islamic coins from early medieval england - royal numismatic

Islamic Coins from Early Medieval England

RORY NAISMITH

INTRODUCTION

A TOTAL of 173 gold and silver Islamic coins minted before c.1100 are known to have been discovered in England, distributed among nine hoards and about 70 single finds. They provide rare and tangible evidence of contact between Anglo-Saxon England and a far-off world known only vaguely to most of England’s inhabitants through hearsay and pre-Islamic written accounts of the Orient.1 Although fine silver dirhams and gold dinars had substantial monetary value, they would probably have been seen as exotic curiosities as much as coins and a source of wealth, and they retain something of this appeal even today: there is a natural interest in how and why these coins from Iraq, Spain, Central Asia and elsewhere came to England.

Comparison with other numismatic evidence and with written sources illustrates the role these Islamic coins played in the Anglo-Saxon economy. This role was not great, and the use of Islamic coins was never as widespread as in early medieval Russia and Scandinavia. It was through these areas that most dirhams found in England are likely to have passed, and the great majority of English dirham finds can be linked to Scandinavian activity in Britain. They are concentrated in areas of Scandinavian settlement and influence and many coins display secondary treatment of a characteristically Scandinavian kind: they may have been cut, nicked or hacked apart to check their purity and provide smaller units of exchange.

Because of their exoticism and small number, English finds of Islamic coins have attracted relatively little study. There has been some comment on the

This paper grew out of work begun in the course of an undergraduate paper on Anglo-Saxon archaeology at the University of Cambridge, and was subsequently submitted to the RNS as a successful entry for the Parkes-Weber prize. I would like to extend my thanks to Marion Archibald, Mark Blackburn, Catherine Hills, Simon Holmes, Lutz Ilisch, Adrian Marsden, Tim Pestell, Marcus Phillips, and Susan Tyler-Smith for their help, support and advice in the preparation of this paper.

1 For general discussion of Anglo-Saxon contact with and views of the Islamic world, see K. Scarfe Beckett, Anglo-Saxon Perceptions of the Islamic World (Cambridge, 2003); pp. 54-60 deal specifically with coins.

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Islamic element of several hoards2 and on the general circulation of dirhams between the Muslim world and Europe.3 Until now there has been no attempt to bring together a corpus of all English finds of Islamic coins minted before c.1100.

FINDS OF ISLAMIC COINS IN ENGLAND

Tables 1-7 and Map 1 illustrate the available data on the 173 Islamic coins found in England. Some hoards contained many more Islamic coins than are listed here, which were not preserved or recorded.4 This problem is particularly acute with hoards discovered long ago, such as the seventeenth-century Harkirke hoard.5 It is also thought, for instance, that there were originally about fifty Islamic coins in the Cuerdale hoard, as opposed to the 29 surviving specimens.6 Only when precise and reliable numbers are known have they been included in the corpus and it is certain that the real total is larger than 173. An additional problem is that the coins are often worn or fragmentary and it is not always possible to read the date and mint. For this reason about half the coins in the corpus can only be described as ‘Islamic’ with no other information available.

There is also the difficulty of reconciling the date of minting and the date of loss of a coin. In the case of dirhams found in hoards that can be quite closely dated, it is clear that (relatively) new and old coins circulated together. The three Islamic coins in the Croydon hoard spanned a century and the latest was 25 years old.7 The most recently struck Islamic coin in the Cuerdale hoard (a

2 E.g. N. Lowick, ‘The Kufic coins from Cuerdale’, BNJ 46 (1976), pp. 19-28; W.S. W. Vaux, ‘An account of a find of coins in the parish of Goldsborough, Yorkshire’, NC n.s. 1 (1861), pp. 65-71; and J.S. Strudwick, ‘Saxon and Arabic coins found at Dean, Cumberland’, BNJ 28 (1955), pp. 177-80.

3 E.g., A.E. Lieber, ‘International trade and coinage in the northern lands during the early middle ages: an introduction’, in M.A.S. Blackburn and D.M. Metcalf, eds., Viking-Age Coinage in the Northern Lands, part II (BAR International Series 122; Oxford, 1981), pp. 1-34; J. Duplessy, ‘La circulation des monnaies arabes en Europe occidentale du VIIIe au XIIIe siècle’, RN5 18 (1956), pp. 101-63; and M. McCormick, Origins of the European Economy: Communications and Commerce 300-900 (Cambridge, 2001). Comment on the English finds in a wider context can be found in B. Cook, ‘Foreign coins in medieval England’, in L. Travaini, ed., Moneta Locale, Moneta Straniera: Italia ed Europa, XI-XV secole (Local Coins, Foreign Coins: Italy and Europe 11th-15th centuries), Cambridge Numismatic Symposium 2 (Milan, 1999), pp. 231-84 at 234-6.

4 Lowick, ‘Kufic coins from Cuerdale’ (n. 2), pp. 19-20. 5 See Table 1, no. 3. 6 M. Archibald, ‘Dating Cuerdale: the evidence of the coins’, in J. Graham-Campbell, ed.,

Viking Treasure from the North West: the Cuerdale Hoard in its Context (Merseyside, 1992), pp. 15-20 at p. 18.

7 See Table 1, no. 1.

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dirham of 282/895–6) was about ten years old at the date of deposition.8

Roughly ten years also lay between the striking and deposition of the most recent Islamic coin in the Dean hoard.9 The potentially long period between production and deposition is also highlighted by the coins found at Barton Bendish, where two dirhams minted almost exactly a century apart were found together.10 On the other hand, eleven of sixteen datable dirhams in the Cuerdale hoard were minted after 252/866,11 and the Warton hoard contained no coins struck earlier than 285/898.12 Earlier issues, both from hoards and single-finds, are more likely to be cut into fragments or be in a very worn state, though this is not always the case.13 Two fragmentary dirhams found separately at a site near Oxborough, Norfolk, were in similarly poor condition, yet their dates lay some seventy years apart.14

In the case of single finds, we have no way of knowing how long after minting they were lost.15 Sometimes coin finds from the same site may provide a possible indication of a date. At Torksey, for instance, there were no Islamic coins minted after 217–29/832–44 (the fragmentary state of the coin does not allow a closer dating) but the evidence of other coins from the site indicates that they cannot have been deposited before c.873–5.16

THE GOLD COINS

The seven gold coins in Table 4 are a diverse group, testifying to contacts in the eighth, tenth and eleventh centuries. In this period gold was used only rarely for large transactions. Anglo-Saxon charters from the late eighth century onwards often refer to gold in the form of siclos (‘shekels’), solidi or mancosi.

8 See Table 1, no. 2. 9 See Table 1, no. 4. 10 See nos 50 and 51 in Table 3. 11 See nos 4-39 in Table 2. 12 G. Williams, CH 1999, no. 43 (NC 1999, p. 348). 13 Lowick, ‘Kufic coins from Cuerdale’ (n. 2), p. 20; and J.S. Strudwick, ‘Saxon and Arabic

coins’ (n. 2), pp. 177-80. 14 See nos 18 and 19 in Table 3. 15 Such is the case with what is probably the only known English find of an eighth-century

copper coin ‘from the Baghdad area’. This potentially important coin appeared on E-Bay in April 2004 and became the subject of a heated debate between the seller and the Islamic Coins Group. The seller never disclosed the precise find spot, nor explained if the coin was found separately from several much later Islamic copper coins that were also on offer. Finds of low-value copper coins are even rarer than gold and silver: for two recorded finds of Islamic copper from Auenberg, Saarbrücken, Germany (an Umayyad fals probably of Alexandria after 695 found with a bronze follis of the fourth century) and Avignon, France (a post reform Umayyad fals) see McCormick, Origins of the European Economy (n. 3), nos A1 and A3 pp. 816-17.

16 M.A.S. Blackburn, ‘Finds from the Anglo-Scandinavian site of Torksey, Lincolnshire’, in B. Paszkiewicz, ed., Moneta Medievalis (Warsaw, 2002), pp. 89-101 at p. 91.

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This latter word mancus is believed to have referred to an Islamic gold coin, and a variation of it, mancosus is first recorded in northern Italy in 778.17 It is thought to be derived from the Arabic word manq sh meaning ‘struck’ or ‘engraved’.18 References to payments in gold are found especially frequently in charters dating from the 840s to the 970s. These may coincide with a period when the Anglo-Saxon silver penny was debased. Similarly, insistence upon purissimus gold may be a reflection of the circulation, from the mid ninth century onwards, of debased imitative solidi of Louis the Pious (814–40).19

The earliest mention of gold dinars in England is found in the promise of Offa of Mercia (757–96) to pay 365 mancuses to the pope every year, as described in a letter from Leo III (795–816) to Coenwulf of Mercia (796–821).20 Two papal letters of thanks from 797 and 802 indicate that the payment was made.21 From this time on, payments in gold are occasionally recorded, often specifically in the form of mancosi. Whereas there are some mentions of payments in gold during the ninth century, there are no dinars of that century known from England. The volume of gold coinage is not easy to gauge from documentary sources: the word mancosus was used to refer to a weight and a measure of value as well as a coin.22 It is possible that some, maybe even many, of the documentary references to payments in measures originally denoting gold coins actually represent gold jewellery or bullion, or silver coins.

There is one exceptional piece of evidence that Arabic gold coins were known in eighth-century England: the famous dinar struck by Offa which is closely copied from a dinar of the ‘Abb sid caliph al-Manß r dated 157/773–

17 McCormick, Origins of the European Economy (n. 3), pp. 332-3; see also P. Grierson, ‘Carolingian Europe and the Arabs’, Revue belge de philologie et d’histoire 32 (1954), pp. 1059-74 (reprinted with corrections and additions – including a correction to his original rejection of the Arabic derivation of Mancus (p. 1069 and supplement, p. 3) – as no. IV in his Dark Age Numismatics (London, 1979)) for discussion of the mancus. For the most recent discussion of the origin of the term and the status of the Anglo-Saxon and continental imitations see L. Ilisch ‘Die imitativen solidi mancusi’ in R. Cunz, ed., Fundamenta Historiae. Geschichte im Spiegel der Numismatik und ihrer Nachbarwissenschaften. Festschrift für Niklot Klüßendorf (Hanover, 2004), pp. 91-106.

