The Viking World: A History in ObjectsMain MenuGallery viewA galleryTag Cloudtag cloud pageThemesA path of thematic categoriesAuthor IndexExplore the collection by authorWorks CitedReferencesAdam Bigelow3afa9c7ecebf516bba6609664b1b12f79c54bf77Caitlin Donahue61b7e986e7c71d400e5c803912ed83c0cf65252fCaroline Harvey1783f21a5882b5b4d3d0b6c174d058052a5ff7eaEdward Hershewee701ef220480b51ca728fc9c719bc094cf813655Martin Hoffmana1fd203afd9a84ee8db567e188cf6ed1d269386eTyler Hruby23493f763b312110686cfafc62578fd0ab5f3833Brittany N. Johnsonc1c1763339f8fa953e3c907c6bb8a3bad0c28b2cCarlos Lua Pineda0a28cc23b0aa00b4f24a9e205aeb57fbdb07ff01Moira McConnell710633400590ea38533ea3412c01fc5056288180Clara McCurdy9aec76477d0b55f9c685c47330d6786ec98182e1Elise McIlhaneyef48481634ff342c8b43c9d56f678b2d3562fb69Cameron Meikle669a5682bfbfd603130a26e25628f24eb07e6295Alexander Christopher Newkirk019c2f5b38c043507251d1789e2fdf47e61c3b7fBenja Reilly816c23aa0d444213fb2d1ef33555a15617e08228Oliver Statenc625ae8c3926f5e1a4268bc91d6a6f4cdb1e7fb6Liam Sullivanaa3a1dccb90c7fe4646b61c4af594abbb0c5574aRead Wilder31bf4715220144a665996f2e6cae80a1a8611eadAliza Yazdanicd49f227d88c72331226ddf574bf56c37308cd10Austin Masonf6137011c68eb792c6e14634815583b15e707dea
Danelaw St. Edmund Coin
12017-05-21T14:16:52-07:00Clara McCurdy9aec76477d0b55f9c685c47330d6786ec98182e1164562A St. Edmund memorial coin minted in the Danelaw between 895 and 917.plain2017-05-21T14:22:28-07:00Eeles, Ben. Coin (Silver Half Penny). Still Image, November 2008. CAM-414ED6. Portable Antiquities Scheme. https://finds.org.uk/images/hfowler/medium/CAM-414ED6.jpg.895-917CAM-414ED6CC BY52.150478, 0.409060SilverPortable Antiquities SchemeCarlton, United KingdomEarly MedievalClara McCurdy9aec76477d0b55f9c685c47330d6786ec98182e1
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12017-05-24T10:09:20-07:00Austin Masonf6137011c68eb792c6e14634815583b15e707deaMap ViewAustin Mason2An interactive map of all the objects in the collectiongoogle_maps2017-05-24T11:39:30-07:00Austin Masonf6137011c68eb792c6e14634815583b15e707dea
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12017-05-21T14:14:15-07:00A Danelaw St Edmund Memorial Coin9object pageplain2017-09-20T18:56:28-07:00By the early 900s, Scandinavian raiding parties had turned into Scandinavian settlers in the British Isles. Their production of coins was one of the indicators that they had entrenched themselves in the land and were there to stay. However, this isn’t to say that there were mints which produced uniform, distinctly Viking coins. Mints were dispersed throughout the Danelaw, the area of eastern England under Scandinavian rule, and produced different coins over time and region, though the coins can be split up into two general categories.[1] The coin featured here is a transitional model, a coin that bridges the two types of coins produced.
The coin shown here is a silver halfpenny, just over a centimeter in diameter. It was produced by stamping, a process where the image is hammered onto the metal. On one side the coin has a Christian cross with SCEADI written in a circle. The other side has a capital ‘a’ in the center with SCEAD written in a circle. The letters refer to St. Edmund, a king and martyr figure from the East Angles, an area that became part of the Danelaw after his death (which was at the hands of Vikings).[2] SCEADI is a shortened version of his whole title, SCE EDMUND REX, the Latin translation of Holy King Edmund. This translation has been seen on many other coins from the time period but spelled in varying ways.[3]
The St. Edmund memorial coins, as they are now known, were produced in the southern Danelaw between 895 and about 917; this coin is from some time then.[4] Though it may seem odd that the Norse would honor through coinage a king whom they had killed, these coins are actually seen as a bridge between the early and late coinage of the Danelaw. The first coins minted in the newly established Danelaw were mostly crude copies of Anglo-Saxon coins.[5] This makes particular sense when considering the fact that the Vikings came from a culture where currency wasn’t used. Their economy depended on the weights of precious metals and currency was not minted, though coins from other countries were used for their weight.[6] It was only after a couple decades in England that Vikings began making coins that deviated from Anglo-Saxon norms, though they never produced truly distinct coins.
The Vikings did more than just adopt English currency standards, they also assimilated somewhat into the Christian religion in England as also seen in the Danelaw coins. The presence of a cross on the coin and the reverence of St. Edmund are indications of the importance the government attributed to Christianity since coinage was regulated, loosely, by the kings.[7] These coins represent the willingness of the Norse to adopt English customs in order to assimilate and please the people they were ruling. What makes them a bridge between the old and new coinage of the Danelaw is that they were not copies of a previous English-produced coin, but created during the reign of the Norse. They weren’t completely Norse either, as evidenced by the presence of an English king on the coin. Instead, they were transitional and a mixture, much like the Norse presence in England overall. Throughout the time of the Danelaw, Norse and English cultural mores mixed freely, creating less a Scandinavian colony than a hybridized society.