More coins and genealogy from the late Viking Age

[JeandAcre]

@Nap’s recent OP about King Anund Jacob of Sweden –with his stunning penning (Kolbränna - Medieval - Numis Forums), sent me all the way back here.  Between his post, a new segment on Cnut from the BBC’s ‘In Our Time’ (https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m001kpty), and a new acquisition, I was inspired to do one on the same period, this time focussing on Danish kings and their primary dynastic connections to Normandy and Anglo-Saxon England.  Along with an older post emphasizing contemporary kings of Norway and allied dukes of Saxony (https://www.numisforums.com/topic/1442-medieval-coins-and-genealogy-an-illuminating-convergence/#comment-24981), the forum will get representation of all the kingdoms of Scandinavia during this key interval, when both the preChristian Viking ethos and the early phases of High Medieval state formation were fully present, and in vibrant coexistence. 

This time, I’ll start with a genealogical table instead of the coins.  Here are the main suspects. 

 

Harald ‘Bluetooth,’ K. 

of Denmark c. 958-988

         |

Swegen Forkbeard, d.1014          Richard I, Count of Rouen /Dk. of Normandy 943-996

                           |                                                            |

AElfgifu===1< Cnut, K. of Denmark, >2===Emma, >1===AEthelred II, King of England 

                  |     England (1016-35) and         |   d. 1052            |          978-1016

   ________|     (1028-1030) Norway     ___|                              |

   |                                                                  |                                     | 

Harold ‘Harefoot,’ K.            Harthacnut, K. of Denmark    Edward ‘the Confessor,’

of England 1035-40          1035-42; England 1040-42       K. of England 1042-1066

 

Now for some coins. First, 

1.  The Danes.

 

Harald ‘Bluetooth,’ King of Denmark c. 958-986.  AR ‘half-bracteate’ /penning, likely c.975-980 or later.

Obv.  Abstract design, with curved and straight lines, pellets, annulets, and triangles to left and right, terminating in more annulets and pellets; comparable to earlier variants of the same design, as listed in Hauberg (esp. #2).

Rev.  Cross, terminating in crosslets and annulets, complemented by more rounded lines, including an ‘S’ curve. 

The dealer cites Hauberg (#6, variant), a reference to which I lack access.  Fortunately, other and similar examples are listed on ACSearch and CoinArchives, all citing an early range of listings in Hauberg; 1-6, selectively inclusive.  Between them, they suggest that this variant, along with a clear prototype, dated c. 975 /980 (Hauberg #2), was minted in Jelling.  This in contrast to the still earlier, better known issue (c. 960s -970s), only more consistently attributed to Hedeby.

(Cf. this post in the other forum.  https://www.cointalk.com/threads/an-anepigraphic-viking-coin-with-a-surprising-amount-to-say.390941/ .)

 

Cnut.  ‘Pointed helmet’ penny of London, c. 1024-1030. 

Obv.  Cnut, helmeted, cloak fastened by a round brooch with a central pellet; holding a scepter.

+CNVT ... RECX A[nglorum]:

Rev.  Short voided cross with pellets and broken annulets.

+PYNSTAN ON LVN.  (Wynstan, the moneyer in London.)

North (p. 168,) 787; cf. pp. 170 for the substyle (Style II); 175 for the moneyer.

 

Harold I, cut halfpenny /fragment, Fleur de lis coinage, c. 1038-1040.

Obv.  Lower profile of Harold, armored and holding a scepter.  [+HAR…]OLD [RECX].

Rev.  Voided long cross; fleurs de lis in angles.  +-ELFP[...].  (Moneyer AElfw–something; unknown mint.)  North 803.

AElfgifu (Harold’s mom; a member of a prominent East Anglian family), donating an altar cross to Winchester Cathedral with her husband, Cnut. From Winchester (/the New Minster)’s Liber Vitae, 1031. Note the distinctively Viking, trilobed pommel of Cnut’s sword.

