AlexB
Registered User
Registered: January 2006
Location: Hong Kong
Posts: 571
users gallery
|
Struck c.855-870AD East Anglia, Ipswich(?) mint. AR Penny 1.32g. Obv cross made up of 3 crosses, transverse arms sloping upwards in circle of pellets, around '+EADMUND REX AN' Rev cross in circle of pellets, pellet in each angle, around 'BEORNFERD MO' (Moneyer Beornferth). N.459, S.955. There are 59 coins of this king in the SCBI/EMC all supposed from Ipswich but certainly the production of a single mint. 11 are of this moneyer, Beornferth. Indeed, he is only known for this king and this type, which through its minor variations, is exclusive to him. The same name is noted on coins of Coenwulf thought to be minted at Canterbury, and in the style of that place though the dates make it doubtful that it is one & the same person. Found near Basingstoke, Hampshire in 1983. Speckled toning, some verdigris, very rare.
Eadmund of East Anglia was born in 841AD, according to some sources in Nurembourg, of the Old Continental Saxons. He was supposedly not of the East Anglian royal line, or possibly a distant relative. The written sources are ambiguous and open to interpretation on these and other points. He became or was elected king of Norfolk at Lydgate on Christmas day 855, aged fourteen. He was consecrated and crowned king of Norfolk, and later Suffolk, by bishop Hunbert of the East Angles at Burum (now Bures St. Mary), a royal villa on the Stour and capital of Suffolk. He is supposed to have built a fortified tower at Hunstanton for 'country solitude' and retired there for a whole year in order to learn the Psalter by heart. He could apparently recite it perfectly in ceremonies of worship thereafter. Of the next eleven years of Eadmund's life absolutely nothing is known. We do know that he was extremely pious and a competant military general. The Viking Great Army (under the command of uncertain kings but certainly including earls Ubba and Ingvar the Boneless) had devastated Northumbria in 867 and by means of ambush put to death the rival kings Osbert, of the legitimate line, and Ælle. The Army wintered at York 867-8, and then marched on into Mercia, wintering at Nottingham 868-9. Here they were beseiged by king Burgred of Mercia with the assistance of king Æðelred I and Prince Ælfred (later king Ælfred the Great) of Wessex, but without descisive result. From the Midlands the Vikings pushed on virtually unopposed into East Anglia, taking up residence at Thetford in Norfolk. From 866 Eadmund had managed to keep up an uneasy, often broken, peace with the invaders. Negotiations collapsed in 869 and the Vikings attacked the Angles. The Angles held firm and the invaders were initially repulsed. They soon returned in even greater numbers and razed Thetford to the ground. This outraged the Angles and led to the battle of Hoxne, twenty miles east of Thetford, in November 869. The battle was bloody but the Vikings took the field. Eadmund himself, a resourceful man, survived and escaped. The Viking leadership issued a proclamation, through a messenger, to the effect that Eadmund ould continue to rule as a puppet monarch under the command of the Viking king of Anglia, but must 'share' his treasury. Eadmund refused the advice of his bishops to surrender or flee, and refused to comply with the invaders demands on the grounds that he would not share joint rule with a pagan king, but may be willing to reconsider on behalf of his subjects if the invaders accepted baptism. He was later captured alive and unarmed.
The Vikings had Eadmund brought before them into the feast hall, where his constant calling on the name of Christ drove them into a violent rage. They firstly beat him with cudgels and/or animal bones. This failed to break his spirit, so they took him outside and tied him to a stout tree, where they cruelly whipped him with long scourges. Javelins (light throwing spears ?) were then thrown at him, with care taken not to hit any vital organs. When this also failed dozens of arrows were fired into his body, until he 'resembled a thistle'. He was finally beheaded. As a last insult the vikings are said to have thrown his head into briar bushes, where it was later miraculously guarded by a wolf. Some sources maintain that Eadmund was martyred at the insistence of Ingvar and Ubba, who were led to believe that he was in some way responsible for the death of their father, Ragnar Lothbrok, in England. In another version Ragnar boasted that the achievements of Eadmund were well known and far outweighed those of his own sons. The brothers then came to England with the express purpose of killing Eadmund and plundering his kingdom. Yet another author states that Ragnar was executed in a wolf or snake pit by order of king Aelle of Northumbria. He was buried at first near to the site of his martyrdom, perhaps at Hoxne. But his relics were later transferred to Beadoriceworth (later Bury St. Edmunds) some time before 945. He was canonised at an unknown date. The shrine of St. Eadmund soon became one of the most famous and visited in all England. Over sixty churches throughout England were eventually dedicated to him. As patron saint of the English (before the Normans replaced him with St. George) he was invoked against the plague, and his reputation as a saint soon spread all over Europe. His feast day was celebrated on November 20th. Within a few decades the East Anglian Vikings had been converted and even issued a memorial coinage dedicated to St. Eadmund. Source: Dave's Rare Coins with thanks.
The Mint of Ipswich - A town and seaport on the River Orwell, 68 miles to the NE of London. Little is known of this town except its sacking by Viking raiders due to its convenient, & unfortunate, location. Source J.J. North Vol.1 'English Hammered Coinage'. Ex-KC2007.
|
Ancients.info - The Online Resource for Ancient Coins & Antiquities