18 Grierson and Blackburn, MEC I, p. 327. 19 Blackburn, ‘Gold in England in the later Anglo-Saxon period’ in J. Graham Campbell and G.

Williams (eds), Silver Economy in the Viking Age (Institute of Archaeology London, Occasional Papers, forthcoming). For the imitative solidi of Louis the Pious, see P. Grierson, ‘The gold solidus of Louis the Pious and its imitations’, JMP 38 (1951), pp. 1-41 (reprinted as no. XXII in his Dark Age Numismatics (London, 1979)).

20 For text, see P.W.P. Carlyon-Britton, ‘The gold mancus of Offa’, BNJ 5 (1908), pp. 55-72 at p. 64; for translation, see D. Whitelock, English Historical Documents I, c.500-1042, 2nd ed. (London, 1979), no. 205.

21 Grierson and Blackburn, MEC I, p. 330. 22 Blackburn, ‘Gold in England’ (n. 19).


4.23 It was suggested as early as 1842 that this unique coin (thought to have been acquired and possibly found in Rome) was one of the 365 mancuses mentioned above. Alternative suggestions are that it was intended for high-value overseas trade,24 or simply as a counterpart to Offa’s existing silver coinage.25 It must have been copied from a dinar available in England, or just possibly a very good imitation, but is not included in Table 4 as it was apparently not found in England. The significance of the Arabic legends was lost on the die cutter, for the legend OFFA REX is upside down relative to the Arabic. There are three surviving English finds of eighth-century dinars similar to the model used for Offa’s dinar.26 It has also been suggested that another copy of a dinar comparable in style to Offa’s but lacking the legend OFFA REX could be an English product, but this is uncertain.27

Compared to these three surviving eighth-century dinars, there is only one tenth-century quarter dinar and two gold coins of the eleventh century.28 It is of course possible that eighth-century dinars remained in circulation in the same way as silver dirhams. Also, the total number of finds of Islamic gold is very small – only seven in all – and their high value may have militated against loss. We must therefore assume that the surviving coins represent only a small portion of the original dinar stock available in England, and not necessarily a representative portion. The will of King Eadred (946–55), for example, gives some indication of the amount of gold that a king could dispense, and refers to at least 5000 mancuses distributed to various fortunate priests and nobles.29

While it is dangerous to read too much into the find spots of so few coins, it is notable that all were found on or near the south or east coast, or in York, a city with far-flung trading contacts and river access to the North Sea.30 This is in contrast to the later silver finds, which for the most part are found in the north and east of England. The southern and eastern distribution of the gold coins may represent the flow of goods from the continent, and correlates with

23 See Blackburn, ‘Gold in England’ (n. 19), no. B1; Carlyon-Britton, ‘The gold mancus of Offa’ (n. 20); J. Allan, ‘Offa’s imitation of an Arab dinar’, NC4 14 (1914), pp. 77-89; and A. de Longpérier, ‘Remarkable gold coin of Offa’, NC 4 (1841-2), pp. 232-4. The coin is now in the British Museum.

24 C.E. Blunt, ‘The coinage of Offa’, in Anglo-Saxon Coins: Studies presented to F. M. Stenton on the occasion of his 80th birthday, ed. R.H.M. Dolley (London, 1961), p. 51.

25 Allan, ‘Offa’s imitation’ (n. 23), pp. 86-7. 26 See nos. 1, 3 and 7 in Table 4. 27 N. Lowick, ‘A new type of solidus mancus’, NC7 13 (1973), pp. 173-82 at pp. 178-9. 28 See Table 4, nos. 4, 5 and 8. 29 Cited in Blackburn, ‘Gold in England’ (n. 19). 30 See Map 1.

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maps of the find spots of silver coins of Offa minted in the southeast.31 The small number of dinar finds may also be related to the similarly small number of later Anglo-Saxon gold objects to survive,32 and it has been suggested that some gold rings were equivalent in value and weight to a certain number of mancuses.33 There have recently been finds of ninth- and tenth-century gold ingots and hack-metal from Scandinavian-influenced areas of England, several of them from Torksey in Lincolnshire which suggest that gold was not just for ornamental and ceremonial use but also played a more functional economic role.34 The rarity of gold dinars may be a reflection, not merely of the rarity of gold, but of a tendency to turn gold into jewellery or ingots.

Use of gold coins from the Islamic world continued up to and after the Norman Conquest. In the thirteenth century, it is recorded that oboli anddenarii de musc (i.e. Almohad dinars and half dinars) were imported by Henry III (1216–72) specifically for ecclesiastical payments on the occasion of major church festivals.35 Though this is reminiscent of Offa’s donations to Rome, the twelfth and thirteenth century circulation of foreign gold coinage in England was a very different phenomenon in which Islamic gold played a relatively small part: when transactions using gold are detailed there are far more mentions of Byzantine gold bezants than of oboli de musc.36

THE DIRHAMS: TRADE WITH SCANDINAVIA AND RUSSIA

The hoard evidence suggests that dirhams began to enter England in substantial numbers from the second half of the ninth century and continued to arrive in the early tenth century. From c.890–900 more dirhams come from Central Asia, especially from the mints of the S m nid dynasty in Khurusan and Transoxiana. This pattern is more akin to that of Scandinavia and Russia than with that of western Europe. In France dirhams are rare north of the Loire

31 For maps see Corpus of Early Medieval Coin Finds (Fitzwilliam Museum, http://www-cm.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/coins/emc/)

32 Blackburn, ‘Gold in England’ (n. 19). 33 D. Hinton, ‘Late Saxon treasure and bullion’, in D. Hill, ed., Ethelred the Unready (BAR

British series 59; Oxford, 1978), pp. 135-58 at pp. 139-41 and 146, quoted in Blackburn, ‘Gold in England’ (n. 19).

34 Blackburn, ‘Gold in England’ (n. 19). 35 See P. Grierson, ‘Oboli de Musc’, EHR 66 (1951), 75-81, reprinted as no. VII in his Later

Medieval Numismatics (11th-16th Centuries) (London, 1979); and P. Grierson, ‘Muslim coins in thirteenth-century England’ in D.K. Kouymijan, ed., Near Eastern Numismatics: Iconography, Epigraphy and History. Studies in Honor of George C. Miles (Beirut, 1974), pp. 387-91, reprinted as no. VIII in his Later Medieval Numismatics.

36 Cook, ‘Foreign coins in medieval England’ (n. 3), pp. 247-50. For the appearance of bezants in royal records dating from the reign of Henry II (1154-89) to Henry III, see B. Cook, ‘The bezant in Angevin England’, NC 159 (1999), pp. 255-75. There are no recorded finds of twelfth- or thirteenth-century gold Byzantine or Islamic coins from England.


and finds in southern France are mostly from Spanish and North African mints, which are rarely encountered in England.37 There are also a number of hoards and single finds from the Low Countries, mostly fitting into the Scandinavian/Russian pattern. Some contain rings and jewellery like many English and Scandinavian silver hoards.38 Outside these areas finds of Islamic coins are sparse.39 Islamic coins were probably first deposited in Russia in the late eighth century, though many coins struck before this date were still in circulation, as were a small number of Sasanian drachms of the sixth and seventh centuries. Hoards of Islamic coins become numerous in Russia after c.800.40 By the mid ninth century most hoards are fairly current and do not contain many antiquated coins: in the 870s and 880s eighth-century dirhams usually only make up 20-25% of hoards, as opposed to being in the majority in the 820s. The coins in these ninth-century hoards are believed to have come north through the Caucasus from the central ‘Abb sid mints such as Baghdad.41

Around 900 the source of the dirhams entering Russia shifted eastwards, to the silver-rich lands in Central Asia ruled by the S m nid dynasty which was producing silver in large quantities from the 890s to around 1000. There is a notable increase in the number and size of hoards, which become dominated by S m nid mints such as Samarqand, Al-Sh sh (Tashkent) and Andar bah.42

The findspots of Russian hoards are spread over a wide area, with some clustering along major waterways like the Don and the Dnieper, which were the main arteries of trade.43

37 McCormick, Origins of the European Economy (n. 3), p. 348. 38 McCormick, Origins of the European Economy (n. 3), p. 350; and A15, 28, 30 and 36 in

Appendix 3. 39 See the maps in Duplessy, ‘La circulation’ (n. 3), p. 107; and the more recent McCormick,

Origins of the European Economy (n. 3), p. 348. 40 T.S. Noonan, ‘Ninth-century dirham hoards’, in Blackburn and Metcalf, eds., Viking-Age

Coinage, (n. 3) pp. 47-118 at pp. 61-3. A coin in the Cuerdale hoard (Table 2, no. 39) has been identified as a half drachm of the ‘Abb sid Governors of Tabaristan, R.H.M. Dolley and N. Shiel, ‘A hitherto unsuspected oriental element in the 1840 Cuerdale hoard’, NC 142 (1982), pp. 155-7. It is more likely that the piece was a clipped drachm of the Sasanian ruler Khusrau II (590-628), which are commonly found elsewhere. My thanks to Marcus Phillips and Susan Tyler-Smith for this information.

41 Noonan, ‘Ninth-century dirham hoards’, p. 51. 42 A.E. Lieber, ‘Did a “Silver Crisis” in Central Asia affect the flow of Islamic coins?’, in K.

Jonsson and B. Malmer, eds., CNS Nova Series 6 (Sigtuna Papers: Proceedings of the Sigtuna Symposium on Viking Age Coinage, 1-4 June 1989, London, 1990), pp. 207-12 at p. 207. For a useful map showing where the principal Islamic mints were located in this period, see D.M. Metcalf, ‘Viking Age numismatics 3: What happened to Islamic dirhams after their arrival in the northern lands?’, NC 157 (1997), pp. 295-335 at p. 297.