 

 

Harthacnut as king of Denmark, 1035-1042.  AR penning of Lund.

Obv.  Serpent (likely the Jörmungandr of Norse mythology; a vast snake that encircled the earth beneath the oceans).  Blundered legend, ostensibly reading  ‘+N·A·RD·ACNVT RX,’ or a variant.

Rev.  Cross made of ovals with pellet borders; crosslets in angles.  Another blundered legend; ostensibly the moneyer and ‘Lun[/d].’

As C. J. Becker notes in his article, “The Coinages of Harthacnut and Magnus the Good at Lund, c. 1040-1046:” 

“This coin type carries the names of both Knut and Harthacnut, but the inscriptions on many dies are blundered.”  (C. J.  Becker, ed., Studies in Northern Coinages of the Eleventh Century.  København 1981.  This article pp.119-175; the reference p. 120.)

In a small, localized issue of an already small series, the fact that blundering begins as early as Knut’s prototype could be of considerable, if necessarily prima facie significance.  This suggests that the legend blundering does not necessarily imply the extensive immobilization common, for instance, to the much larger series of French feudal deniers.  Granted, as the 11th century progresses, Scandinavian immobilizations of AEthelred imitations –yes, in contrast to the imitations themselves– are legion and, often enough, correspondingly sloppy.  But here, as in the example of Magnus (below), the distinctly –one might even say, unapologetically– Norse motifs can also evoke a scenario in which the die-sinkers were native Danes, rather than the English ones who were often enlisted, notably  during the high tide of Cnut’s reign.

Following Cnut’s death in 1035, Harold succeeded to the crown of England, while Harthacnut remained in Denmark, defending the patrimony from Magnus ‘the Good,’ the illegitimate son and heir of Olaf II, ‘the Stout /the Saint’ –who, after reappropriating Norway, had designs on Denmark.  The aristocracy on both sides persuaded Magnus and Harthacnut to come to terms, in an arrangement that allowed Magnus’ succession to Denmark on Harthacnut’s death.  …Which is exactly what happened in 1042. 

The diplomatic encounter of Harthacnut and the younger Magnus of Norway, c. 1036, leading to their treaty.  A lithograph from the memorable illustrations of the Norwegian edition of Snorri Sturlusson’s Heimskringla, 1899; reproduced in the translation of Lee M. Hollander, 1964 (/UT Austin, 1991).

For Harthacnut, the treaty was well-timed.  On his half-brother's death in 1040, Harthacnut was able to return to England, accompanied by his mother Emma (exiled by Harold), with a fleet of over 60 longships.  Had the succession proven other than peaceful, there could have been some serious fireworks.

 

Denmark. Time of Magnus the Good.  AR Penning of Roskilde, c. 1042-1047.  (17mm, 0.85g.)

Obv.   Triquetra (another iconic late Viking motif, ocurring on coins and runestones).  Indecipherably blundered letters in fields.

Rev.  IIOOII[...] across a diamond; ornamental dots above and below.  

(From 7 o’clock:)  [...] VOIII [...]. 

Hauberg, Magnus, 21; Cnut, 35 for the immediate prototype.

Williams notes that, while Magnus issued no coins in Norway, his Danish issues may indicate a calculated assertion of his dynastically shakier claim to Denmark.  (Graham-Campbell and Williams, eds.  Silver Economy in the Viking Age.  2007.  Pp. 195, 192-6.)  

 

2.  The Normans.

For coins, this involves only Richard I, father of Emma of Normandy.  Right, she was queen of AEthelred II and Cnut, successively of Anglo-Saxon and Anglo-Danish England.  Between the two, she was queen consort of England from 1002–1013 and 1014–1016 (AEthelred, with exile in Normandy), and 1017 –1035 (Cnut); of Denmark 1018–1035; and of Norway from 1028–1035.  Right, she was some stuff.

