosphere: but in what proportion these Vapours rise, which are the Sources not only of Rains, but also of Springs or Fountains (as I design to prove) has not, that I know of, been anywhere well examined, tho' it seem to be one of the most necessary Ingredients of a real and Philosophical Meteorology; and as such, to deserve the consideration of this Honourable Society. I thought it might not be unacceptable, to attempt, by Experiment to determine the quantity of the Evaporations of Water, as far as they arise from Heat; which, upon Tryal, succeeded as follows.