43 Noonan, ‘Ninth-century dirham hoards’ (n. 40), p. 57.

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The finds from Scandinavia passed through Russia on their way north, and consequently tell a similar story. Some 200,000 Islamic coins were known from Scandinavia even in 1974, with especially large concentrations in Sweden (c.180,000) and above all on the Baltic island of Gotland (c.120,000,included in the Swedish total);44 and more coins have been found since.45 The rest of the Baltic rim – Finland, Poland, the southeast Baltic – has also produced significant numbers of dirhams.46 In general these Scandinavian hoards follow the trends of their Russian counterparts: the earliest hoards probably date to c.800 and they peak in the early tenth century when (as in Russia) S m nid mints predominate. The Croydon hoard is an important datable indication that ninth-century dirhams were being used in a Scandinavian context at least as early as the 870s,47 although it is likely that some ninth-century dirhams were imported earlier and that many only came to the north in the early tenth-century heyday of dirham use.

A decline in the number of Islamic coins being brought into Scandinavia set in after the 950s,48 dwindling almost to nothing by the later tenth century.49

Replacement of Islamic with English and German silver pennies in Scandinavia was a gradual process,50 and dirhams continue to feature strongly in Danish hoards until 1000 even though the latest coins were usually at least thirty years old by this time.51

Study of a large number of Umayyad and ‘Abb sid dirhams from ninth-century hoards in Sweden has shown a series of peaks and troughs in the import of dirhams, with the peaks occurring c.710–15, c.740–5, c.770–80,

44 Lieber, ‘International trade’ (n. 3), p. 22. 45 Lieber, ‘Silver crisis’ (n. 42), p. 207 offers a figure of 250,000 known finds in 1993. Lutz

Ilisch (personal communication) however, has pointed out that Lieber’s figure is rather generous, and that the only substantial find since the 1970s has been the Spillings hoard of about 1999 which contained about 15,000 dirham fragments.

46 See Noonan, ‘Dirham exports to the Baltic in the Viking Age’, in Sigtuna Papers (n. 42), pp. 251-7 at p. 255.

47 N.P. Brooks and J. Graham-Campbell, ‘Reflections on the Viking-Age silver hoard from Croydon’, in Anglo-Saxon Monetary History, ed. M.A.S. Blackburn (Leicester, 1986), pp. 91-110 at p. 99.

48 T.S. Noonan, ‘Dirham exports’ (n. 46), p. 254. 49 Lieber, ‘International trade’ (n. 3), p. 22. A more recent and specific analysis of this decline in

all areas of the Baltic shows that the dirham imports into Scandinavia remained plentiful until c.960, declining gradually thereafter: T.S. Noonan, ‘The Vikings in the east: coins and commerce’, in Developments around the Baltic and the North Sea in the Viking Age, Birka Studies 3, eds. B. Ambrosiani and H. Clarke (Stockholm, 1994), pp. 215-36.

50 For a description of this process see P. Sawyer, ‘Anglo-Scandinavian trade in the Viking Age and after’, in Blackburn Anglo-Saxon Monetary History (n. 47), pp. 185-99 at pp. 194-5.

51 A. Kromann, ‘The latest cufic coin finds from Denmark’, in Sigtuna Papers (n. 42), pp. 183-93 at pp. 186-7.


c.800–810 and c.855–65.52 It is likely that these ‘pulses’, which can be discerned in individual hoards, show periods of particularly intense minting activity rather than importation, as they also occur in hoards from the Middle East and Russia.53 This similarity between the Scandinavian, Russian and Middle Eastern stock of dirhams indicates that their import into Scandinavia was of a relatively substantial, consistent and constant nature.54 The high rate of die linkage seen in some large tenth-century hoards of S m nid coins from Gotland strongly suggests that the coins stayed together from the time they left the mint until deposition in the far north and do not show any great mixing of currency at any point in between.55

The concentration of Scandinavian hoards of Islamic coins in Sweden and especially on Gotland illustrates that the coins were flowing in from the east, where the Swedes had begun their penetration of what is now Russia.56

Documentary evidence indicates the presence of Scandinavians in Russia from the 830s, and a report in the Annales Bertiniani of 839 tells of how a small number of Scandinavians who had journeyed through Russia to Constantinople came westwards with Byzantine ambassadors and were identified as Swedes by their Frankish hosts.57 Several sources from the ninth and tenth centuries, most famously the Muslim writer Ibn Fadlan in the 920s and the Byzantine Emperor Constantine VII (913–59), record considerable river traffic on the Dnieper and the Volga.58

The pattern of dirham use in Scandinavia and Russia is related in several ways to that of England. Islamic coins appear in substantial numbers in the ninth-century hoards roughly coinciding with the beginning of large-scale Viking activity in England but by c.890–900 there is a shift towards S m nid and Volga Bulgar coins.59 The Islamic coins in the Cuerdale hoard (dep.c.905), are dominated by central ‘Abb sid mints such as Baghdad (Mad nat al-

52 B.E. Hovén, ‘Ninth-century dirham hoards from Sweden’, Journal of Baltic Studies 13(1982), pp. 202-19.

53 Metcalf, ‘What happened to Islamic dirhams?’ (n. 42), pp. 310-11. 54 It has been estimated that as much as 40% of dirham imports into Russia were passed on to

the Baltic: see Noonan, ‘Dirham exports’ (n. 42), p. 251. 55 Metcalf, ‘What happened to Islamic dirhams?’ (n. 42), pp. 299-300. 56 See G. Jones, A History of the Vikings, 2nd ed. (Oxford, 1984), pp. 241-4 for a brief review of

this process; see Metcalf, ‘What happened to Islamic dirhams?’ (n. 42), pp. 321-33, for the importance of Gotland.

57 Jones, A History of the Vikings, pp. 249-50. 58 Jones, A History of the Vikings, pp. 164-5 and 256-7. 59 See Table 5 and Table 7; c.890 is also pinned down as a date for change in the pattern of

dirham finds by K. Skaare, Coins and Coinage in Viking-Age Norway (Oslo, 1976), p. 47. Lowick, in ‘Kufic coins from Cuerdale’ (n. 2), p. 23, also pointed out that dirhams from elsewhere in the Islamic world could travel very far – even from Spain to Iraq – before being taken north. For the Volga Bulgar coins, see G. Rispling, ‘The Volga-Bulgarian imitative coinage’ in Sigtuna Papers (n. 42), pp. 275-82; and nos 33 and 36 in Table 3.

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Sal m), Arm n yah and Bardha’a, and probably represent a collection made shortly before this change.60 Coins from the late ninth century (876–900) are the most numerous group of datable dirhams to have survived,61 and it is likely that most of the eighth- and early ninth-century dirhams represent ninth- or tenth-century losses associated with the Scandinavian presence. The general similarity of the English and Scandinavian find patterns shows that, at least until c.925, England was part of the network connecting Scandinavia to Russia and, ultimately, the caliphate.

There are important differences between the pattern of finds in Russia and Scandinavia and in England. The ‘pulses’ are only clearly identifiable in large ninth-century hoards in Russia and Scandinavia. The dirham hoards from England are small and only one, Croydon, dates from the ninth century. The Cuerdale hoard may possibly show traces of two of the ‘pulses’ with two coins from c.770–80, one from c.810 and two from c.865–70 but there is also one from the 840s.62

Smaller Swedish hoards often show a greater mixture of coins and dates than large hoards. It is thought that these smaller hoards and single finds represent currency that circulated by unit and was used in smaller transactions, whereas large hoards represent considerable stores of hoarded metal which had seen little circulation and been reckoned by weight rather than unit.63 Small Swedish hoards seem more comparable with the dirham finds from England, where no more than fifty have ever been recorded in a single hoard.

It is interesting, however, that the S m nid element is not nearly as dominant in England as it is in Sweden.64 In England there are only about half as many S m nid coins as there are ‘Abb sid and the majority of the ‘Abb sid dirhams and dinars belong to the late eighth and early ninth centuries.65 While there are fewer S m nid dirhams overall from England, unlike the ‘Abb sid coins they are concentrated in a shorter period of time (c.890–c.930 with very few after 910).66 This sharp decline in coins minted after c.910 does not reflect the pattern of finds in Scandinavia, where the decline in dirhams only begins with

60 Lowick, ‘Kufic coins from Cuerdale’ (n. 2), p. 22. 61 See Table 7. 62 See Table 2. 63 Metcalf, ‘What happened to Islamic dirhams?’ (n. 42), pp. 299-300 and 331-3. 64 B.E. Hovén in ‘On oriental coins in Scandinavia’, in Blackburn and Metcalf, Viking-Age

Coinage (n. 3), pp. 119-28 shows that 57.2% of the Islamic coins in the Swedish Royal Coin Cabinet are S m nid, whilst 27.5% are ‘Abb sid; no other dynasty produced more than 2% of the total of finds. Figures are also cited in Skaare’s Coins and Coinage (n. 59), pp. 47-53 that show a comparable dominance of S m nid coins in Norway of 223 S m nid coins in comparison to 87 ‘Abb sid.

65 See Tables 2, 3 and 6. 66 See Tables 2, 3 and 6.


coins minted in the mid tenth century.67 An explanation for this must be sought in developments in early tenth-century England, where dirhams were just one aspect of a Scandinavian-influenced silver economy.

THE SILVER ECONOMY OF THE DANELAW

Nearly every English hoard that contains Islamic coins also contains non-numismatic silver objects, usually ingots or hack-silver.68 The fragmentary state of many dirhams from England suggests that they often were seen as small pieces of hack-silver rather than as coins.69 There are numerous fragmentary dirhams found in Scandinavia and Russia, and even some in finds from the Caliphate itself, especially in Iraq.70 The practice was not, however, extended to western pennies, which were typically of poorer silver and whose nominal value may have been higher than their intrinsic value.71

The presence of dirhams in the Croydon hoard of c.872 is unusual in England, as is the hoard’s diverse mix of English and foreign coins.72 It very probably represents the coins and bullion belonging to one or more Vikings. This is also the earliest English hoard to contain dirhams, and its contents again illustrate the difference that contemporaries saw between dirhams and western coins: the English pennies and Carolingian deniers were uncut and flat, whilst the dirhams were frequently cut up or had been nicked at the edge.73 The practices of edge-cutting and more commonly bending and (from the late ninth century) pecking, are associated with the Vikings checking the quality of their silver.74 This may be particularly common in English finds because dirhams were rarer and less likely to be accepted without checking their quality, or simply because dirhams that reached England from Scandinavia had probably changed hands many times and stood more chance of having been checked or cut at some point.

