Richard the Lionheart

[John Conduitt]

Not perfect, but this is my first uncut Richard I penny and first that is undesputedly his. Even though the legend says 'Henricus'. I also have a Richard I cut halfpenny but it's Class 4b, which is listed in Spink as Richard I, but elsewhere as John - that type was struck across the join in their reigns. This, on the other hand, is Class 3, firmly in Richard I's reign.

Richard I Class 3ab2 Penny, 1190-1194

London. Silver, 1.40g. Crowned facing bust with sceptre to the left, 7 pearls to crown, whiskers made up of small curls up side of face; ҺЄNRICVS R ЄX. Voided short cross with quatrefoils of pellets in angles within inner beaded circle; WILLELM · ON · LV (moneyer Willelm) (S 1347; SCBI Mass 812, this coin). Ex Professor Jeffrey P Mass. From the Wainfleet (Lincolnshire) Hoard 1990, 380 short cross pennies and 3 halfpennies deposited before 1205.

Like John, Richard I's pennies aren't too expensive, so I'm sure many other people have them.

Edited June 25, 2022 by John Conduitt

[UkrainiiVityaz]

I think it is curious that if you want a coin with the monarch's regnal name you have to get something from Ireland(John) or France(Richard).  And I have never owned a Richard coin - though I wouldn't mind owning a Richard III groat.

[JeandAcre]

Magnificent example, @John Conduitt, with a provenance to make you sit up in your chair!

To @UkrainiiVityaz's point, here's my favorite (and only easily findable) denier of Richard as Count of Poitou, annulet variety.  (Yipes --don't know how to edit the picture size.)

Edited June 25, 2022 by JeandAcre

[FitzNigel]

My first medieval coin was a Richard I from Poitou:

French Feudal - Poitou; Richard I, r. 1168-1185; AR Denier, 17mm x 1 grams; Obv.: +RICARDUS REX, cross patée, annulet in third quarter; Rev.: PIC / TAVIE / NSIS, written in three parallel lines; Ref.: AGC 343A (1/a), Duplessy 926, Roberts 3887, SCBC 8008, De Wit 394; Note: My First Medieval Coin

I later got an English issue:

England; Richard I, r. 1189-1199 A.D.; London Mint, AR Class 4a Short Cross Penny, 20.06mm x 1.8 grams; Obv.: [hEN]RICVS R[EX].  Bust facing seven pearled crown with sceptre; Rev.: +[RIC]ARD . ON . LVN.  Short cross voided with quatrefoil in each angle; Ref.: North 968/1, SCBC 1347, CC99 R11D-010, De Witt 3193

and recently one from Aquitaine.  Unfortunatly I don’t have a photo of the Aquitaine denier. Although I do have a photo of a Richard Obol from Aquitaine:

French Feudal - Aquitaine; Richard I, r. 1168-1185; Bordeaux Mint, BL Obole, 14.20 mm x 0.40 grams; Obv.: + / RICA / RDVS / ω, in four lines; Rev.: +AQVITANIE, cross pattée; Ref.: AGC 6 (1/a), Duplessy 1034, SCBC 8005, De Wit 400

Now I just need to get one from Cyprus and one from Issoudun…

[JeandAcre]

...Yeah, well, @FitzNigel, good luck on both of those!!!

But it's resonantly cool that your first medieval was a Richard of Poitou. 

Couldn't tell you for sure (I was a kid), but yet another example was easily one of the first western /non-Byzantine ones I ever got.  This was at a conspicuously, never mind improbably small, local coin show.  Blew my head off.  It's like, everyone and their dog has heard of Richard the Lionheart, and there's his name, big as numismatic life.  ...Yep, it was a good start.

Edited June 25, 2022 by JeandAcre

[John Conduitt]

2 hours ago, UkrainiiVityaz said:

I think it is curious that if you want a coin with the monarch's regnal name you have to get something from Ireland(John) or France(Richard).  And I have never owned a Richard coin - though I wouldn't mind owning a Richard III groat.

I believe it was because Richard and John wanted to carry forward the aura of their father, Henry II. It was normal for the Angevins in France to 'immobilise' their coinage if you were from a successful dynasty.

A Richard III groat is something else altogether.

[UkrainiiVityaz]

25 minutes ago, John Conduitt said:

I believe it was because Richard and John wanted to carry forward the aura of their father, Henry II. It was normal for the Angevins in France to 'immobilise' their coinage if you were from a successful dynasty.

A Richard III groat is something else altogether.

Well, whence your planted in a car park you knoweth thou hath fallen thus from grace.

[JeandAcre]

...Well, why not.  Here's my John penny of Ireland, issued as king, c. 1207-1211.  Commonest of the whole series.  His earlier halfpence, issued under Richard, 1190-1198, are Really fun, and correspondingly pricey.  

John was initially granted the collective, somewhat vague 'lordship' of Ireland, at the expense of very much in England or the Angevin holdings in France.  ...Most of the latter of which he proceeded to lose to Philippe II.  (Edit:) Hence the nickname, 'Lackland.'  Kind of resonant from both sides of his career.

Here, the legends go: 'IOHA [/] NNES [/] REX;' ROBE [/] RD [moneyer] ON [/] DIVC [Dublin]. 

  

Spink, Scotland, Ireland, and the Isles [...etc.; 2015; #6228] notes that these royal issues conform to the weight and fineness of the Short Cross pennies in England.  ...Which might provide a clue to why, even with the dramatic difference in motifs, their legends perpetuate the bilingual formula going back to late Anglo-Saxon issues; the obverse in Latin, and the reverse, with the moneyer and mint, in (late Old /) early Middle English.

