anglo-saxon and frisian sceattas in the light of frisian hoards and site-finds / by philip v. hill
TRANSCRIPT
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J A A R B O E K V O O R
Munt-
enPenningkunde
41
K O N I N K L I J K N E D E R L A N D S G E N O O T S C H A P
V O O R M U N T - E N P E N N I N G K U N D E
AMSTERDAM 1954
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A N G L O -S A X O N AND F R I S I A N S C E A T T A S 13
be str ays from the Fr an ek er hoar d: the discove ry of numero us die-links
with hoard-coins soon confirmed that suspicion.
In 18 38 a la rg e hoa rd o f 75 6 coin s, mos tly porcu pine s, wa s found
at Kloster Ba r t e , near Emd en (PI . I , 7 - 1 2 ) , I t has app aren tly nev er
be en published a nd is no w in the hands of Dr. Peter Berghaus of the
Mi ins te r Mu se um . He re again, , the nume rous di e-ide ntitie s and the
fresh condi tion of the coi ns lea d us to the s ame con clu si ons as in the
case o f Franeker 5 ) . O n c e more we find a homo gene ous style , different
from that at Fra ne ke r but dist inct ive in itself: nea t desi gns with an
abun danc e of decorat i ve effect, all in goo d sil ver on flans var yi ng in
size bet wee n norm al and la rge.
T h o s e of the Ba rt e coin s des erv e specia l ment ion: t wo ar e of theplumed b ird type ( B M C 6: PI . I, 10, 11 ) an d on e is of type 5 3 , wh ich
has a porcup ine ob ver se and a stepped cro ss res erv e (PI . I , 12 ) . T h e
first two are from the same reverse die and, in spite of what could be a
ve ry typical An gl o- Sa xo n metamo rphosis from the porcupi nes, the typ e
seems to ha ve originat ed in Fri sia , not in Engl an d. Indeed, no Eng lis h
pr ov en an ce is so far recor ded for this type, whic h is not unc omm on,
though ra ther scarcer than the porcupines. On this evidence, then,
we must assign it, pro vis ion all y at least , to Fr is ia . T h e thir d piece
pr es en ts a diffic ulty. As it is in mint st at e and a s a sty le of the po rc up in e
obverse is identical with that of the other Barte coins 6 ) , ther e is no
doubt tha t it too wa s str uck at or ne ar th e pla ce of bur ial . Y e t the
question remains: is the type i tself Frisian or is this coin a copy of
an En gl is h type? Hit her to, we ha ve rega rd ed the stepp ed cr os s as a
pecul iarly An gl o- Sa xo n motif , almost cert ainly imitated from
con tem por ary c lois onne work , of which numerous e xample s abou nd in
ea rl y En gl is h art, but the Ba rt e coin and the fact that all sp eci men s
with known p rov ena nce s come from the Con tine nt cast some doubt
upon an Eng lis h origin, parti cularl y as the porcupine motif of the
ob ve rs e ma y be at least predom inantl y Fris ian. Ho we ve r, i t is a rar e
typ e and the informat ion a t our disposal is har dly sufficie nt to help
us form any defi nite c onc lus ion s, so that the" ques tion must rem ain
ope n for the time bei ng, with a pr efe ren ce for a Fri si an origin .