 

 

County of Rouen /Duchy of Normandy.  Temp. Richard I, c.950-980.  Immobilization of the ‘Gratia D-I Rex’ /GDR deniers of Charles II, with slightly blundered legends.  Dumas, Fecamp, 6047 and pl. VI (very near to a die match); Moesgaard, ‘A Survey of Coin Production in Normandy. 864-945’ (Silver Economy in the Viking Age (ed. Graham-Campbell, 2007), esp. pp. 104-5, including Table 6.3, ‘Mint of Bayeux, c. 890-c. 980 [/-5]: specimens in dated hoards.’

With apologies, I have to include the prototype for this. 

Carolingian Neustria.  Charles II, ‘the Bald,’ King of Francia 840-877.  Denier of Bayeux, post-Edict of Pitres /’GDR’ type, from c. 864.

Obv.  “KAROLVS’ monogram.  (From 9 o’clock:) +GRATIA D-I REX.

Rev.  +HBAI<>CAS CIVITAS.

Depeyrot (3rd, 2008 ed.) 127 (minor legend variant); Nouchy pp. 155-6, no. 94 (exact legend), noting five equally discrete legend variants.  –Right, this is still Charles le Chauve, never mind the blundered Norman version, above, from the new kids on the block.

3.  The Anglo-Saxons.

England, AEthelred II,

AEthelred II, Helmet penny of (?) Cambridge, c. 1003-1009.

Obv. AEthelred to left, 'in armour and radiate helmet' (quoting North).

(From 7 /8 o'clock: ) +E-D-ELRED REX ANGL.

Rev. voided long cross, 'each limb terminating in three crescents' [as in the preceding, equally iconic 'Long Cross' issue --except when they don't, for reasons of space].

+PVL [/] FSIG [/] E M'O [/] RANT. (Wulfsige, moneyer in (?) Cambridge ([G]RANT. ...'Wulfsige' translates to 'Wolf's victory,' demonstrating the ongoing, early Germanic linguistic continuity between Old English and Old Norse (/Danish).

North 775, with predictable variations in both legends.

Edward ‘the Confessor,’ king of England 1042-1066.

AR cut halfpenny of Lincoln or Stamford, ‘Bust Facing /Small Cross’ type, c. 1062-1065.

Obv.  Edward facing, crowned; cruciform arrangement of pellets on the crown extending to the upper part of the outer edge.

(From 1 o’clock:)  +EAD[PARD REX A –or variant]E + (‘EADWARD REX ANGLIE;’ Edward, King of England).

Rev.  Small cross.

[(+?)L]EFPINE OI\[I (...Lincoln or Stamford];  the moneyer Leofwine in Lincoln or Stamford. 

North 830 (and pp. 184-5, ‘Kings of All England: Mints and Moneyers’); Spink 1183.

Emma of Normandy, receiving the Encomium Emmae Reginae (c. 1040/1) from its author, with her sons, the half-brothers Harthacnut and Edward, looking on.  From a mid-11th century manuscript in the British Library.

 

[Hrefn]

From your first family tree, here is a coin of Richard I sans Peur, the Fearless.  A denier of Rouen, Rotomagus in Latin.  Grandson of Rollo, founder of the Duchy of Normandy.    

Obverse:  ROTOMAGVS

Reverse:  RICARDUSI

      

 

[JeandAcre]

Many thanks for posting this, @Hrefn!  Especially for the strike, yours is much better than the one I eventually got as an upgrade to one on a noticeably cruddy flan.  (And of the two, I can only find a pic of the obverse of the upgrade.)

...But now that you got me started, here's another issue of Richard.

Also Rouen, with essentially the same legends, but much cruder, and probably later.  This one features an obverse insignia which likely indicates a coissue with the Carolingian king Lothaire, following a rapprochement between the two in 965.  The American numismatist Alan DeShazo linked the insignia here to an issue of the nearby abbey of Jumieges, unambiguously issued in Lothaire's name.  (Cf. these listings: https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?term=jumieges+lothaire&category=1-2&lot=&date_from=&date_to=&thesaurus=1&images=1&en=1&de=1&fr=1&it=1&es=1&ot=1&currency=usd&order=0 .)

