The Danes in Lancashire and Yorkshire

by S. W. Partington

Art.

Bractaetes.

Previous to their conquest of England, the Danes are said to have been unacquainted with the art of coining money. They are said to have imitated the Byzantine coins, by making the so-called "Bractaetes," which were stamped only on the one side, and were mostly used as ornaments. The art of coinage was very ancient in England. It was the custom of the Anglo-Saxon coiners to put their names on the coins which they struck. In the eighth and ninth centuries the names of the coiners are purely Anglo-Saxon. But in the tenth century, and especially after the year 950, pure Danish or Scandinavian names begin to appear; for instance, Thurmo, Grim, under King Edgar (959–975), and Rafn, Thurstan, under King Edward (975–978); also Ingolf, Hargrim, and others.

These Scandinavian names are mostly found in the coins minted in the North of England, or in districts which were early occupied by the Danes. Under King Ethelred II., who contended so long with Canute the Great before the Danish conquest of England was completed, the number of Scandinavian coiners arose rapidly, with the Danish power, and the names of forty or fifty may be found on the coins of Ethelred alone. Even after the fall of the Danish power, they are to be met with in almost the same number as before on the coins of the Anglo-Saxon King, Edward the Confessor. These coins prove much and justify us in inferring a long continued coinage.

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The great hoard of silver coins found at Cuerdale in 1840, some two miles above Preston, were buried in a leaden chest, near an ancient ford of the river Ribble. This treasure composed the war chest of the Danish army, which was defeated at this ford early in the tenth century, on its retreat into Northumbria. It contained nearly one thousand English coins of Alfred the Great, and some forty-five of Edward the Elder. The latest date of any of these coins being of the latter reign, the date of the hoard being buried may be fixed between the years 900 and 925. Many of the coins were continental, belonging to the coast of Western France, and from the district round the mouth of the river Seine. The appearance of this money agrees with the early records of the Saxon Chronicle, that of the year 897, which tells us that "the Danish army divided, one part went into the Eastern Counties, and the other into Northumbria, and those who were without money, procured ships and went southwards over the sea to the Seine."

The other Chronicle of 910 states that, "a great fleet came hither from the south, from Brittany, and greatly ravaged the Severn, but there they afterwards nearly all perished." It may be supposed that the remnant of this band became united with the main Danish army, and would account for the large proportion of foreign money. The bulk of the coins were Danish, minted by Danish kings of Northumbria.

Halton Cup.