AlexB
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Struck c.852-874AD Mercia, London mint. AR Penny 1.30g Portrait (Ba) and Lunettes-type Class A. Obv Diademed bust right reaching to bottom edge of coin, around 'BURGRED REX'; Rev 'MON OSMUND ETA' (Moneyer Osmund), name in three lines in and between two lunettes. S.938, N.423. There are 242 coins of Burgred at the SCBI/EMC but the issues of the king are not particularly rare. There are 154 coins recorded of this type, most of them identified as from a London mint. The moneyer is not quite as common, being recorded on only 13 coins. He also appears on issues of Offa, Ecgberht and Aethelwulf, only the last likely from the same man. Not rare but very pleasing example.
Burgred succeeded to the throne in a time of Wessex Saxon domination and encroaching Viking warbands. His relations with Wessex seem good, in 853AD he called upon Aethelwulf of Wessex to aid him in subduing northern Wales. The request was granted and the campaign proved successful, the alliance being sealed by the marriage of Burgred to Aelthelswith, daughter of Aethelwulf. Later in 868, Mercia was seriously threatened by invasion from the 'Great Heathen Army' camped in Nottingham. Burgred again called on his allies in Wessex, now ruled by Aethelred I, but despite coming to his aid, no conclusive battle could be joined. Time passed and by 874AD the Danes , no doubt with reinforcements, felt strong enough to march to Repton and doing so, drove Burgred from his Kingdom. An Ealdorman named Ceolwulf (II) was chosen to replace him by the invaders whom demanded oaths of loyalty to them. Burgred retired to Rome and died there. He was buried, according to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, 'in the church of Sancta Maria, in the 'School of the English Nation' in Rome.
The Mint of London - The capital of England on the River Thames, the first Saxon coins bearing the name of this mint are the gold thrymsas and silver sceattas inscribed 'Londuniu'. Although it is thought that some coins of Offa were struck there, the first pennies that can be definately attributed by legend to this town are those of Ecgberht with 'Lundonia Cviit'. Mr. Dolley believes that the main mint of England was transferred from Canterbury to London in 866. This coin of course may predate that. Alfred fortified the town then and it became the national centre of resistance to the relentless Viking invaders. Source Wikipedia & J.J. North Vol.1 'English Hammered Coinage'. Ex-MVJan2008.
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