DeShazzo published a two-part article on this in The Celator, Vol. 23, No. 11 (Nov. 2009), p. 32, and vol. 24 No. 2 (Feb. 2010), p. 41.  ...I wish I could remember who turned me on to this link to this link in VCoins: Community.  https://social.vcoins.com/thecelator/ .  You can't preview the issues, but you can download them.  A lot of cool stuff.

[TheRed]

Man oh man @JeandAcre those are some seriously good coins in your post.  The penny of Harthacnut is quite a nice coin.  When I saw it come up for sale I had hoped you might get it, glad to see it ended up in your collection.  Thanks for writing such an interesting post!

[Al Kowsky]

On 4/10/2023 at 8:38 PM, JeandAcre said:

@Nap’s recent OP about King Anund Jacob of Sweden –with his stunning penning (Kolbränna - Medieval - Numis Forums), sent me all the way back here.  Between his post, a new segment on Cnut from the BBC’s ‘In Our Time’ (https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m001kpty), and a new acquisition, I was inspired to do one on the same period, this time focussing on Danish kings and their primary dynastic connections to Normandy and Anglo-Saxon England.  Along with an older post emphasizing contemporary kings of Norway and allied dukes of Saxony (https://www.numisforums.com/topic/1442-medieval-coins-and-genealogy-an-illuminating-convergence/#comment-24981), the forum will get representation of all the kingdoms of Scandinavia during this key interval, when both the preChristian Viking ethos and the early phases of High Medieval state formation were fully present, and in vibrant coexistence. 

This time, I’ll start with a genealogical table instead of the coins.  Here are the main suspects. 

 

Harald ‘Bluetooth,’ K. 

of Denmark c. 958-988

         |

Swegen Forkbeard, d.1014          Richard I, Count of Rouen /Dk. of Normandy 943-996

                           |                                                            |

AElfgifu===1< Cnut, K. of Denmark, >2===Emma, >1===AEthelred II, King of England 

                  |     England (1016-35) and         |   d. 1052            |          978-1016

   ________|     (1028-1030) Norway     ___|                              |

   |                                                                  |                                     | 

Harold ‘Harefoot,’ K.            Harthacnut, K. of Denmark    Edward ‘the Confessor,’

of England 1035-40          1035-42; England 1040-42       K. of England 1042-1066

 

Now for some coins. First, 

1.  The Danes.

 

Harald ‘Bluetooth,’ King of Denmark c. 958-986.  AR ‘half-bracteate’ /penning, likely c.975-980 or later.

Obv.  Abstract design, with curved and straight lines, pellets, annulets, and triangles to left and right, terminating in more annulets and pellets; comparable to earlier variants of the same design, as listed in Hauberg (esp. #2).

Rev.  Cross, terminating in crosslets and annulets, complemented by more rounded lines, including an ‘S’ curve. 

The dealer cites Hauberg (#6, variant), a reference to which I lack access.  Fortunately, other and similar examples are listed on ACSearch and CoinArchives, all citing an early range of listings in Hauberg; 1-6, selectively inclusive.  Between them, they suggest that this variant, along with a clear prototype, dated c. 975 /980 (Hauberg #2), was minted in Jelling.  This in contrast to the still earlier, better known issue (c. 960s -970s), only more consistently attributed to Hedeby.

(Cf. this post in the other forum.  https://www.cointalk.com/threads/an-anepigraphic-viking-coin-with-a-surprising-amount-to-say.390941/ .)

 

Cnut.  ‘Pointed helmet’ penny of London, c. 1024-1030. 

Obv.  Cnut, helmeted, cloak fastened by a round brooch with a central pellet; holding a scepter.

+CNVT ... RECX A[nglorum]:

Rev.  Short voided cross with pellets and broken annulets.