T h e Hallum hoar d (PI . I , 1 3 - 1 8 ) , also important from our point of
vie w, wa s published by Di rks in 18 70 , having bee n dis cov ere d four
ye ar s earlier. Mo st of the cont ents wer e of the porcupine t ypes , o ne
coin of which had a curious , ,man with cro ss es " rev ers e (P I. I , 1 6 ) ,
T h e ot her two coi ns bo re a dia dem ed bust with a cr oss on the o bv er se ,
on e bei ng of B M C typ e 3a (P I. I, 17 ) and the other, of whi ch the bust
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14PHILIPV.HILL
wa s in a total ly different idiom, had a drago n r ev er se (P I. I , 1 8 ) . T h e
,,man with cr os se s" ma y well be a Fris ian co py of a Lon do n Ser ies
type (sa y, B M C 41 b: PI . I I , 2 7 ) , which ha d ar r ived in the co urse of
t rade an d which the en gr av er had copi ed and mule d with the mo re
familiar por cupine in stea d of the dra gon of the Engl ish type. O f the
oth er two coin s, that of type 3a seems to ha ve bee n an importa t ion
from Eng la nd : i ts s tyle is almost certa inly Ang lo -S ax on and the type
ha s be en found on sev era l En gli sh si tes . T h e seco nd pie ce ma y w ell
b e F ri sia n, thou gh noth ing definite can be said abou t it, as it is at
present the only one known.
S i n ce the Hal lum c oin s ar e not quite as fresh as tho se from F ra n e k e r
and B a r t e , a ve ry short period of circulat ion ma y be postu lated bef oreburial . Die-ide nti t ie s , there fore, can hardly be expe cte d an d are, in
fact , non -exi sten t . T h e imp orta nce of the hoard l ies in i ts addit ion al
evidence for a Frisian origin for many of the porcupines.
T h e last hoa rd to be con side red is from Te rw is pe l (f ound in 18 63
and also published by D i r k s ) , but as al l i ts coins we re of the W o d a n -
mon ster typ e ( B M C 3 1 : PI . II , 2 6 ) , i ts impo rtanc e from our point of
vi ew is s l ight , s inc e this type is no w g en era l ly ac ce pt ed as
Fr is ian 7 ) . In co nn ex ion with this ho ard it shoul d be me nti on ed t hat I
discov ered, on s tudying the hoard at Lee uwa rde n, that Dirk s ' eng ra
vin gs of tw o of its co ins ar e ve ry bad ly ex ec ute d, wh ic h led me to
think that the Ter wi sp el pie ces we re later imitatio ns of the usual
Wo da n- mo ns te r type, dis integrated into a ser ies of l ines through
con sta nt cop ying . T h i s is not the case : they a re perfec t ly norm a]
examples , but in extremely poor condit ion owing to chemical act ion
of the soil in which they had been buried.
The evidence of site-finds
Site-f inds fall into much the same pattern as the hoa rds. T h e po rcup ines
we re well distr ibuted both in En gl an d and F ris ia, thoug h in co nsi de
ra bl y lar ger num be rs, in the lat ter distr ict , their fr equ enc y bein g
part ic ularly high at Do mb ur g (P I. II , 1 -11 ) . T h e cro ss an d p ellets
type s are also ve ry numero us in Fri sia , ne arl y 40 t imes as num erou s
as in England. Here again Domburg has the largest quota, which is
onl y to be expec ted , as i t is to the Net he rla nd s for sce att as wha t R i ch -
bor oug h is to En gl an d for the Rom an serie s and , to som e exte nt , for
sc ea tta s as well . O n e str iking fea ture of the Do mb ur g coin s is that
the y are mostly of poo r quali ty metal , usually bi l lon or bron ze, s tru ck
on v er y thin flans and often in small mod ule (P I. II , 4, 5 ) , v e ry
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A N G L O -S A X O N AND F R I S I A N S C E A T T A S 15
different from the conte nts of the Fra ne ke r and Ba rt e hoar ds and
som eti mes eve n from tho se of the same typ es wh ic h hav e tu rned up
in England. This in i tself may sug gest local man ufa ctu re, so tha t we
may rea so nab ly postulate that most of the Dombu rg finds origi nated
in Fr is ia . So m e pure ly En gli sh typ es in an En gl is h idiom we re also
found, however, and these can only have been importations; on the
other hand, those of English types but of unusual style may well be
Fr i s ian copi es of Eng li sh coins .