67 Noonan, ‘Dirham exports’ (n. 46), p. 254, bearing in mind that there must have been some interval between production and deposition in distant Scandinavia and England, apparently shorter in the early tenth than in the ninth century.

68 See Table 1. 69 Roughly a third of the total: see Tables 2 and 3. 70 L. Ilisch, ‘Whole and fragmented dirhams in Near Eastern hoards’, in Sigtuna Papers (n. 42),

pp. 121-8 at p. 121. 71 On the poor silver quality of English silver from the second quarter of the ninth century and

the variable fineness of Carolingian pennies, see Grierson and Blackburn, MEC I, pp. 194, 271 and 307-8.

72 Brooks and Graham-Campbell, ‘Reflections’ (n. 47), p. 98. 73 J. Graham-Campbell, ‘The dual economy of the Danelaw’, BNJ 71 (2001), pp. 49-59 at pp.

55-8. 74 Grierson and Blackburn, MEC I, p. 318; and M. Archibald, ‘Pecking and bending: the

evidence of British finds’, in Sigtuna Papers (n. 42), pp. 11-24 at p. 15.

RORY NAISMITH 204

The Croydon hoard has been seen as a cache of Viking loot, not least because the date of the hoard ties up precisely with the presence of the Viking Great Army in London in 872 recorded in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle: Her for se here to Lundenbyrig from Readingum, ond þær wintersetl nam, ond þa namon Mierce friþ wiþ þone here (Here [in this year] the [Danish] army went to London from Reading, and wintered there, and then the Mercians made peace with the army).75 Torksey (Tureces iege in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle) was another wintering place of the Great Army, in 872–3 , and like Croydon has produced coins, including dirhams, with a terminus ante quem of c.875,which, given the strongly Scandinavian character of the site, is very likely to represent the Viking occupation of 872–3.76

The find spots of most single finds and hoards also place them in a Viking context.77 The majority of finds come from the Danelaw,78 where there is considerable archaeological, linguistic and toponymic evidence of Scandinavian settlement.79 The only hoard found outside the Danelaw, Croydon, can be associated with a historically attested Viking foray. Single finds are not quite so concentrated, but still show a strong bias towards the north and especially the east.80

Viking connections with other parts of the British Isles are also apparent in the use of dirhams in Wales, Ireland and Scotland. Scandinavians settled and fought on both sides of the Irish Sea, and there were extensive connections between the Viking kingdoms of York and Dublin. The Irish and Hiberno-Norse style metalwork found in the Cuerdale and Goldsborough hoards provides another example of a material connection between England and Ireland.81 The Vikings who settled in Ireland and Scotland remained in the Scandinavian economic sphere long after the use of dirhams and the common use of hack-silver had ended in England: hoards from as late as c.950 in

75 Brooks and Graham-Campbell, ‘Reflections’ (n. 47), p. 100. 76 Blackburn, ‘Finds from Torksey’ (n. 16), pp. 99-100. 77 See Map 1. 78 The Danelaw was an area of eastern and northern England which, from the start of the

eleventh century, is described as being subject to Danish law as opposed to West Saxon or Mercian law. It comprised fifteen shires, including those in the East Midlands, Yorkshire and East Anglia as well as Essex, Middlesex, Buckinghamshire and Hertfordshire. See K. Holman, ‘Defining the Danelaw’, in J. Graham-Campbell, R. Hall, J. Jesch and D.N. Parsons, eds., Vikings and the Danelaw: Select Papers from the Proceedings of the Thirteenth Viking Congress, Nottingham and York, 21-30 August 1997 (Oxford, 2001), pp. 1-11.

79 E.g., D.M. Hadley, ‘In search of the Vikings: the problems and the possibilities of interdisciplinary approaches’, Vikings and the Danelaw (n. 78), pp. 13-30.

80 See Map 1. 81 Graham-Campbell, ‘The Cuerdale hoard: Comparisons and context’, in Graham-Campbell,

ed., Viking Treasure (n. 6), pp. 107-15 at pp. 112-13.


Scotland and c.970 in Ireland still contain dirhams, often of relatively recent production.82 There is also a Viking hoard from Wales datable to c.925.83

Metallurgical studies show that many Islamic coins brought into Scandinavia were cut apart for use as hack-silver or melted down for re-use as jewellery or silver ingots.84 The silver used by Central Asian mints at this time is distinctive, its trace consisting of gold, a comparatively high level of bismuth and little else.85 Much of the silver used by the S m nids is particularly extreme in its high bismuth and low gold content and came from mines at Panjh r and nearby in the Hindu Kush, an area ruled by their vassals the AbDa’ dids.86 Almost all silver objects found in southern Sweden were found to be wholly or mostly made from melted down S m nid dirhams identified by these trace elements

By contrast Kruse’s study of silver objects from England and other areas around the Irish Sea has not conclusively shown that any English objects are made from this same distinctive silver. This applies even to objects of Scandinavian style from England. Silver objects in England were ether made using metal from another source, or from a liberal mix of metals drawn from several sources. A few Anglo-Saxon silver coins were also studied, again without any clear sign of S m nid silver having been used in their manufacture. If almost all incoming foreign coins were melted down and re-struck in mints controlled by the West Saxon dynasty then this mix of metals is what one might expect.87 Even in Viking-ruled areas it appears that silver from melted-down S m nid dirhams was not as dominant as it was in Scandinavia.

This lack of re-used eastern silver in England again indicates that the volume of dirhams circulating in England was not great. Unlike England, ninth- and tenth-century Scandinavia was still essentially a non-monetary economy in which business was conducted using silver, coined or uncoined, measured by

82 The Skaill Bay hoard of c.950 contained an ‘Abb sid dirham struck in 945 and S m niddirhams from as late as 943 (Hegira dates not given): see Duplessy, ‘La circulation’ (n. 3), p. 126 no. 18; the Co. Meath hoard including Islamic coins can be dated to c.970: see M.A.S. Blackburn and H. Pagan, ‘A revised checklist of coin-hoards from the British Isles, c.500-1100’, in Blackburn, ed., Anglo-Saxon Monetary History (n. 47), pp. 291-313, no. 156.

83 The Bangor hoard of c.925 contained five dirhams and non-numismatic silver as well as eight pennies from the kingdom of Wessex and Viking York: the dirhams were all recently struck, ranging in date from 287/899-900 to 299/911-12. See C.E. Blunt, ‘Saxon coins from Southampton and Bangor’, BNJ 27 (1952-4), pp. 256-62.

84 S.E. Kruse, ‘Metallurgical evidence of silver sources in the Irish Sea province’, in Graham-Campbell, ed., Viking Treasure (n. 6), pp. 73-88 at p. 79; see also Metcalf, ‘What happened to Islamic dirhams?’ (n. 42), pp. 328-9 for the use of hack-silver.

85 Kruse, ‘Metallurgical evidence’ (n. 84), p. 79. 86 See M.R. Cowell and N. Lowick, ‘Silver from the Panjh r mines’, in W.A. Oddy, ed., MIN 2

(London, 1988), pp. 65-74. 87 On the exclusion of foreign currency, see Grierson and Blackburn, MEC I, p. 286.

RORY NAISMITH 206

weight.88 To some extent this was also the case in the Scandinavian-influenced parts of England, where many examples of ingots and hack-silver have been found singly and in hoards: rings, brooches, ingots and other pieces of silver, some of non-Scandinavian origin.89

The influence of the Anglo-Saxon monetary economy and the scarcity of dirhams gradually changed the currency systems of Viking-held areas. Before the end of the ninth century the use of coinage on the Anglo-Saxon model was expanding among the Viking settlers, and new designs were adopted after an initial period of imitating English coins.90 The shift from bullion to coinage was not immediate and hoards show that coins and hack-silver could still co-exist for much of the tenth century.91

The latest hoard to contain Islamic coins is Bossall, dated to c.927, and there are no known single finds of coins from the Danelaw minted after this date. It was also coincidentally in 927 that the English King Æthelstan (924/5–39) captured York from the Vikings and effectively ended independent Scandinavian rule. By 918 most of England up to the Humber had been wrested from Viking control and mints there were producing coins for the kings of the West Saxon dynasty.92 The expansion of West Saxon minting and political control seems to mirror the decline in the use of Islamic silver, while the Scandinavians elsewhere in the British Isles persisted in the use of dirhams up to the end of their import into Scandinavia. Economic and political circumstances in England conspired to deal a killing blow to the bullion economy; and only a few hoards containing a mixture of foreign and English coins and hack-silver appear to have been deposited after the first West Saxon capture of York in 927 in remote locations such as Scotby, Cumberland and Bowes Moor, County Durham.93

88 Graham-Campbell, ‘Dual economy’ (n. 73), p. 53. 89 Graham-Campbell, ‘Dual economy’ (n. 73), pp. 54-5. 90 Grierson and Blackburn, MEC I, pp. 318-25. 91 See Table 1 and M.A.S. Blackburn, ‘Expansion and control: Aspects of Anglo-Scandinavian

minting south of the Humber’, in Vikings and the Danelaw (n. 78), pp. 125-42 at pp. 134-5. 92 M.A.S. Blackburn, ‘Mints, burhs and the Grateley Code cap. 14.2’, in D. Hill and A.R.

Rumble, eds., The Defence of Wessex: The Burghal Hidage and Anglo-Saxon Fortifications (Manchester, 1996), pp. 160-75 at pp. 163-5.

