The Coin Mint

Everyone likes making money, so Vikings of Middle England invite you to come and make your own Vikings, Saxon or Norman coin. As well as making yourself an excellent souvenir, you can also learn a little about how money worked in the Viking age.

Bullion Economy

The Viking-Age people traded using the value of the weight of the material - usually silver - but occasionally gold.

Silver coinage from far flung places such as Afghanistan could easily be used in places such as Dublin in Ireland, or in York, Northumbria. Several Viking hoards have been found with Islamic Dirhams, English Pennies, Frankish Deniers amongst others.

Coins weren't the only valuable silver trade good however. Many hoards contain silver rods of 'hack silver' where slivers of metal were cut to make the weight of a trade, and there are many examples of ingots - trade weighted bars - in Viking hoards. Similarly silver and gold jewellery fragments have found to be deliberately broken for this reason, as have coins (half pennies, quarters or farthings etc).

Silver was very valuable, so it's unlikely that it was used to buy mundane things where a barter culture better served. More likely would be large trades of animals, weapons and land.

The English penny of the late Saxon period in today's money would be worth around £20-30. A full arm ring - many times the weight of a penny - would be incredibly valuable. The Vikings particularly liked to show wealth, and powerful lords bestowed silver arm-rings on their bondsmen, as both payment and prestige.

Materials

The primary precious metal found in hoards is silver. Many items, particularly coins, bare marks of testing processes used by traders. Without the aid of modern science they relied on knowing the feel of good silver. Cuts into the edge of coins called 'nicks' and 'pecks' onto the surface of the coin test to see if the coin is merely gilded (plated) over a base metal such as lead or copper - or an copper/silver mix. Bending the coin would also show if it was made from silver as it is considerably harder to do so than copper, or a mix for example.

Coinage

As well as showing the extent of kingly or national power, especially in the control of wealth generation and taxation, coins can show how money travelled. Certainly in the case of Islamic coins found in Britain, they show how the trade routes through Russia and Scandinavia reached Britain and Ireland, especially in the tenth century when Viking power was building.

The English silver penny was introduced around 765ad and persisted until the 13th century. During the late 9th century, until the mid-late 10th century there was a round half-penny, but after currency reform by King Edgar in 973ad people were required to cut the coin in half or quarters (usually following the cross on the reverse). During Edgar's reign, the number of mints stabilised and the die patterns were controlled centrally at a master die cutting workshop. Later there were 5 such workshops.

Some coins, such as those minted at York, (Viking Kings Ragnald, Sithric) show how the Vikings - well their kings at least - were embracing Christianity. Several coins bare the symbol of St Peter (sword) who was the patron saint of York Minster. Included on the face of these coins is also the hammer of Thor, the Viking God of Thunder. Linking St Peter to such a popular god in the Scandinavian pantheon was a sensible move in the conversion and assimilation of Vikings into Christian Europe.

Minting Coins

Ingots were beaten into thin sheets under heat and coins were cut from it with a circular chisel. The dies were made of iron with the pattern punched into it. The coin is placed between the two dies and the pressure exerted by hammer blow causes enough friction to melt the silver for enough time to dip into the punched pattern and create the relief.

In The time of Alfred the Great there were few mints, mainly in large population centres like Winchester. By the time his grandson Athelstan became 'Rex Brittanae' in 927 there were numerous mints around the newly unified country and 8 in London alone. By the reign of Aethelred (978ad) there were around 90 mints. This shows just how the Wessex power base had spread and how much wealth was being generated in trade with the Viking settlers and the rest of Europe. For matters concerning payments to the crown, this line of Saxon kings had enough power to refuse foreign currency in internal affairs.

Minting official coins was heavily regulated and there were severe punishments for forgery, and clipping (stealing excess silver). Punishments included having hands cut off and being casstratrated.

Law of King Athelstan 927-939AD

15. Thirdly: that there be one money over all the king's dominion, and that no man mint except within port. And if the moneyer be guilty, let the hand be struck off that wrought the offense, and, be set up on the money-smithy but if it be an accusation, and he is willing to clear himself; then let him go to the hot-iron, and clear the hand therewith with which he is charged that fraud to have wrought. And if at the ordeal he should be guilty, let the like be done as here before ordained.

In Canterbury seven moneyers; four the king's, and two the bishop's, one the abbot's.
At Rochester three; two the king's, and one the bishop's.
At London eight.
At Winchester six.
At Lewes two.
At Hastings one.
Another at Chichester.
At Hampton two.
At Wareham two.
At Exeter two.
At Shaftesbury two.
Else, at the other burhs one.

For more information see Gareth Williams article at the BBC.