Evidence of style and type
Gene ral l y speaking, An glo -S axo n engra vers adopted a careful , neat
style, wh ic h is easi ly distingui shed from the coa rs e, but often mo re
virile, workmanship of the cont inental engra vers . Ano ther Eng l is h
charac te r i s t i c wa s a la rg e va rie ty of type s, ma ny of whi ch exhib ited
ingenious morphological changes: a prototype would be copied, not
slav ishl y, but dupli cated and even quad rupli cate d, th en ma de to re vo lv e
aro und a cen tra l point, until it wa s compl ete ly forg ott en in a new and
frequently charm ing type. M a n y types, too, are found exclu sivel y,
or alm ost exclu siv ely , in En gl an d and the se must a ssu red ly be oi
A n g l o - S a x o n origin.O ur main prob lem, how eve r, con ce rn s the pla ce of origin of the
porc upin es wh et he r they orig inat ed on the En gl is h or the con tin ent al
side of the Nor th Se a. Before we can attempt an answer, we must
summarize br ief ly their morphology. As I have shown e ls e wh e re 8 ) ,
their ances tor was the , ,diademed bust with cr os s" of B M C typ e 3a
( P I . I, 17; II , 1 2) 9 ) and not, as wa s former ly beli eve d, the "wolf and
twins of typ e 7 (PI, II , 1 6 ) . No w, 3 a is found in En gl an d and Fr is ia
in ro ugh ly equal quanti ties but in styl e it is mor e An gl o- Sa xo n than
Fr is ian , a stylist i c seq uen ce from ve ry , ,Ro man ize d" to ve ry , , Saxo-
nize d" being tra cea ble . As rega rds the porcupine s themse lves , how eve r,
althoug h the quan tity whic h has tu rned up in En gl a nd is b y no me an s
negl igible , tho se from Fri si a gre atl y out num ber them , from whi ch w e
could make out a fairly conclusive argument for a Frisian origin.
Y e t ho w acc oun t for the porcupine o bve rse of such undoub tedly
Engl i sh pieces as the , ,Aet hil iraed" sce att as (PI . II , 7 ) , whic h in all
prob abil i ty be ar the nam e of Aeth elre d of Me rc ia ( 6 7 5 - 7 0 2 ) ? I suggest
that, hav ing be en deri ved in Fr is ia from En gl is h typ es, the porc upi nes
ca me ove r to En gl an d in the course of t r ade 1 0 ) and were occasionally
muled by Ang lo -S ax on mon eye rs with purely Eng lis h type s the
runic Aet hili raed ", the ve ry . .Rom ani zed" bust of B M C typ e 9 an d
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16 P H I L I P V . HILL
i ts variant reading MONITASCORVM (PI. II, 17, 18) X 1
) and (m or e
doubtfully En gl is h) the ..stepped c ro ss " of type 53 ( PI. II , 9 ) .
W e ha ve no w to con sid er the cr oss an d pellet s desi gn, whi ch L e
Gentilhomme has assigned to F r i s i a 1 2 ) . Th es e are : B M C 8 ( rev .
St an d ar d) , 2c and 50 (o bv . radiat e bus t) and a runic ( Ap a ) type,
thou gh the las t-n ame d is also found with a nor mal Sta nd ar d re ve rs e
(PI . I I , 1 9 - 2 1 , 2 ) . In prac tice , howe ver , these four types reso lve into
only two, since a closer s tudy of the coi ns, par tic ula rly tho se in the
Dut ch coll ecti ons, has rev eale d that 2c and 50 are the same type, being
merel y blund ered versi ons of the Apa cross and pellets coins . T y p e 8
has not so far been found in England and Frisian examples of the
other type outnumbe r the Engl ish by abou t 40 to one. T h e an sw erseems to be that type 8 is Frisian and that, while Apa itself, like,
al l the runic piece s, origi nated in En gl an d with a norm al Sta nd ar d
rev ers e, it wa s copied, often successfully and w it h, a co rre ct lege nd
but muled with a native reverse, the cross and pellets.