+PYNSTAN ON LVN.  (Wynstan, the moneyer in London.)

North (p. 168,) 787; cf. pp. 170 for the substyle (Style II); 175 for the moneyer.

 

Harold I, cut halfpenny /fragment, Fleur de lis coinage, c. 1038-1040.

Obv.  Lower profile of Harold, armored and holding a scepter.  [+HAR…]OLD [RECX].

Rev.  Voided long cross; fleurs de lis in angles.  +-ELFP[...].  (Moneyer AElfw–something; unknown mint.)  North 803.

AElfgifu (Harold’s mom; a member of a prominent East Anglian family), donating an altar cross to Winchester Cathedral with her husband, Cnut. From Winchester (/the New Minster)’s Liber Vitae, 1031. Note the distinctively Viking, trilobed pommel of Cnut’s sword.

 

 

Harthacnut as king of Denmark, 1035-1042.  AR penning of Lund.

Obv.  Serpent (likely the Jörmungandr of Norse mythology; a vast snake that encircled the earth beneath the oceans).  Blundered legend, ostensibly reading  ‘+N·A·RD·ACNVT RX,’ or a variant.

Rev.  Cross made of ovals with pellet borders; crosslets in angles.  Another blundered legend; ostensibly the moneyer and ‘Lun[/d].’

As C. J. Becker notes in his article, “The Coinages of Harthacnut and Magnus the Good at Lund, c. 1040-1046:” 

“This coin type carries the names of both Knut and Harthacnut, but the inscriptions on many dies are blundered.”  (C. J.  Becker, ed., Studies in Northern Coinages of the Eleventh Century.  København 1981.  This article pp.119-175; the reference p. 120.)

In a small, localized issue of an already small series, the fact that blundering begins as early as Knut’s prototype could be of considerable, if necessarily prima facie significance.  This suggests that the legend blundering does not necessarily imply the extensive immobilization common, for instance, to the much larger series of French feudal deniers.  Granted, as the 11th century progresses, Scandinavian immobilizations of AEthelred imitations –yes, in contrast to the imitations themselves– are legion and, often enough, correspondingly sloppy.  But here, as in the example of Magnus (below), the distinctly –one might even say, unapologetically– Norse motifs can also evoke a scenario in which the die-sinkers were native Danes, rather than the English ones who were often enlisted, notably  during the high tide of Cnut’s reign.

Following Cnut’s death in 1035, Harold succeeded to the crown of England, while Harthacnut remained in Denmark, defending the patrimony from Magnus ‘the Good,’ the illegitimate son and heir of Olaf II, ‘the Stout /the Saint’ –who, after reappropriating Norway, had designs on Denmark.  The aristocracy on both sides persuaded Magnus and Harthacnut to come to terms, in an arrangement that allowed Magnus’ succession to Denmark on Harthacnut’s death.  …Which is exactly what happened in 1042. 

The diplomatic encounter of Harthacnut and the younger Magnus of Norway, c. 1036, leading to their treaty.  A lithograph from the memorable illustrations of the Norwegian edition of Snorri Sturlusson’s Heimskringla, 1899; reproduced in the translation of Lee M. Hollander, 1964 (/UT Austin, 1991).

For Harthacnut, the treaty was well-timed.  On his half-brother's death in 1040, Harthacnut was able to return to England, accompanied by his mother Emma (exiled by Harold), with a fleet of over 60 longships.  Had the succession proven other than peaceful, there could have been some serious fireworks.

 

Denmark. Time of Magnus the Good.  AR Penning of Roskilde, c. 1042-1047.  (17mm, 0.85g.)

Obv.   Triquetra (another iconic late Viking motif, ocurring on coins and runestones).  Indecipherably blundered letters in fields.

Rev.  IIOOII[...] across a diamond; ornamental dots above and below.  

(From 7 o’clock:)  [...] VOIII [...]. 

Hauberg, Magnus, 21; Cnut, 35 for the immediate prototype.