93 J. Graham-Campbell, ‘The northern hoards’, in N.J. Higham and D. Hill, eds., Edward the Elder (London, 2001), pp. 212-29 at pp. 226-7.


THE USE OF ISLAMIC COINS BY NON-SCANDINAVIANS IN ENGLAND

One probably datable single find is a Spanish Umayyad dirham fragment found in a refuse pit at Southampton, stratigraphically dated to c.750–850 and thought to have been minted at Cordoba c.765–815.94 Given its mint, (which would be unusual for a Scandinavian find), likely deposition date (years before the earliest hoard containing Islamic coins) and findspot, it is probable that it came from Spain via Frankia: a possibility that is supported by the presence of a small number of other continental coins at Hamwic, including one Carolingian denier from Toulouse,95 a region which made use of Spanish dirhams in this period.96 It has also been suggested that some dirhams of eighth- and ninth-century Spain reached Scandinavia alongside Carolingian coins arriving from the west before the great raids of the ninth century.97 The use of gold dinars by the Vikings in England is unlikely:98 the dinar of Offa shows that gold dinars must have been present in England before 796, so eighth-century dinars should probably be seen as native Anglo-Saxon losses. The late tenth- and eleventh-century gold coins probably also took a western, non-Scandinavian route to England.

It is true that Viking raids on England had begun by the end of the eighth century,99 and a Scandinavian source cannot be ruled out for any coin considering the long gap between minting and deposition seen in hoards. There is a possibility that some finds of eighth- and ninth-century dirhams from the Danelaw were lost prior to the Viking raids or were contemporary with but not linked to them.

There are also some southern and western finds that would be out of character in the Danelaw, such as the dirhams from late tenth-century Umayyad Spain, one of them mounted.100 These coins may represent souvenirs of travel through Frankia to Spain,101 possibly to the great pilgrimage centre of Santiago de Compostella. There is probable numismatic evidence of English participation in this pilgrimage in the shape of a small hoard of pennies of

94 H. Brown, ‘An Islamic dirham’, in P. Andrews, ed., Southampton Finds vol. I: The Coins and Pottery from Hamwic (Southampton, 1988), pp. 25-6.

95 No. 150 in D.M. Metcalf, ‘The coins’, Southampton Finds vol. I: The Coins (n. 94), pp. 17-59.

96 McCormick, Origins of the European Economy (n. 3), pp. 346-7. 97 U.S. Linder Welin, ‘Spanish-Umaiyad coins found in Scandinavia’, Numismatiska

Meddelanden xxx (1965), pp. 15-25 at p. 22. 98 Blackburn, ‘Gold in England’ (n. 19). There are very few gold single finds and just one gold

hoard from Scandinavia, and the Islamic dinars from Scandinavia are thought to have come from both east and west.

99 Jones, A History of the Vikings (n. 56), pp. 194-5. 100 See nos 30 and 31 in Table 3. 101 McCormick, Origins of the European Economy (n. 3), pp. 357-61.

RORY NAISMITH 208

Æthelred II (978–1016) found in the Roncesvalles pass in northern Spain.102 It is possible that other coins, silver and gold, represent the products of long distance trade with the Islamic world, direct or indirect, carried by pilgrims travelling across the Mediterranean. A few Anglo-Saxons are known to have made the long and difficult journey to the Holy Land, most notably St Willibald in the years 723–7.103 There are also a small number of other finds and written references from England that shed light on connections with the Islamic world both before and after the Viking period and complement the numismatic record.104

CONCLUSION

The Islamic silver coins found in England are not numerous by Russian or Scandinavian standards and it appears that England was on the periphery of the northern dirham-using world: Islamic silver was far from dominant and was just one part of a developing economic system.

On the other hand, dirham finds from England are an important reflection of Scandinavian influence and activity in the British Isles. Find spots of both single finds and hoards are concentrated in areas of Scandinavian settlement and show some connections with silver finds from other Scandinavian-influenced areas of Britain. English hoards containing dirhams were deposited between c.870 and c.930 bearing witness to a distinctive Scandinavian-influenced bullion economy in which dirhams, hack silver, ingots and other coins were used side by side.

Even before 900 the Danelaw had begun to shift towards a monetary economy. Dirhams and hack-silver continued to circulate, but they were never as common or as important a part of the currency as they were in Scandinavia. Neither did the S m nid coins that proliferated in tenth-century Scandinavia ever become as predominant in England, indicating that the decline came in England at the beginning of the tenth-century Scandinavian heyday of the S m nid dirhams. The West Saxon conquest of the Danelaw spelt the end for the dirham and ultimately the bullion economy in England: after c.927 no

102 F. Mateu y Llopis and R.H.M. Dolley, ‘A small find of Anglo-Saxon pennies from Roncesvalles’, BNJ 27 (1955), pp. 81-91.

103 On Anglo-Saxon visitors to the Holy Land, see Scarfe Beckett, Anglo-Saxon Perceptions (n. 1), pp. 44-54; for western visitors in general see McCormick, Origins of the European Economy (n. 3), chs. 5-9, in which he points out (p. 275) that pilgrims were very often the vehicles of trade in all manner of goods.

104 See Scarfe Beckett, Anglo-Saxon Perceptions (n. 1), pp. 60-8. These products include pepper and incense in the Venerable Bede’s (d. 735) possession; other spices, pottery, metalwork, glass, pigments and medicines are attested elsewhere.


dirhams appear in English hoards, nor are there any single finds from the Danelaw minted at a later date.

Although most dirham finds belong in a strongly Viking context, there is a selection of single finds that probably represent non-Scandinavian use. Single finds from southern and western England are less likely to represent Viking activity, or are of mints and dates that do not fit into the Viking pattern. The gold coins present a similar case of probable native use; but it is likely that they were never present in any large number, and outside Scandinavian-influenced areas Islamic coins probably never constituted an important part of the currency. Their rarity, value and difference from native currency may have made them objects of wonder as much as objects of value.

RORY NAISMITH 210

Map of single finds and hoards containing Islamic coins

KeyGold single find Site producing multiple gold single finds Silver single find Site producing multiple silver single finds Hoard

ISLAMIC COINS FROM EARLY MEDIEVAL ENGLAND 211Ta

ble

1: H

oard

sN

o. L

ocat

ion

Dat

e of

de

posit

ion

Prec

ious

m

etal

bul

lion

in h

oard

?

Tota

l no.

of c

oins

and

ot

her

type

s N

o. o

f dir

ham

s D

ate

rang

e of

di

rham

s R

efer

ence

1 C

royd

on, S

urre

y c.

AD

872

Ye

s c.

250:

Eng

lish

and

Fran

kish

3

AH

169

-232

/ A

D 7

86-8

47

Bro

oks

and

Gra

ham

-C

ampb

ell 1

986

2 C

uerd

ale,

La

ncas

hire

c.

905

Ye

s c.

7500

: Eng

lish,

Fra

nkis

h,

Vik

ing

and

Byz

antin

e 29

sur

vivi

ng; a

t le

ast 3

6 in

hoa

rd 15

6-28

2 / 7

72-

896

Lo

wic

k 19

76

3 H

arki

rke,

La

ncas

hire

c.

910

Ye

s c.

350:

Eng

lish,

Vik

ing

and

Fran

kish

U

ncer

tain

U

ncer

tain

B

lack

burn

and

Pag

an 1

986

4 D

ean,

Cum

berla

nd c

.915

N

o 31

sur

vivi

ng: E

nglis

h,

Vik

ing

and

Fran

kish

20

18

2-29

3 / 7

98-

905

Stru

dwic

k 19

55

5 G

olds

boro

ugh,

N

orth

Yor

kshi

re

c.92

0 Ye

s 37

or 3

9: E

nglis

h 35

or 3

7*

276-

301

/ 889

-91

4 G

raha

m-C

ampb

ell 1

992,

19

93 a

nd 2

001;

Vau

x 18

61

6 W

arto

n, L

anca

shire

c.92

0 Ye

s 3:

Non

e 3

285-

300

/ 898

-91

2 W

illia

ms 1

999

7 Th

urca

ston

, Le

ices

ters

hire

c.

925

No

12: E

nglis

h an

d V

ikin

g 2

300/

1-3

/ 913

-16

B

lack

burn

200

1

8 B

ossa

ll/Fl

axto

n,

Nor

th Y

orks

hire

c.

927

Yes

c.27

0: E

nglis

h an

d V

ikin

g 2

298

/ 911

-12

Dol

ley

1955

9 ‘N

orth

Yor

kshi

re’

Late

9th

cent

ury.

Yes

U

ncer

tain

1

U

ncer

tain

Si

mon

Hol

mes

, Yor

k C

ity

Mus

eum

*T

here

is so

me

unce

rtai

nty

as to

the

num

ber o

f coi

ns in

the

Gol

dsbo

roug

h ho

ard.

Gra

ham

-Cam

pbel

l 199

3 (p

. 112

) sta

tes

that

ther

e w

ere

39 c

oins

in

the

hoar

d, w

hils

t Vau

x 18

61 (p

. 65)

cla

ims

that

ther

e w

ere

37; t

he c

onte

ntio

n se

ems t

o be

ove

r how

man

y w

orn

and

unid

entif

iable

dirh

ams w

ere

pres

ent.

RORY NAISMITH 212

Tabl

e 2:

Silv

er h

oard

coi

nsN

o.