Pa ss in g to the blu nde red imitati ons of the runi c coin s with a St an da rd
re ve rs e ( PI . II , 2 2 ) , we can state that it is impos sible at pre sen t to
dist inguish betwe en those of Ang lo -Sa xo n and those of Frisian manu
facture , although a careful s tudy of the respective styles of those with
Engl i sh and Fri sia n pro ven anc es would pro bab ly throw som e light
on the pro ble m. It woul d be most unfair to ass ign all the se blu nd ere d
pieces to the Fri sia ns, as their neighb ours a cro ss the North Se a~ we re
equ all y ca pa bl e of prod ucin g uninte lligi ble cop ies , as som e of the
impossible versions LVNDONIA in the Lon do n Se ri es will s ho w!
T h e othe r two types with a radi ate bust ( B M C 2a and 2b : PI. II ,
2 3 , 24) are almost certainly English, not only because of their
pr ov en anc es but also bec aus e of their s tyle, which is sufficiently
distinguishable from the Frisian versions of a bust to w a r r a n t our
ass ign ing them to En gl an d. So me of typ e 2b seem to be de gra ded
copies of 2a , oth ers de gra de d copie s of the runic co ins , but bot h all a re
pro ba bly En gli sh, since most of the pro ve nan ce d speci mens come from
the eastern countries and East Anglia.
W h a t may repr esen t a purely Fri sia n style of portr aitur e is seen
on these types, all with the same kind of obverse bust: a glance at
the plates will immediately show the difference from the Anglo-Saxon
idiom (P I. I, 18 and, s ay , PI. II , 2 8 ) . Ou r coin , from H allu m, ha s a
drag on (PI . I , 1 8 ) , one a bird (PI. II , 2 5 ) (n o pro ve nan ce , but the
bird is para llel ed on an ot he r typ e from D om bu rg : PI. II , 10 ) and
one, also from Dom bur g, a , ,Lo ndo n-s tyl e" bust (PI . II, 1 1 ) . Th is
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ANGLO- S AXON AND F R I S I A N S C E A T T A S 17
third (,, do ub le -o bv er se ") coin is unusual, mingl ing as it doe s the
Fris ian and Eng lis h portrait-sty le, but as several Lond on Se rie s coins
were found at Domb ur g, there is eve ry reaso n to consi der this appa rent ly Lo nd on -s ty le " bust as an imitation, used in conj unct ion with
a bust of Frisian style.
Conclusions
T h e result of our researches, then, has been to add a few more types
to the one ( B M C 3 1 ) which has alrea dy been transfe rred to t he
Fr is ian seri es. T h e porcup ines, with a St an da rd re ser ve, the cros s an d
pellets types, some of the blundered runic pieces and one or two Animal
Ser ies co ins. Mu ch mor e remains to be done to classi fy this ext rem ely
complicated subject but, we may hope, a few pointers are here set
out for the guid anc e of an y who ma y feel the desire to tackle still
further an interesting but difficult problem.
Final ly, I must exp res s my grateful t ha nk s to the officials of the
Koninkli jk Pe nnin gkab inet , especial ly to Dr . H. En no van Ge lde r and
Dr . A. N. Za do ks -J it ta for their kind hospita lity and co- ope rat ion
during my visi t , to Dr. A. Wassenbergh of Leeuwarden, Mr. H. Pieters
of Middelburg, Dr. H. Brunsting of Leiden and Dr! P. Glazema andM r . J. G. N. Re na ud of Ame rsf oor t for allowi ng me to s tudy their
collect ions. Also, I must sa y ho w grateful I am to Dr . P. B er g ha us
of Miinster for allowing me to s tudy the Ba rt e hoa rd and to tr espa ss
upon his territory by using it in this paper before he himself has been
able to publish it officially in detail. No r must I omit my bes t th an ks
to the Kee per of Coi ns, the Britis h Mus eum , Mr . H. T . Sh ru bb s of
the Fitzwil l iam Museu m, Cambr idg e, Comman der R . P . M ac k , R. N . ,
M r . Fr ed . Bal dwi n and M r . F. Elmo re Jon es for kindly allowing me
to illustrate their coins.
