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
Islamic Dirham in England
12017-05-15T18:36:19-07:00Clara McCurdy9aec76477d0b55f9c685c47330d6786ec98182e1164562Silver islamic coin fragment found in England.plain2017-05-15T18:41:18-07:00Foreman, Martin. Coin (Arabic Dirham). Still, August 2014. NLM-9D03B6. Portable Antiquities Scheme. https://finds.org.uk/images/mforeman/medium/NLM25990.jpg.850-1050NLM-9D03B6CC BY53.688048, -0.599037SilverPortable Antiquities SchemeWinteringham, North Lincolnshire, EnglandEarly 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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12017-05-21T15:48:09-07:00Islamic Dirham in England4object pageplain2017-09-20T19:01:27-07:00The vikings were prolific traders and raiders, with networks extending across eastern Europe and south into Islamic and Middle Eastern territories. This silver coin found in England demonstrates the extent of that trade because it is a silver dirham, originating from an unspecific polity. It is a coin fragment, less than a centimeter in diameter, but with Arabic script clearly visible. It dates to the later part of the early medieval period and was found in North Lincolnshire, England in a plough field.[1]
Thousands and thousands of these coins passed through Scandinavian hands during the height of viking exploration between the 800s and 1000s. They were spread all throughout viking lands, including areas that were subject to raids rather than settlement.[2] In general, coins used by the Norse are most often found in buried hoards, rather than in individual finds like the one presented here. The hoards were the results of lucrative trade deals or maybe successful raids, but the presence of this single coin in what was once a Norse controlled area of England could support their use as money. Currency, however, was not a concept the Norse utilized until well into the Viking Age.[3] Instead, the Norse participated in a bullion economy, one that relied on the weight and quality of precious metals instead of their form (e.g. coins). Once Vikings started receiving large influxes of foreign coins, some from other European polities paying tribute (aka Danegeld) to keep the Vikings away that economic structure changed.[4] Through interactions like these and the previously mentioned trade, the Norse became increasingly familiar with monetary-based systems.
Settlement in England, where coinage had been used for centuries and was the norm, provided the real catalyst for evolution away from the bullion system. It was easier to adopt the coinage system than try to impose their own bartering system. Norse in England eventually began minting their own coins by the late 800s.[5]
This is not to say that the coins used were uniform or constant. Though from thousands of miles away, the silver dirham shown here was first and foremost a coin made of precious metal. It did not matter that it was not technically minted by the governing nation; a variety of foreign coins were used in Norse territories, a remnant of the bullion economy. The silver dirham was the most likely foreign coin to show up on the British Isles because it was most widely used by people with modest amounts of wealth.[6] The gold coin was worth too much and copper coins were used mostly in local trade only. The fact that this coin was found on its own and not in a hoard means that it was likely in circulation and was one day dropped or lost somehow. Either way, it is evidence of a changing Norse economy as the result of influence from a foreign land. It is another example of the syncretism of Norse and English society in England.