Hoa

rd

Aut

horit

y M

int

Date

Co

nditi

on

1 Cr

oydo

n A

bbas

ids

Unr

ecor

ded

AH

169-

93 /

AD

786-

809

W

hole

2

Croy

don

Abb

asid

s U

nrec

orde

d 16

9-93

/ 78

6-80

9 W

hole

3

Croy

don

Abb

asid

s U

nrec

orde

d 22

7-32

/ 84

2-7

Who

le

4 Cu

erda

le

Span

ish U

may

yads

A

l-And

alus

25

6 / 8

69-7

0 Sl

ight

ly cl

ippe

d 5

Cuer

dale

A

bbas

ids

Unc

ertai

n 15

6 / 7

72-3

Fr

agm

ent

6 Cu

erda

le

Abb

asid

s U

ncer

tain

136-

58 /

750-

75

Wor

n 7

Cuer

dale

A

bbas

ids

Unc

ertai

n 19

3-98

/ 80

9-13

W

orn;

small

rim

die

cuts

8

Cuer

dale

A

bbas

ids

Mad

inat

al-S

alam

25

2 / 8

66-7

Fr

agm

ent

9 Cu

erda

le

Abb

asid

s A

rmin

iyah

25

6-79

/ 87

0-92

(obv

erse

die

of 2

50 A

H)

Who

le

10

Cuer

dale

A

bbas

ids

Arm

iniy

ah /

Bard

ha’a

h 26

7 / 8

80-1

W

hole

but

buc

kled

11

Cu

erda

le

Abb

asid

s A

rmin

iyah

/ Ba

rdha

’ah

277

/ 890

-1

Who

le

12

Cuer

dale

A

bbas

ids

Arm

iniy

ah

277

/ 890

-1

Who

le

13

Cuer

dale

A

bbas

ids

Arm

iniy

ah

277

/ 890

-1

Frag

men

t 14

Cu

erda

le

Abb

asid

s Ba

rdha

’ah

267

or 2

77 /

880-

1 or

890-

1 W

orn

15

Cuer

dale

A

bbas

ids

Unc

ertai

n 27

0-9

/ 883

-92

Frag

men

t 16

Cu

erda

le

Abb

asid

s M

adin

at al

-Sala

m

282

/ 895

-6

Who

le

17

Cuer

dale

A

bbas

ids

Unc

ertai

n U

ncer

tain

Fr

agm

ent

18

Cuer

dale

A

bu D

a’ud

ids

Panj

hir

260-

79 /

873-

92

Poor

ly st

ruck

19

Cu

erda

le

Unc

ertai

n A

ndar

abah

27

2 / 8

85 ?

Poor

ly st

ruck

20

Cu

erda

le

Imita

tion

‘Urm

iyah

al-S

alam

’ ‘1

80’ /

‘796

’ Po

orly

stru

ck

21

Cuer

dale

Im

itatio

n A

rmin

iyah

?

277

/ 890

-1

Frag

men

t; bu

ckle

d 22

Cu

erda

le

Imita

tion

Unc

ertai

n 27

9-89

/ 89

2-90

2 ?

Who

le; r

ever

sed l

egen

ds

23

Cuer

dale

Im

itatio

n U

ncer

tain

Unc

ertai

n W

hole

; rev

erse

d leg

ends


Cu

erda

le

Imita

tion

Unc

ertai

n U

ncer

tain

Frag

men

t; re

verse

d leg

ends

25

-38

Cuer

dale

U

ndet

erm

ined

U

ncer

tain

Unc

ertai

n Fr

agm

ent

39

Cuer

dale

Sa

sani

an o

r pos

sibly

Ara

b-Sa

sani

an

Taba

ristan

? ?1

44-1

60 /

761-

77?

Who

le

40

Dea

n A

bbas

ids

Unr

ecor

ded

182

/ 798

-9

Who

le

41

Dea

n Sa

man

ids

Unr

ecor

ded

289-

95 /

902-

8 W

hole

42

D

ean

Sam

anid

s A

ndar

abah

29

3 / 9

05-6

W

hole

43

D

ean

Sam

anid

s U

ncer

tain

203-

395

/ 819

-100

5 U

nrec

orde

d 44

-59

Dea

n U

ndet

erm

ined

U

ncer

tain

Unc

ertai

n U

nrec

orde

d 60

W

arto

n Sa

man

ids

Al-S

hash

28

5 / 8

98-9

U

nrec

orde

d 61

W

arto

n Sa

man

ids

Al-S

hash

30

0 / 9

12-1

3 U

nrec

orde

d 62

W

arto

n Sa

man

ids

Sam

arka

nd

2xx

/ 9xx

U

nrec

orde

d 63

Bo

ssal

l/Flax

ton

Unr

ecor

ded

Unc

ertai

n U

ncer

tain

Unr

ecor

ded

64

Boss

all/F

laxto

n Sa

man

ids

Al-S

hash

29

8 / 9

11-1

2 W

hole

65

Th

urca

ston

Sam

anid

s Sa

mar

kand

30

1 or

302

/ 91

3-15

Fr

agm

ent

66

Thur

casto

n Sa

man

ids

Sam

arqa

nd

303

/ 915

-16

Frag

men

t 67

G

olds

boro

ugh

Abb

asid

s U

ncer

tain

276

/ 889

-90

Unr

ecor

ded

68

Gol

dsbo

roug

h A

bbas

ids

Unc

ertai

n 27

6 / 8

89-9

0 U

nrec

orde

d 69

G

olds

boro

ugh

Abb

asid

s U

ncer

tain

290-

9 / 9

02-1

1 U

nrec

orde

d 70

G

olds

boro

ugh

Abb

asid

s A

l-Sha

sh

Unc

ertai

n U

nrec

orde

d 71

G

olds

boro

ugh

Abb

asid

s U

ncer

tain

Unc

ertai

n U

nrec

orde

d 72

G

olds

boro

ugh

Abb

asid

s U

ncer

tain

292

/ 904

-5

Unr

ecor

ded

73

Gol

dsbo

roug

h A

bbas

ids

Al-S

hash

28

0 / 8

93-4

U

nrec

orde

d 74

G

olds

boro

ugh

Abb

asid

s U

ncer

tain

Unc

ertai

n U

nrec

orde

d 75

G

olds

boro

ugh

Abb

asid

s U

ncer

tain

297

/ 909

-10

Unr

ecor

ded

76

Gol

dsbo

roug

h Sa

man

ids

Al-S

hash

28

2 / 8

95-6

U

nrec

orde

d

RORY NAISMITH 214

77

Gol

dsbo

roug

h Sa

man

ids

Al-S

hash

28

6 / 8

99-9

00

Unr

ecor

ded

78

Gol

dsbo

roug

h Sa

man

ids

Sam

arqa

nd

286

/ 899

-900

U

nrec

orde

d 79

G

olds

boro

ugh

Sam

anid

s Sa

mar

qand

28

8 / 9

00-1

U

nrec

orde

d 80

G

olds

boro

ugh

Sam

anid

s U

ncer

tain

289

/ 901

-2

Unr

ecor

ded

81

Gol

dsbo

roug

h Sa

man

ids

Al-S

hash

29

1 / 9

03-4

U

nrec

orde

d 82

G

olds

boro

ugh

Sam

anid

s A

l-Sha

sh

291

/ 903

-4

Unr

ecor

ded

83

Gol

dsbo

roug

h Sa

man

ids

Al-S

hash

27

9-89

/ 89

2-90

2 U

nrec

orde

d 84

G

olds

boro

ugh

Sam

anid

s A

l-Sha

sh

289-

94 /

901-

7 U

nrec

orde

d 85

G

olds

boro

ugh

Sam

anid

s A

l-Sha

sh

292

/ 904

-5

Unr

ecor

ded

86

Gol

dsbo

roug

h Sa

man

ids

Sam

arqa

nd

292

/ 904

-5

Unr

ecor

ded

87

Gol

dsbo

roug

h Sa

man

ids

Ma’

dan

293

/ 905

-6

Unr

ecor

ded

88

Gol

dsbo

roug

h Sa

man

ids

Sam

arqa

nd

294

/ 906

-7

Unr

ecor

ded

89

Gol

dsbo

roug

h Sa

man

ids

Unc

ertai

n 29

x / 9

02-1

2 U

nrec

orde

d 90

G

olds

boro

ugh

Sam

anid

s A

l-Sha

sh

279-

95/ 8

92-9

07

Unr

ecor

ded

91

Gol

dsbo

roug

h Sa

man

ids

Unc

ertai

n 27

9-95

/ 89

2-90

7 U

nrec

orde

d 92

G

olds

boro

ugh

Sam

anid

s U

ncer

tain

298

/ 910

-11

Unr

ecor

ded

93

Gol

dsbo

roug

h Sa

man

ids

Unc

ertai

n 29

8 / 9

10-1

1 U

nrec

orde

d 94

G

olds

boro

ugh

Sam

anid

s U

ncer

tain

301-

20 /

913-

33

Unr

ecor

ded

95-1

01

Gol

dsbo

roug

h U

ncer

tain

Unc

ertai

n U

ncer

tain

Unr

ecor

ded

102

‘Nor

th Y

orks

hire

’ U

ncer

tain

Unc

ertai

n U

ncer

tain

Unc

erta

in


ble

3:Si

lver

sing

lefin

dsN

o.

Find

spot

A

utho

rity

M

int

Dat

e C

ondi

tion

Ref

eren

ce

1 D

onca

ster

, Yor

kshi

re

Sam

anid

s U

nkno

wn

AD

892

-907

U

nrec

orde

d EM

C 2

001.

0927

2

Win

ches

ter,

Ham

pshi

re

Sam

anid

s Sa

mar

kand

89

2-90

7 Br

oken

EM

C 1

977.

0226

(Blu

nt a

nd

Dol

ley

1977

, no.

26)

3

Copp

erga

te, Y

ork

Sam

anid

s Sa

mar

kand

89

2-90

7 W

hole

; cor

rode

d EM

C 1

986.

0347

(Piri

e 19

86, n

o.

47)

4 Cr

oxto

n, N

orfo

lk

Sam

anid

s B

alkh

89

2-90

7 W

hole

EM

C 1

996.

0265

( Coi

n Re

gist

er

1996

, no.

265

) 5

Stow

mar

ket,

near

Suf

folk

Sa

man

ids

Al-S

hash

89

2-90

7 W

hole

EM

C 1

999.

0138

(Co

in R

egist

er

1999

, no.

75)

6

Tork

sey,

Lin

coln

shire

A

bbas

ids

[Al-B

asra

] A

H 1

36 /

753-

4 C

ut fr

agm

ent

Blac

kbur

n, 2

002b

, no.

