Th1. The Scandinavian Homelands and Settlements Overseas

The Normans (Northmen) were Scandinavians who after decades of foreign campaigns in France and the British Isles settled with their leader Rollo in north-west France. They were just one of several groups of Vikings who went out in search, not only of adventure, but of a new life overseas. The first record of their aggressive activities in Western Europe is of the arrival of three ships of Northmen at Dorchester in 789. This was but the start of a deluge. They ventured widely, wherever their superior ships could take them. Initially they were intent on raids for portable wealth and food. Later their ambitions changed as they sought land to settle.

  During the second quarter of the 9th century the first permanent settlements were established around the coast of north-west Scotland, and in the 840s several fortified bases were built in Ireland for the Viking fleets, one of which developed into the town of Dublin. They discovered and colonised Iceland from c.874, and this formed a springboard for their later sojourns to Greenland and North America. In England a 'great army' arrived in 865 and reeked havoc until through negotiations with King Alfred, they were allowed to settle in the Danelaw from 876. Elements of the same army also harried the Franks over the Channel, and by a similar peace agreement Charles the Simple in 911 allowed the Viking leader Rollo and his followers to take control of the thriving city of Rouen and its hinterland. This would become the Duchy of Normandy.

  Although the people in these Scandinavian colonies had a common origin, the states they formed each developed a different character. This was because they absorbed local culture and institutions, partly through inter-marriage. Political factors also affected their fate, while location and natural features influenced opportunities for agriculture, trade and international contacts. The most successful and influential of the Norse settlements overseas was undoubtedly that of the Normans in Normandy.

1.1 Money in Scandinavia

  For most of the Viking Age very little coinage was struck in Scandinavia, and the people largely used silver as bullion, to be chopped up and weighed out when making payments.

 Only in western Denmark were small coinages produced largely to satisfy local needs (1-2). Elsewhere a mixture of silver ingots, jewellery and foreign coins were used, often cut up into pieces of appropriate weight. During the ninth and much of the tenth century these coins were mainly Arabic dirhams from a vast area spanning Spain and North Africa, through the Middle East to Central Asia (3).

1		Silver penny ('sceat') from Ribe, Denmark, c.730. This is the earliest Scandinavian coinage. It was produced for use in Ribe itself and in trade around the North Sea.
2		Silver penny of Hedeby, imitating Charlemagne's coins of Dorestad (Netherlands), c.800. Hedeby produced its own coinage from c.800 until c.990, and local finds show that these dominated the currency of the town and its hinterland.
3		Silver dirham of the Umayyad dynasty These coins were imported to Scandinavia, via Russia or the Ukraine, in vast quantities. Many of them were melted down to form the ingots or jewellery which is also found in Viking-Age hoards.   CM.IS.68-R

1.2 Vikings in England

 Two distinct Viking states emerged in England following the settlement in the Danelaw in the 870s. That of the Southern Danelaw lasted some 40 years until the Anglo-Saxon reconquest, completed by 918. That in the North, based on York, lasted 80 years until 954, though with a 12-year break in King Athelstan's reign.

  Within a few years of the initial settlement the Scandinavians had established mints producing a coinage that emulated that of Alfred's Anglo-Saxon kingdom (4). By the mid-890s this transitional phase had ended, and the two Viking kingdoms began producing their own distinctive state coinages (5-7). While these states promoted a regular coin economy, some sections of society hung on to their old bullion-using ways, as shown by certain mixed hoards.

4		Imitation of Alfred's London Monogram type, Southern Danelaw, mid-880s. This silver penny is among the earliest coins struck by the Scandinavians in England, copying Alfred's London coinage of c.880.   CM.1.241-1990
5		St Edmund coinage of East Anglia and the East Midlands. Early specimen, c.895-905 This new coinage of the Southern Danelaw lasted for more than 20 years, over which period the coins became smaller and inscriptions more garbled. It carried a strong Christian message, reflecting the growing cult of St Edmund, the East Anglian king who only a generation earlier, in 869, had been killed by the invading Viking army.   CM.1.257-1990
6		York Regal coinage, c.895-905. Coin of King Sigeferth This coinage also has a strong Christian element, reflected in its prominent use of a variety of cross designs and inscriptions drawn from church liturgy. CM.1.277-1990
7		York Regal coinage, c.895-905. Coin of King Cnut   CM.1.279-1990

See The Ashton (Essex) Hoard, 1984 and Thurcaston (Leics.) Hoard, 1992-2000, Deposited c.925.

1.3 The Kingdom of York Restored, 939-954

  King Athelstan (924-39) drove the Vikings out of York in 927, uniting England for the first time under one ruler. He quickly moved to establish Anglo-Saxon authority there, sweeping away the Viking coinages and replacing them with his own regular issues.

 However, on his death the Viking king of Dublin, Anlaf Guthfrithsson, seized the opportunity to regain York and restore the Scandinavian dynasty there (8). It was now Anlaf's turn to show his authority by replacing the English coins circulating in York with a new Viking coinage (9), struck to the pre-927 weight standards.

