SOME COINS OF THE CUERDALE FIND
( Extrait du tome V du Sumkmatic Chronicle^ avril ISn-jaiîvior I8W, pp. 117-120.)
(Read before tbe Numismatic Society, May 26, 1842.)
« Eboracum ubisedem olim babuisse feruntur Lodbrokii fllii. Norihumbria aulem maximam partem erat a Nordmannis babitata. » — Say<i Hakonm; c. m, p. 128.
Having read wilh much pleasure and instruction Ihe first part of Mr. Hawkin's paper on* thc Cuerdalc discovcry , I iind that that gentleman has been Icd' to conciude that some of thèse coins inscribed EBRAICE, are of French origin, and that they must bc attribuled to Evreux in Normandy. I shali submit to that learned antiquary my doubts on his identification. Thèse doubts hâve arisen in my mind upon a carefui examination of the coins, which ihe liberalily of the Duchy of Lancaster towards our Bibliothèque has enabied me to study. My mode of reasoning shall be piain, and somewhat mathemalical, and wili bc grounded upon thc plates of Ruding and Hawkins.
On examining the very inleresling coin of Ethelred (PI. I, n° 1 , of the Numismatic Chronicle)^ it cannot be denied that it is an imitation of the denier of Louis le Débonnaire. Thc manner in which the letter X, at the end of REX, has been placed, is in imitation of the Carlovingiau type XPISTIANA- RELIGIO. The coin communicated by Mr. Assheton, with the name of Ciolwif, is also an imitation of a foreign coin,
no NOTE ON SOME COINS
namely a Roman aurcus, a fact of which Mr. Hawkins bas felt Ihc importance.
By thcse cxamples, and many others which I need not rccount, it is évident that govemments, as well as the artists Ihemselves (in character with the spirit of the times), some> timcs borrowed the designs of the coins of other states then in currency. Now, ît was a well-knoi^Ti propensity in invading nations, to imitatc the coins of the people they invaded. Tlie Gauls on the banks of the Danube copied the coins of Macedon, and other parts of Greece; .the Fraiiks, Goths, and other barbarians, copied the coins of the Romans, and the Arabs, iho Persian and Byzantine coins. Why, therefore, should the» Norlhmen be exempt from this practice of imitation? Thosc who estabiishcd themselves in France bave left some spécimens of imitation of the Carlovingian type, for the penny with the temple erroneously ascribed to Richard Lionhearl, was struck by Richard I (A.-D. 942-996). I trace a corresponding fact in the rude penny [Numismatic Chrontcle^ pi. I, n» 10) which M. Hawkins says he « can scarcely consider a genuine coin of Alfred, struck by bis authority. » And adds : « It can scarcely be admitted that coins so barbarous in exécution, and so blundered in the inscriptions, could bave issued from the cstablished royal mints. » Thèse words are my best argument ; and if Mr. Hawkins agrées with me in the reading of the reverse, upon which I see the monogram of
one Canute, V + T disposed according to the Catholic sîgn of
N the cross, with the intercalations of the letters REX, it will be
admitted that an unknown sea-king, CNVT. REX, bas îmi-
tated the coins of bis contemporary king, Alfred.
Another variety shows the same monogram on the reverse
R of another monogram, K O S, wiih the legend around it EBR-
.VICE CIVITA. This last coin is an imitation of the St Peter's pennies given by Ruding. (PL XII, n** 3, 4, 8, 14). If we know nothing of the Canule whose name appears on some of