38

7 To

rkse

y, L

inco

lnsh

ire

Abb

asid

s If

riqiy

a c.

160-

70 /

c.

776-

87

Cut f

ragm

ent

Blac

kbur

n, 2

002b

, no.

39

8 To

rkse

y, L

inco

lnsh

ire

Abb

asid

s A

l-Muh

amm

idiy

a 1[

70-2

] / 7

86-8

Cu

t fra

gmen

t Bl

ackb

urn,

200

2b, n

o. 4

0 9

Tork

sey,

Lin

coln

shire

A

bbas

ids

Ifriq

iya

176

/ 792

-3

Cut f

ragm

ent

Blac

kbur

n, 2

002b

, no.

41

10

Tork

sey,

Lin

coln

shire

A

bbas

ids

Bal

kh

184

/ 800

-1

Cut f

ragm

ent

Blac

kbur

n, 2

002b

, no.

42

11

Tork

sey,

Lin

coln

shire

A

bbas

ids

Unc

erta

in

c.18

0-5

/ c.

796-

802

Cut f

ragm

ent

Blac

kbur

n, 2

002b

, no.

43

12

Tork

sey,

Lin

coln

shire

A

bbas

ids

Al-S

hash

18

9-90

/ 80

4-6

Cut f

ragm

ent

Blac

kbur

n, 2

002b

, no.

44

13

Tork

sey,

Lin

coln

shire

A

bbas

ids

Unc

erta

in

149-

199

/ 76

6-81

5 Cu

t fra

gmen

t Bl

ackb

urn,

200

2b, n

o. 4

5

14

Tork

sey,

Lin

coln

shire

A

bbas

ids

Unc

erta

in

215-

18 /

830-

3 Cu

t fra

gmen

t Bl

ackb

urn,

200

2b, n

o. 4

6 15

To

rkse

y, L

inco

lnsh

ire

Abb

asid

s U

ncer

tain

21

7-29

/ 83

2-44

Cut

frag

men

t Bl

ackb

urn,

200

2b, n

o. 4

7 16

To

rkse

y, L

inco

lnsh

ire

Unc

erta

in

Unc

erta

in

Unc

erta

in

Unc

erta

in

Blac

kbur

n, 2

002b

, no.

48

17

Mid

dle

Har

ling,

Nor

folk

Im

itatio

n of

Sa

man

ids

Unr

ecor

ded

892-

907

Who

le

Bons

er, 1

998,

p. 2

27

18

Oxb

orou

gh, n

ear S

waf

fham

, N

orfo

lk

Um

ayya

d W

asit

120-

8 / 7

37-4

6 Cu

t fra

gmen

t Bo

nser

, 199

8, p

. 227

(Fitz

will

iam

M

useu

m)

RORY NAISMITH 216

19

Oxb

orou

gh, n

ear S

waf

fham

, N

orfo

lk

Abb

asid

s A

l-Muh

amm

idiy

a 19

8 / 8

13-1

4

Cut

frag

men

t Bo

nser

, 199

8, p

. 227

(Fitz

will

iam

M

useu

m)

20

Kin

gsto

n-up

on-H

ull

Abb

asid

s U

ncer

tain

74

5-12

69

Cut

frag

men

t EM

C 19

98.2

110

( Coi

n Re

giste

r 19

98, n

o. 1

10)

21

Unc

erta

in (n

ow in

Mer

seys

ide)

A

bbas

ids

Unc

erta

in

754-

75

Who

le; c

orro

ded

EMC

1029

.110

9 ( S

CBI 2

9, n

o.

1109

) 22

U

ncer

tain

(now

in M

erse

ysid

e)

Abb

asid

s U

ncer

tain

75

4-75

W

hole

; cor

rode

d EM

C 10

29.1

110

( SCB

I 29,

no.

11

10)

23

Mon

kton

Dev

erill

, Wilt

shire

A

bbas

ids

Unc

erta

in

786-

809

Cut

frag

men

t EM

C 20

03.0

113

(Coi

n Re

giste

r 20

00, n

o. 9

0)

24

Ram

shol

t, Su

ffolk

A

bbas

ids

Al-M

uham

mid

iya

786-

809

Who

le

EMC

2001

.121

0

25

Cla

verle

y, S

hrop

shire

A

bbas

ids

Unc

erta

in

809-

33

Cut

frag

men

t EM

C 19

95.0

128

( Coi

n Re

giste

r 19

95, n

o. 1

28)

26

Unc

erta

in (n

ow in

Mer

seys

ide)

A

bbas

ids

Unc

erta

in

870-

92

Who

le

EMC

1029

.111

1 ( S

CBI 2

9, n

o.

1111

) 27

U

ncer

tain

(now

in M

erse

ysid

e)

Abb

asid

s U

ncer

tain

87

0-92

W

hole

EM

C 10

29.1

112

( SCB

I 29,

no.

11

12)

28

Wym

esw

old,

Lei

cest

ersh

ire

Abb

asid

s B

ardh

a’ah

27

7-9

/ 890

-2

Who

le

Bons

er, 1

998

29

Byl

augh

, Nor

folk

A

bbas

ids

Al-S

hash

89

2-90

2 W

hole

EM

C 19

95.0

129

( Coi

n Re

giste

r 19

95, n

o. 1

29)

30

Unc

erta

in (n

ow in

Mer

seys

ide)

Sp

anish

U

may

yads

A

l-And

alus

97

6-10

09

Pier

ced

EMC

1029

.110

8 ( S

CBI 2

9, n

o.

1108

) 31

C

erne

Abb

as, D

orse

t Sp

anish

U

may

yads

A

l-And

alus

39

0 / 9

99-1

000

Mou

nted

EM

C 19

57.0

001;

Dol

ley

1957

32

Sout

ham

pton

, Ham

pshi

re

Span

ish

Um

ayya

ds

Al-A

ndal

us

c.76

5-81

5 C

ut fr

agm

ent

Brow

n, 1

988

33

Cra

nwic

h, N

orfo

lk

Volg

a B

ulga

r Im

itatio

n (M

oder

n R

ussia

c.

900-

30

Who

le

EMC

1997

.010

7 (C

oin

Regi

ster

1997

, no.

107

)


Sc

amps

ton/

Rilli

ngto

n, N

orth

Yo

rksh

ire

Unc

erta

in

Unc

erta

in

Unc

erta

in

Cut f

ragm

ent

EMC

199

9.00

57 (B

onse

r not

es)

35

Mab

leth

orpe

, Lin

coln

shire

U

ncer

tain

U

ncer

tain

U

ncer

tain

Co

rrode

d fr

agm

ent E

MC

200

0.03

09

36

Thet

ford

, Nor

folk

Vo

lga

Bul

gar

Imita

tion

(Mod

ern

Rus

sia)

c.

900-

30

Who

le, b

ent t

wic

e EM

C 2

001.

1266

(Fitz

will

iam

M

useu

m)

37

Feltw

ell,

Nor

folk

U

ncer

tain

U

ncer

tain

U

ncer

tain

W

hole

Ti

m P

este

ll, N

orfo

lk C

astle

M

useu

m

38

Colti

shal

l, N

orfo

lk

Sam

anid

s M

a’da

n (‘

The

Min

es’)

315

/ 927

-8

Pier

ced

Tim

Pes

tell,

Nor

folk

Cas

tle

Mus

eum

39

-49

‘Nor

th Y

orks

hire

’ U

ncer

tain

U

ncer

tain

U

ncer

tain

Fr

agm

enta

ry

Sim

on H

olm

es, Y

ork

City

M

useu

m

50

Barto

n B

endi

sh, N

orfo

lk

Abb

asid

s U

ncer

tain

1(

98-9

) /

8(13

-14)

Fr

agm

enta

ry

EMC

200

4.01

44 (N

orfo

lk C

astle

M

useu

m)

51

Barto

n B

endi

sh, N

orfo

lk

Sam

anid

s U

ncer

tain

2(

95-9

) /

9(07

-11)

Fr

agm

enta

ry

EMC

200

4.01

51 (N

orfo

lk C

astle

M

useu

m)

52

Swai

nsth

orpe

, Nor

folk

U

ncer

tain

U

ncer

tain

U

ncer

tain

W

hole

EM

C 2

004.

0146

(Nor

folk

Cas

tle

Mus

eum

) 53

Ca

ldec

ott,

Nor

folk

U

may

yad

Was

it 73

9-45

W

hole

Co

ok, 1

999,

no.

26

54

Bury

St E

dmun

ds (n

ear),

Su

ffolk

A

bbas

ids

Unc

erta

in

136-

58 /

754-

75 W

hole

Co

ok, 1

999,

no.

27

55

Saxt

on (n

ear)

, Nor

th Y

orks

hire

Agh

labi

ds

Unc

erta

in

800-

12

Who

le

Cook

, 199

9, n

o. 2

9 56

Ba

rnet

sby,

Hum

bers

ide

Abb

asid

s U

ncer

tain

25

5 / 8

68-9

W

hole

Co

ok, 1

999,

no.

33

57

Post

wic

k, N

orfo

lk

Sam

anid

s A

l-Sha

sh

298

/ 910

-11

Who

le

Coin

Reg

ister

199

4, n

o. 1

76

58

Woo

d En

derb

y, L

inco

lnsh

ire

Unc

erta

in

Unc

erta

in

Unc

erta

in

Cut f

ragm

ent

Coin

Reg

iste

r 200

3, n

o. 3

67

RORY NAISMITH 218

Tabl

e 4:

Gol

d si

ngle

find

sN

o. F

inds

pot

Aut

hori

ty

Den

omin

atio

n M

int

Dat

e C

ondi

tion

Ref

eren

ce

1 Ea

stbou

rne,

Sus

sex

Um

ayya

d D

inar

U

ncer

tain

A

H 1

05-2

5 /

AD

724

-43

U

ncer

tain

Bl

ackb

urn,

200

2a, n

o. A

1; N

C9

(184

6-7)

p. 8

5 2

Eastb

ourn

e, S

usse

x U

nkno

wn

Plat

ed d

irham

? U

ncer

tain

U

ncer

tain

U

ncer

tain

Bl

ackb

urn,

200

2a, n

o. A

1; N

C9

(184

6-7)

p. 8

5 3

Wic

kham

pton

, Nor

folk

A

bbas

ids

Din

ar

Unc

erta

in

157

/ 773

-4

Unc

erta

in

Blac

kbur

n, 2

002a

, no.