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18 PHILIP V . HILL
x
) P. L e Gentilhomme, ,,La circulation des sceattas", Mlanges de numismatique
mrovingienne, Paris 1938, p. 23-49; C. H. V. Sutherland, ,.Anglo-Saxon Sceattas
in England", Numismatic Chronicle, 6th s. 2 (1942) , p. 42-70.
For the sceattas found in Frisia see: P. C . J . A. Boeles , Friesland tot de elfde eeuw,
VGravenhage 1952-3, p. 366-81 (English summary p. 590-2).2
) Ph. V . Hill, The ..Standard" and London" Series of Ang lo- Sax on Sceattas ",
Brit. Num. Journal 26 (1950-1) , p. 251-278; Ph. V . Hill, Th e Animal, ..Angl o-Mero
vingian", and Miscellaneous Series of Anglo-Saxon Sceattas", Brit. Num. Journal
27 ( 1952 -3 ) , p. 1-38.3
) On e of the man y useful conclusions to -which I came after studying the Frisian
finds was that these types, 4 and 5, are really the same type and that Keary was
wrong when he considered type 5 to 'have been derived from 4. This WASproved by
reverse die-identities in Frisian hoards.4
) Revue de la Num. Belge, 5e s. 2 (1870) , p. 276-7.B
) Anoth er indication of a mint in the vicinity is provided by a die-link between
certain coins in the hoard and one found further north, at Norden.6
) It remains to be seen, when Dr. Berghaus has completed his final study of thehoard, whether this piece shares an obverse die with other hoard-coins: if so, our
argument is made even more conclusive. Unfortunately, my time at Munster was
too limited for me to do more than identify a few of the many die-identities which
the hoard must have contained.7
) Sutherland (cf. n. 1 ) , p. 60 , 66.
8) B. N. J., 1950-1, (cf. n. 2) , p. 254-5.9
) The sequence appears to be: B. M. C. types 3a - > 3b -> 10 4 and 5
(Pl. II . 12-15).1 0
) W e must not forget the various emporia run by Frisian merchants in several
Enqlish towns, including London and York, which must have helped to circulate
Frisian coins throughout the English kingdoms.x l
) O n example 08 this unusual type came from Eas tcote (Nort han ts) (Pl . II, 18)
and another, on a very small flan, from Domburg (Pl. II, 8 ) .1 2
) Le Gentilhomme, (cf. n. 1 ) , p. 74 -5 .
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PLAAT I
F R A N E K E R HOARD: ONE OBV.DIE, THREE REV.DIES
te*:%
7 8 9
1 0 11 1 2
Vp P IP !^ T ^ ^ * ' ^ B H P ^ G P T R
BARTE H O A R D : 7 AND 8 SAME OB V. DI E' 8 AND 9 SAME REV.DIE, 1 0 AND 1 1 SAME REV.D IE;
12 TYPE 53
13 1 4 15
17
H A L L U M HOARD
ANGLO-SAXON AND FRISIAN SCEATTAS
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P L A A T I I
9 10 11
D O M B U R G S I T E F I N D S
12 13 14 15
DERIVATION
O F
PORCUPINES :
3a ( ob v.) , 3b (o bv .) , 10 (re v. ) , 4 and 5 (obv .)
16
19
25
2
17
18
^ F J^P ^ P ^ F fe r ^ P
21
22
(tf- e VSO i
VB F
24
25
26 27
O T H E R T Y P E S M E N T IO N E D IN T H E T E X T
Angle-Saxon and Fr i s ian Scea t tas
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