Williams notes that, while Magnus issued no coins in Norway, his Danish issues may indicate a calculated assertion of his dynastically shakier claim to Denmark.  (Graham-Campbell and Williams, eds.  Silver Economy in the Viking Age.  2007.  Pp. 195, 192-6.)  

 

2.  The Normans.

For coins, this involves only Richard I, father of Emma of Normandy.  Right, she was queen of AEthelred II and Cnut, successively of Anglo-Saxon and Anglo-Danish England.  Between the two, she was queen consort of England from 1002–1013 and 1014–1016 (AEthelred, with exile in Normandy), and 1017 –1035 (Cnut); of Denmark 1018–1035; and of Norway from 1028–1035.  Right, she was some stuff.

 

 

County of Rouen /Duchy of Normandy.  Temp. Richard I, c.950-980.  Immobilization of the ‘Gratia D-I Rex’ /GDR deniers of Charles II, with slightly blundered legends.  Dumas, Fecamp, 6047 and pl. VI (very near to a die match); Moesgaard, ‘A Survey of Coin Production in Normandy. 864-945’ (Silver Economy in the Viking Age (ed. Graham-Campbell, 2007), esp. pp. 104-5, including Table 6.3, ‘Mint of Bayeux, c. 890-c. 980 [/-5]: specimens in dated hoards.’

With apologies, I have to include the prototype for this. 

Carolingian Neustria.  Charles II, ‘the Bald,’ King of Francia 840-877.  Denier of Bayeux, post-Edict of Pitres /’GDR’ type, from c. 864.

Obv.  “KAROLVS’ monogram.  (From 9 o’clock:) +GRATIA D-I REX.

Rev.  +HBAI<>CAS CIVITAS.

Depeyrot (3rd, 2008 ed.) 127 (minor legend variant); Nouchy pp. 155-6, no. 94 (exact legend), noting five equally discrete legend variants.  –Right, this is still Charles le Chauve, never mind the blundered Norman version, above, from the new kids on the block.

3.  The Anglo-Saxons.

England, AEthelred II,

AEthelred II, Helmet penny of (?) Cambridge, c. 1003-1009.

Obv. AEthelred to left, 'in armour and radiate helmet' (quoting North).

(From 7 /8 o'clock: ) +E-D-ELRED REX ANGL.

Rev. voided long cross, 'each limb terminating in three crescents' [as in the preceding, equally iconic 'Long Cross' issue --except when they don't, for reasons of space].

+PVL [/] FSIG [/] E M'O [/] RANT. (Wulfsige, moneyer in (?) Cambridge ([G]RANT. ...'Wulfsige' translates to 'Wolf's victory,' demonstrating the ongoing, early Germanic linguistic continuity between Old English and Old Norse (/Danish).

North 775, with predictable variations in both legends.

Edward ‘the Confessor,’ king of England 1042-1066.

AR cut halfpenny of Lincoln or Stamford, ‘Bust Facing /Small Cross’ type, c. 1062-1065.

Obv.  Edward facing, crowned; cruciform arrangement of pellets on the crown extending to the upper part of the outer edge.

(From 1 o’clock:)  +EAD[PARD REX A –or variant]E + (‘EADWARD REX ANGLIE;’ Edward, King of England).

Rev.  Small cross.

[(+?)L]EFPINE OI\[I (...Lincoln or Stamford];  the moneyer Leofwine in Lincoln or Stamford. 

North 830 (and pp. 184-5, ‘Kings of All England: Mints and Moneyers’); Spink 1183.

Emma of Normandy, receiving the Encomium Emmae Reginae (c. 1040/1) from its author, with her sons, the half-brothers Harthacnut and Edward, looking on.  From a mid-11th century manuscript in the British Library.

 

JeandAcre, Thanks for a wonderful presentation ☺️! Your impressive research, excellent illustrations, & handsome coins gives life to an area of collecting not familiar to me & many others 😉.