A2

[It is

no

w k

now

n th

at th

is a

nd n

o. 6

are

the

sam

e co

in a

nd 1

47 is

cor

rect

.]4

Car

isbro

oke

Castl

e, Is

le o

f Wig

ht F

atim

id

Qua

rter-d

inar

Fi

lasti

n?

358

/ 968

-9

Who

le

Cook

, 199

9, n

o. 4

2 5

St L

eona

rds-

on-S

ea, S

usse

x Fa

timid

Q

uarte

r-din

ar

Sici

ly

c.10

50-7

0 W

hole

Bl

ackb

urn,

200

2a, n

o. A

24

6 A

cle,

Nor

folk

A

bbas

ids

Din

ar

Unc

erta

in

147

/ 76

4-5

Who

le

Tim

Pes

tell,

Nor

folk

Cas

tle M

useu

m

[It is

now

kno

wn

that

this

and

no.

3 a

re

the

sam

e co

in.]

7 N

ear Y

ork

Alm

orav

ids

Din

ar

Unc

erta

in

480-

500

/ 10

87-1

106

Unc

erta

in

Blac

kbur

n, 2

002a

, no.

A25


ble

5: M

ints

repr

esen

ted

in th

e En

glis

h fin

dsN

o.

Nam

e of m

int

No.

of c

oins

D

ate r

ange

of c

oins

1

Al-A

nada

lus

4

765

– 390

/ 99

910

00

2

Mad

inat

al-S

alam

2

252

/ 866

7–

282

/ 895

--

-6

3 A

rmin

iyah

4

256-

79 /

870-

92 –

277

/ 89

0-1

4 Ba

rdha

’ah

4 26

7 / 8

80-1

– 2

77-9

/ 89

0-2

5 Pa

njhi

r 1

260-

79 /

873-

92

6 A

ndar

abah

2

272

/ 885

– 2

93 /

905-

6 7

Taba

rista

n

1 14

4-60

/ 76

1-7

8 A

l-Sha

sh

17

189-

90 /

804-

6 –

300

/ 912

-13

9 Sa

mar

qand

8

892-

902

– 30

1-2

/ 913

-15

10

Balk

h

2 18

4 / 8

00-1

– 8

92-9

02

11

Al-B

asra

1

136

/ 753

-4

12

Ifriq

iya

2 16

0-70

/ 77

6-87

13

A

l-Muh

amm

idiy

a 3

170-

2 /7

86-8

– 1

98 /8

13-1

4 14

W

asit

2

120-

8 / 7

37-4

6 15

‘B

ulga

r’

2 c.

900-

30

16

Ma’

dan

2

293

/905

-6 –

315

/ 92

7-8

17

Fila

stin

1

358

/ 968

-9

18

Sici

ly

1 c.

1050

-70

RORY NAISMITH 220

Tabl

e6: D

ynas

ties r

epre

sent

ed in

Eng

lish

finds

Dyn

asty

Num

ber o

f hoa

rd co

ins

Num

ber o

f silv

er

singl

e fin

dsN

umbe

r of g

old

coin

sTo

tal n

umbe

r of

coin

sPe

rcen

tage

of t

otal

Abb

asid

s31

242

5732

.95

Sam

anid

s28

80

3620

.81

Imita

tions

53

08

4.62

Span

ish U

may

yads

13

04

2.31

Um

ayya

ds0

21

31.

73Vo

lga B

ulga

rs0

20

21.

16Fa

timid

s0

02

21.

16A

ghlab

ids

01

01

0.58

Ara

b Sa

sani

an1

00

10.

58A

bu D

a’ud

ids

10

01

0.58

Alm

orav

ids

00

11

0.58

Unc

erta

in/U

nrec

orde

d40

161

5732

.95

Total

107

577

173

100.

01


ble

7:Fi

nds o

f coi

ns m

inte

d ea

ch q

uarte

r cen

tury

Base

d on

95

data

ble s

ilver

coin

s and

6 d

atab

le go

ld co

ins.

Coin

s whi

ch ar

e dat

able

onl

y to

a pe

riod

rath

er th

an to

a ye

ar ar

e pl

aced

in th

e da

te ba

nd

in w

hich

they

are m

ost l

ikel

y to

hav

e bee

n str

uck

(e.g

. a co

in d

atab

le 8

92-9

02 is

pla

ced

in th

e 876

-900

ban

d).

Min

ted

(AD

)N

o. o

f silv

er h

oard

find

sN

o. o

f silv

er si

ngle

find

sN

o. o

f gol

d sin

gle f

inds

Tota

l num

ber o

f coi

ns72

6-50

02

13

751-

753

42

977

6-80

04

80

1280

1-25

16

07

826-

501

20

385

1-75

21

03

876-

900

2210

032

901-

2522

40

2692

6-50

01

01

951-

750

01

197

6-10

000

20

210

01-2

50

00

010

26-5

00

00

010

51-7

50

01

110

76-1

100

00

11

Tota

l55

406

101

RORY NAISMITH 222

WORKS CITED IN TABLES 1-7

Blackburn 2001: Blackburn, M.A.S., ‘A Viking Hoard from Thurcaston, Leics.: Preliminary Report’, NC 161 (2001), pp. 349-52.

Blackburn 2002a: Blackburn, M.A.S., ‘Gold in England in the Later Anglo-Saxon Period’, in J. Graham Campbell and G. Williams, eds, Silver Economy in the Viking Age (Institute of Archaeology London, Occasional Papers, forthcoming).

Blackburn 2002b: Blackburn, M.A.S., ‘Finds from the Anglo-Scandinavian Site of Torksey, Lincolnshire’, in B. Paszkiewicz, ed., Moneta Medievalis (Warsaw, 2002), pp. 89-101.

Blackburn and Pagan 1986: Blackburn, M.A.S., and Pagan, H., ‘Check-list of Coin Hoards’, in Anglo-Saxon Monetary History, ed. M.A.S. Blackburn (Leicester, 1986), pp. 291-314.

Blunt and Dolley 1977: Blunt, C.E., and Dolley, R.H.M., ‘Coins from the Winchester Excavations 1961-1973’, BNJ 47 (1977), pp. 135-8.

Blunt and Stewart 1983: Blunt, C.E., and Stewart, B.H.I.H., ‘The Coinage of Regnald and the Bossall hoard’, NC 143 (1983), pp. 146-63.

Bonser 1998: Bonser, M., ‘Single Finds of Ninth-Century Coins from Southern England: a Listing’, in M.A.S. Blackburn and D.N. Dumville, eds., Kings, Currency and Alliances(Woodbridge, 1998), pp. 199-240.

Brooks and Graham-Campbell 1986: Brooks, N.P., and Graham-Campbell, J., ‘Reflections on the Viking-Age Silver Hoard from Croydon, Surrey’, in M.A.S. Blackburn, ed., Anglo-Saxon Monetary History (Leicester, 1986), pp. 91-110.

Brown 1988: Brown, H., ‘An Islamic Dirham’, in P. Andrews, ed., Southampton Finds vol. I:The Coins and Pottery from Hamwic (Southampton, 1988), pp. 25-6.

Coin Register is contained in the following year’s volume of the BNJ (e.g., Coin Register 2003is found in BNJ 74 (2004)).

Cook 1999: Cook, B., ‘Foreign Coins in Medieval England’, in L. Travaini, ed., Moneta Locale, Moneta Straniera: Italia ed Europa, XI-XV secole (Local Coins, Foreign Coins: Italy and Europe 11th-15th centuries), Cambridge Numismatic Symposium 2 (Milan, 1999), pp. 231-84.

Dolley 1955: Dolley, R.H.M., ‘A Neglected but vital Yorkshire Hoard’, BNJ 28 (1955), pp. 11-17.

Dolley 1957: Dolley, R.H.M., ‘A Spanish Dirham Found in England’, NC6 17 (1957), pp. 242-4. Dolley 1982: Dolley, R.H.M., and Shiel, N., ‘A Hitherto Unsuspected Oriental Element in the

1840 Cuerdale Hoard’, NC 142 (1982), pp. 155-7. Graham-Campbell 1992: Graham-Campbell, J., ‘The Cuerdale Hoard: Comparisons and

Context’, in J. Graham-Campbell, ed., Viking Treasure from the North West: the Cuerdale Hoard in its Context (Merseyside, 1992), pp. 107-15.

Graham-Campbell 1993: Graham-Campbell, J., ‘A ‘Vital’ Yorkshire Viking Hoard Revisited’, in M. Carver, ed., In Search of Cult: Archaeological Investigations in Honour of Philip Rahtz(Woodbridge, 1993), pp. 79-84.

Graham-Campbell 2001: Graham-Campbell, J., ‘The Northern Hoards’, in N.J. Higham and D. Hill, eds., Edward the Elder (London, 2001), pp. 212-29.

Lowick 1976: Lowick, N., ‘The Kufic Coins from Cuerdale’, BNJ 46 (1976), pp. 19-28. Pirie 1986: Pirie, E., ‘Post-Roman Coins from York Excavations 1971-81’, The Archaeology of

York, vol. 18, fasc. 1, The Coins (York, 1986). Strudwick 1955: Strudwick, J.S., ‘Saxon and Arabic Coins found at Dean, Cumberland’, BNJ 28

(1955), pp. 177-80. Vaux 1861: W.S.W. Vaux, ‘An Account of a Find of Coins in the Parish of Goldsborough,

Yorkshire’, NC n.s. 1 (1861), pp. 65-71. Williams 1999: Williams, G., ‘Coin Hoards’ no. 43 (Warton, Lancs.), NC 159 (1999), p. 348.