AlexB
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Struck c.749-760AD East Anglia, Ipswich? mint. AR Sceat 0.98g Runic issue type. Obv legend around outside, retrograde '+BEN+NAX', each symbol ending toward the centre of the coin with a pellet forming a pellet-circle, in the centre another pellet; Rev legend around outside, '+WIL+RED' (Moneyer Wilraed) small cross in centre. Not in North but similar coin is, as N.430. M.M.Archibald C28 BNJ65 (1995), pp.1-19. Of the 56 coins in the database for this King, 11 are of this type, the majority being N.430 'EFE' examples. The contemporary King Offa in Mercia has one noted coin also struck by this moneyer, N.330.3 EMC1037.0067 currently in the Berlin State Museum. According to the record, Derek Chick first noted this coin in the summer of 1990 but with no findspot mentioned. It is listed as EMC1995.6028. It is possibly lot45 from the sale of Captain Peter Arnot at DNW in March 1995. The runic legend suggests an early date for the issue. These coins are a major piece of evidence to collaborate the existance of Beonna. East Anglian Archaeology EAA74 (1995) is a very useful guide to Beonna's coins having 9 of this type listed (all in BM) from the Middle Harling Hoard. Some corrosion but an extremely rare item.
The coins of Beonna are known from a number of individual finds, but also from two important group finds. One is a series from stratified deposits, from a defensible estuarine settlement near Rendlesham, Suffolk (a Wuffing royal seat). The other is a hoard deposited around 760 at Middle Harling (Norfolk) on the River Thet, north-east of Thetford. Thetford, at the confluence of the Thet with the Little Ouse and upstream of the important settlement at Brandon (Suffolk), was probably also an early seat of power. Wilred uses a rune similar to W after the name, possibly to mean 'Walda' or ruler. Dr Archibald mentions an early coin of Offa struck by the same moneyer, who may therefore have struck at the end of Beonna's reign when Offa's power in East Anglia was growing. The similarity of Wilred's all-runic pennies to the unique penny of Alberht or Aethelberht I confirms their contemporaneity, as does the archaeological context of the Aethelberht find. Wilred may have worked in south-east Suffolk. Beonna was the first East Anglian ruler (and among the earliest rulers of the English) to have a coinage issued with legends naming the ruler and title - a regnal coinage. He had three named moneyers that are known, Werferth, Efe and Wilred.
Beonna (also known as Beorna, Benna, Beanna or Beornus) was a ruler in East Anglia from 749. The end-date of his reign is not known, but may have been around 760 AD. He shared his reign with another ruler called Alberht (Æthelberht), and possibly with another named Hun. The primary sources for Beonna are very few. They consist of bare references to his accession or rule in late chronicles, which until quite recently it was impossible to verify. However, during the last thirty years a sufficient number of his coins have been found to show that he really existed, and on these grounds several deductions have been made concerning his rule and identity. Beanna makes his appearance in an annalistic tradition preserved in late compilations (e.g., Symeon of Durham, Roger of Wendover) in material which may derive from Byrhtferth of Ramsey, a writer of c1000 AD (attribution cited in M. M. Archibald). The record states that Hunbeanna and Alberht divided the kingdom of the East Angles between themselves. Florence of Worcester presents an annal for 758 stating that Beornus was then ruling the East Angles. Beorna also appears after Ælfwald and before Æthelred in short regnal lists featuring in the Chronicle of John of Worcester and in the de Gestis Regum of William of Malmesbury, Book I. Since the name Beonna also appears on the coins, but is a foreshortened or familiar form lacking the second part of a diathematic structure, the Hun element in the former annal may be a separate name. Hence a tripartite division of the kingdom might be intended. Beornred emerged for a short time in 757 as ruler of Mercia before being driven out by Offa. Archibald cites Charles Oman's suggestion that they could be the same person. No known member of the Wuffing family had a name commencing with B. However there were Mercian rulers (including Beornwulf) using that letter. Considering the name of Beonna himself and of Beodric, the name-founder of Beodricesworth (afterwards Bury St Edmunds), it has been argued that these were members of a family with dynastic claims both in Mercia and in East Anglia. Hence it is suggested that, following the death of Ælfwald, a Wuffing claimant Æthelberht or Alberht divided his rule with a member of that supposed family. The decade of the 750s was turbulent. Æthelbald of Mercia had dominion over Wessex, where Cuthred had ruled since 740. In 752 Cuthred revolted, and (according to Henry of Huntingdon) the East Angles, perhaps led by Beonna, joined forces with Æthelbald against Cuthred in the Battle of Burford Bridge. Several kingdoms were already in turmoil when in 757 Æthelbald was murdered by two of his own bodyguard. Then Beornred ruled Mercia for a few months, rather unsuccessfully, before Offa (a descendant of Æthelbald's grandfather by a different line) emerged and drove him into a remote part of the kingdom. We have Florence's statement that Beonna was ruling in East Anglia in 758, we hear nothing more by 760AD and we assume he died. Source Wikipedia.
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. The existence of East Anglian coins, found in East Anglia and issued by noted local Kings suggests a definite mint in the region. But where? Ipswich seems to be a 'best guess' though Bury St Edmunds, Thetford or somewhere else unnamed are equally good locations. Source J.J. North Vol.1 'English Hammered Coinage'. Ex-KuenkerMarch2008lot3046.
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