AlexB
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Struck c.865-868AD Kent, Canterbury mint. AR Penny 1.30g Ceolnoth Group III. Floriated Cross type. Obv tonsured bust facing, breaking inner circle 'ARCHIEP- CEOLNOD'; Rev 'BIARNRED MONETA' (Moneyer Beornraed) around, in inner circle a floriated cross. S.894/5? N.427. There are 58 recorded coins of Ceolnoth at the SCBI/EMC but only 3 coins of this moneyer for him. He also struck 6 more recorded coins for Alfred, Edward the Elder and some Danish imitative Alfred coins from East Anglia. This actual type is not listed in the corpus. However, a fragment at the British Museum, see BNJ28 CE Blunt 'A new coin of Ceolnoth' and JJ North plate III/9, is likely the same. Infact, I believe these coins are of the same dies and moneyer. Blunt & North describe 'LD' in the fragmented moneyer legend though it is likely 'ED' with the top half of the 'E' missing at the break. The Floriated Cross design is also found on coins of Aethelberht for the moneyers Dudda and Oshere but only 4 on database (N.621). In superb condition, a single find from the Driffield area in Yorkshire. This coin is potentially the only complete specimum and should be considered a great rarity.
Archbishop Ceolnoth was Dean of the see of Canterbury previous to being elected to the archiepiscopal see of Canterbury. Ceolnoth was finally consecrated archbishop on August 27, 833. In 838 a council was held at Kingston where Ceolnoth made an alliance with the West Saxon kings Egbert and Ethelwulf, the House of Wessex was continuing its ascendancy, the Mercians in decline. As part of this, in 850 Bishop Censteg of Dingerein in Mercia accepted the authority of Canterbury. To put this into context one has to realise that during Ceolnoth's tenure at Canterbury, the Danes were raiding England in an increasing fashion. Sides were being chosen and allegiances sought. Ceolnoth was instrumental early on in managing to mint enough coin to bribe the Danes. However, the Danes were not to be denied and repeatedly returned for more. Monastic life seems to have declined under the pressure of the Viking attacks, and there was a noticeable decline in the quality of the books and other works produced by the scriptoriums. Whilst the struggles against the heathen reached their peak, Archbishop Ceolnoth died on February 4, 870.
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. 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. It is known that when Egcberht and his son Æthelwulf invaded Kent in 825 they put the King Beldred to flight and imposed their own rule. This seems to have settled coinage into a pattern. The Archiepiscopal coins continued under Wulfred and then Ceolnoth and the mints remained productive, if not as senior in the realm as before, for many years. Main source J.J. North Vol.1 'English Hammered Coinage' & Wikipedia. Ex-KC2008.
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