Edited June 25, 2022 by JeandAcre

[Nap]

Here's a Richard penny, class 3a, and an Anglo-Gallic denier of Poitou

 

 

Edited June 27, 2022 by Nap

[VD76]

France, Poitou, Richard I (1189-1199)

AR Denier

+RICARDVS REX" around a cross

PIC/TAVIE/NSIS

0.78 g.

Roberts 3886

 

 

Cyprus, Crusaders. Richard I 'the Lionheart' Æ Tetarteron. Uncertain mint in Cyprus, after AD 1191. 

Crowned facing bust, holding cross-tipped sceptre and globus cruciger 

Cross on three steps; arms ending in R E X. 

18x19.8 mm  /  1.40  gr. 

Metcalf, Lusignan p. 2; Bendall, A Cypriot Coin of Richard I Lion-heart?, NumCirc April 2002, pp. 62-63; Schultze, A Cypriot Coin of Richard I Lion-heart", NumCirc February 2003, pp. 6-7; Bendall, "Richard I in Cyprus Again", NumCirc April 2004, pp. 85-86. ;  Orlyk , "Coins in Byzantine Style with the Latin Letters R-E-X " NumChronicle 181 , 2021 , PL 32 - 22( This coin ) 

[JeandAcre]

Yike, @VD76, this is may be the second or third one of those I've ever seen a picture of.  Incredible.

[Simon]

On 6/27/2022 at 10:18 PM, VD76 said:

Cyprus, Crusaders. Richard I 'the Lionheart' Æ Tetarteron. Uncertain mint in Cyprus, after AD 1191. 

Crowned facing bust, holding cross-tipped sceptre and globus cruciger 

Cross on three steps; arms ending in R E X. 

18x19.8 mm  /  1.40  gr. 

 

The verdict is still out on this one, through the years it has been attributed to Alexius II (No known coins of the boy Emperor, and unlikely because the title REX) Manuel and his meeting with Baldwin the III, king of Jerusalem in Antioch and Simon Bendall's theory of it being from Richard. Someone turned me on to an excellent story behind these coins being made for Richard's wedding.  Any way we look at it is rare and very cool. 

Here is the DOC listing for the coin. 

Uncertain Ruler, Copper, Tetarteron Noummion, Cyprus — Dumbarton Oaks (doaks.org)

Great coin @VD76, I would love to own one.  

[Simon]

On 6/27/2022 at 10:18 PM, VD76 said:

 Orlyk , "Coins in Byzantine Style with the Latin Letters R-E-X " NumChronicle 181 , 2021 , PL 32 - 22( This coin ) 

This article has removed any doubts I have had on this coin, it is minted in Cyprus, it is a Crusader coin, not Byzantine. It was either done by  Richard the lion heart or and/or the Knights Templar. The two variations make perfect sense, one billion one not. The author of this paper Vasyl Orlyk did a brilliant and thorough job. DOC should update that link. 

I was perplexed over this coin to see if I needed one to complete my tetartera collection, I do not, it is not based on a Byzantine denomination, but I think it would be a real treasure to own one.  Thank you for the links @VD76 and congratulations on owning that beauty. 

[Coinmaster]

On 6/26/2022 at 1:56 AM, JeandAcre said:

...Well, why not.  Here's my John penny of Ireland, issued as king, c. 1207-1211.  Commonest of the whole series.  His earlier halfpence, issued under Richard, 1190-1198, are Really fun, and correspondingly pricey.  

John was initially granted the collective, somewhat vague 'lordship' of Ireland, at the expense of very much in England or the Angevin holdings in France.  ...Most of the latter of which he proceeded to lose to Philippe II.  (Edit:) Hence the nickname, 'Lackland.'  Kind of resonant from both sides of his career.

Here, the legends go: 'IOHA [/] NNES [/] REX;' ROBE [/] RD [moneyer] ON [/] DIVC [Dublin]. 

  

Spink, Scotland, Ireland, and the Isles [...etc.; 2015; #6228] notes that these royal issues conform to the weight and fineness of the Short Cross pennies in England.  ...Which might provide a clue to why, even with the dramatic difference in motifs, their legends perpetuate the bilingual formula going back to late Anglo-Saxon issues; the obverse in Latin, and the reverse, with the moneyer and mint, in (late Old /) early Middle English.

This coin I find very interesting because of the reverse with star and 'moon'. In 1207 there was a solar eclipse which is depicted on this coin. See also (in Dutch, sorry) page 79: https://www.academia.edu/45119396/_2021_Zonsverduisteringen_op_munten_1100_1300_.

[JeandAcre]

Wow, @Coinmaster, Many thanks for that!  And for the link to the article in academia.edu (except, alas, I get exactly zero traction with Dutch!).  I'd never heard of this eclipse; it truly does give the coin an entirely new dimension (to me).  I was merely assuming that it continued the occasional appearance of stars and crescents in French feudal coins.  But medieval coins are known to have other overt astronomical motifs and references.  It's not a branch of study I'm familiar with, but it's definitely an ongoing field. 

[Coinmaster]

If you want to know more about it, this book is great:

 

[JeandAcre]

Yes!  I even want to think I dimly remember seeing a reference to this book, going back to a time when I lacked the capacity to appreciate its significance.

[John Conduitt]

William II Rufus Voided Cross Penny, 1092-1095

London. Silver, 1.38g. Crowned bust facing, star either side; + þillelm rei. Voided short cross potent over cross pommée; + þvlfþord on lv (moneyer Wulfword (Wulfweard) on London) (S 1260).

The stars may have been added in 1093 after the annular solar eclipse. William I also featured stars on his coins, struck soon after the appearance of a bright comet in 1075, and Halley's comet that accompanied his invasion of England in 1066.