8		Anlaf Guthfrithsson (939-40), king of York, silver penny of the Raven type. The new coinage carries a strong political message, with a classic Norse emblem, the raven, which was also used on war banners by the Vikings. The inscription, +ANLAF CUNUNC ('King Anlaf'), is in Old Norse, and is one of the earliest surviving texts in this language.
9		Eric (947-8, 952-4), king of York, silver penny of the Sword type. The dates of the last Scandinavian king of York are uncertain, as indeed is his identity. He is generally thought to have been the exiled Norwegian king, Eric Bloodaxe, although this has recently been challenged by a young Cambridge historian. His final coinage struck in the city is an appropriate evocation of earlier glories, for it uses the Sword design from the heyday of Viking rule in the 920s. CM.1.301-1990

1.4 Vikings in Scotland, Ireland and the Isle of Man

  The Vikings established string of small settlements around north-west Scotland and the Irish Sea. Very few of these settlements developed into towns.

 Dublin was the major exception, becoming a thriving urban centre and emporium. It retained its Scandinavian character, but by the 11th century it was under the political domination of neighbouring Irish kingdoms.

 The Isle of Man was settled by Vikings from Dublin, probably during the second quarter of the 10th century. A small Viking settlement on Anglesey has recently been revealed by archaeologists. Mints were established only at Dublin (11), on the Isle of Man (12), and at a third uncertain location by the Irish Sea (13).

10		Hiberno-Scandinavian penny of Dublin, struck in the name of Sihtric III. Phase I, Crux type c. 995-1000 No coinage had been produced in Ireland before the arrival of the Vikings, and theirs only commenced at the end of the 11th century. This became the standard currency within the city, but it was also used widely in international trade.
11		Hiberno-Scandinavian penny of Dublin, early phase II, c. 1020 No coinage had been produced in Ireland before the arrival of the Vikings, and theirs only commenced at the end of the 11th century. This became the standard currency within the city, but it was also used widely in international trade.
12		Silver penny of the Vikings on the Isle of Man, c.1030. A recent large hoard, found on the island in 2003, has brought clear evidence for the origins of a local Manx coinage, c.1025. This continued sporadically until c.1075.   CM.1.810-1990
13		Silver penny imitating Cnut's Quatrefoil type, uncertain mint, possibly on the Wirral (Cheshire), c.1020. This third Viking mint operating in the Irish Sea area, was briefly very active producing coins copied mainly from ones of Chester.   CM.643-2001

 During the first twenty-five years the designs on the Dublin coins mirrored the latest issues in England. The policy changed, c. 1020, and the Hiberno-Scandinavians established their own 'national' design, based on a version of the Long Cross type they had struck in c. 1000-1005.

1.5 Vikings in Normandy and creation of a Duchy

  The survival and success of Normandy owed much to the political climate in France. In contrast to England, where the Anglo-Saxon kings retained firm control and reconquered the Danelaw kingdoms, in France the kings' power had been in decline since the later 9th century. Across France local nobility enjoyed a good deal of independence, and this enabled the Scandinavian rulers slowly to build a powerful duchy.

  As in York, they found it politically expedient to accommodate the Church and accept Christianity. They pushed out the borders against their neighbours, and they developed a firm hierarchy based on feudal obligations with the duke at the top. From the mid-10th century the Normans produced a large coinage that was sophisticated by French standards, although very different from that of the Anglo-Saxons.

14		Carolingian denier of Rouen, in the name of Charles the Bald (840-77), later 9th cent. This coinage continued to be struck at Rouen after the death of Charles the Bald, and it can be difficult to date individual specimens. They may still have been in production after Rollo took control of the city. CM.1.2825-1990
15		Richard I (943-96), silver denier, c.970-85.   This was the first large issue produced by the Normans, and its weight and fineness are higher than many other contemporary French feudal issues. PG.13047
16		Abbey of Saint Ouen, Rouen, silver denier. Late 10th cent. The obverse inscription is blundered from SA-TE AVDOENI (for Saint Ouen).   PG.11864
17		Base silver denier temp. Duke William 'the Bastard' (1035-87), mid-11th cent. This is typical of William's coinage during his earlier years. The 'inscription' has devolved into a series of symbols.   PG.2498
18		Denier temp. Duke William, c.1060-80. This very badly struck coin is contemporary with the conquest of England. English coins, which were heavier and of much finer silver, were used to some extent in Normandy, but there was no attempt to adopt similar standards for the local Norman coinage, as these would have been inappropriate in the French regional economy.   PG.2496
19		Denier temp. Duke William or Duke Robert (1087-1106) or later, c.1080-c.1150, by moneyer Stefan Towards the end of William's rule he reformed the Norman coinage, restoring the literacy of the inscriptions, which now read NORMANN(I)A.. The next group of coins (represented here) also carries the name of the moneyer, a clear borrowing of English mint practice.   PG.11917

1.6 Provenances

Lent by Prof. Philip Grierson: 2, 15-19

Lent by Stewart Lyon: 1

Christopher Blunt collection. Partly accepted by the Treasury in lieu of Inheritance Tax and partly purchased with contributions from the National Heritage Memorial Fund, National ArtCollections Fund, Blunt Family: 4-7, 9, 12, 14

Given by Peter Mitchell, 2001: 13

Given by T J G Duncanson, 1930: 8

Bequeathed by A W Young, 1936: 3