AlexB
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Struck c.823-825AD Kent, Canterbury mint. AR Penny 1.41g Non-portrait type. Obv small cross, around 'BELDRED REX CANT' the NT ligate; Rev small cross, around 'SWEFHERD' (moneyer Swefheard). N.213, S.880. There are 21 known coins of Baldred in the SCBI/EMC, 14 from Canterbury, 7 from Rochester. This type was only made at Canterbury and there are 6 extant examples. The moneyer Swefheard is not previously recorded in the SCBI/EMC for any other coin of Baldred. However, he is recorded for 4 portrait/civic coins of Canterbury, 28 various Archiepiscopal coins, 3 of Coenwulf, 1 of Ceolwulf and 2 of Ecgberht. JJ North recorded him for Baldred on N.213, N.216 and N.220. Not in PAS, found in last few years but no further details or location. Likely best of type, extremely rare.
Rory Naismith from the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge is studying the period for his PhD dissertation. He kindly commented as below:
'This is the third example I know of for this particular type with a cross pommee on both faces (Blunt, Lyon and Stewart 1963, Baldred 13): the other two specimens include one in the BM and another from Spink's auction 14.11.2002, lot 88. None of them seem to share any dies. That makes this coin pretty rare, although Swefherd is quite a well-known moneyer: he seems to have started out working for Archbishop Wulfred, probably in the 810s, and was the only moneyer for some years to work for both the archbishop and the king (he had started striking a type unique to him with reverse cross fourchee before Coenwulf's death in 821). Interestingly, during the anonymous coinage that immediately preceded Baldred's reign Swefherd was the only moneyer to strike coins with both 'royal' and 'archiepiscopal' style busts. He survived into the reign of Egbert of Wessex and Archbishop Ceolnoth. I'm still working on how the moneyers of this period relate to political authority, and Swefherd and his dual allegiance will certainly prove an intriguing part of the study'.
When King Cuthred of Kent, a brother of Coenwulf King of Mercia, died in 807AD there is an uncertainty over the role of his other brother, Ceolwulf, & a man named Baldred. Certainly in 821AD when the powerful Coenwulf died, Ceolwulf became the King of Mercia in his place, I would speculate from the sub-Kingdom of Kent or East Anglia. However if East Anglia or elsewhere, it is possible that Baldred was actually made King from 807AD, as a dependent of Mercia. In 823AD when Beornwulf usurped the Kingdom of Mercia, Baldred rises to definite Kingship of Kent, perhaps as an ally of him in calculated rebellion or as an independent King whom took the chance & defied Beornwulf. In any case, the few extant coins does suggest a shorter reign and therefore a date of 823AD. Kent had been in the sorry position of Mercian overlordship since the troubled times of King Sigered some 60 years before but had managed to rebel for short periods. This may have been another one of those times. After a short reign (either 18 years or 2 years) in which time nothing memorable is recorded of him, he was driven out of his kingdom, not by Mercian aggression, but by Ecgberht, King of the West Saxons. Ecgberht, having defeated the Mercians at the Battle of Ellandon, sent Æthelwulf his son, Bishop Ealstan, and his præfect, Wulfeard, with a great army to Kent. This reduced the Kingdom to obedience and drove Baldred across the Thames into the northern parts. Upon this news, the South and East Saxons, and the people of Surrey likewise submitted themselves to the Wessex Kingdom. Thus, in the year 825AD, the Kingdom of Kent effectively ended after 368 years of relative independence, whilst the Kingdom of Wessex grew stronger. Eventually, Wessex became to be pre-eminent in the land. It is unknown when Baldred died, nor where he was buried, but it is quite possible that he escaped into Mercia, if he was infact Beornwulf's ally. In that case he may have shared that King's eventual fate at the hands of the East Angles and King Athelstan. Alternatively, maybe he joined Athelstan in his bid for independence from Mercia, though after that victory, he would likely have been deemed a threat to Ecgberht and, quiet possibly either way, fled to the continent.
The Mint of Canterbury - A city 16 miles NW of Dover, it was an early mint of the Saxons gold thrymas are found bearing its name. It was the main mint in southern England during the 8th and 9th centuries. In the years between Coenwulf's death in 821 and Egbert of Wessex's conquest of Kent and the south-east in 825, the mint at Canterbury weathered a turbulent period that is better reflected in the coins than any written source. Coenwulf’s brother and successor Ceolwulf I held Kent, but coins in his name from Canterbury are very rare and struck by only a few of the full complement of moneyers. Rochester, on the other hand, became far more productive under Ceolwulf, perhaps to compensate for lower royal production at Canterbury, whereas the greater part of Canterbury’s production from this time consists of ‘anonymous’ pennies bearing a royal or archiepiscopal style portrait surrounded by the moneyer’s name and the mint name (Dorobernia civitas) on the reverse. No reference is made to any king or archbishop. This fascinating coinage seems to reflect a time when the moneyers were uncertain of whose authority to recognise, probably around Ceolwulf’s deposition in 823 by Beornwulf. No Kentish coins are known in his name, but there are a few in the name of one Baldred, who was probably another Mercian sub-ruler of Kent, though this is difficult to tell for certain from the very scanty written records of this period. However, it is known that when Egcberht and his son Æthelwulf invaded Kent in 825 they put Beldred to flight and imposed their own rule. Source J.J. North Vol.1 'English Hammered Coinage' & Wikipedia. Ex-JL2007.
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