Durham E-Theses The Durham mint: the control, organization, prots and out put of an ecclesiastical mint Allen, Martin Robert How to cite: Allen, Martin Robert (1999) The Durham mint: the control, organization, prots and out put of an ecclesiastical mint, Durham theses, Durham University. Available at Durham E-Theses Online: http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/4860/ Use policy The full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-prot purposes provided that: • a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in Durham E-Theses • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders. Please consult the full Durham E-Theses policy for further details. Academic Support Oce, Durham University, University Oce, Old Elvet, Durham DH1 3HP e-mail: [email protected] Tel: +44 0191 334 6107 http://etheses.dur.ac.uk 2 The Durham Mint: the Control, Organization, Profits and Output of an Ecclesiastical Mint Martin Robert Allen Submitted for the Doctorate of Philosophy at the University of Durham, in the Department of Archaeology 1999 The copyright of this thesis rests with the author. No quotation from it should be pubhshed without his prior written consent, and information derived from it should be acknowledged. This thesis is dedicated to the memory of VERA ADELAIDE ALLEN (nee HANN) (1924-1996) and GEORGE EDWARD ALLEN (1910-1997) Contents List of tables vi List of abbreviations vii Preface x Introduction 1 1. Privileges: the Durham mint and the bishop's temporalities 1.1 Ecclesiastical mints and grants of minting rights 7 1.2 The Durham dies 1.2.1 Claiming and ordering dies 10 1.2.2 Making dies, paying for dies, and the disposal of used dies 16 1.2.3 Controlling the number of dies 25 1.3 The king's use of the bishop's dies in sede vacante periods 33 1.4 Confiscations of temporalities and the mint 36 1.5 The bishop and the king sharing the mint: unproven examples 39 1.6 Government supervision of the mint 40 1.7 Closures of the mint, government policy, and politics 44 1.8 Privileges: summary and conclusions 48 2. People: coinage producers, administrators, and customers 2.1 Moneyers, mint officials, and mines: 1080s-1279 50 2.2 Financiers and Italian mint-masters: 1279-1423 53 2.3 Goldsmiths, palatine officials, and customers: 1416-1541 60 2.4 People: summary and conclusions 65 3. Profits: the Durham mint and the bishop's income 3.1 Seignorage and mintage: how to make money by making money 68 3.2 The profits of the mint 71 3.3 The mint's contribution to the bishop's revenues 79 3.4 Profits: summary and conclusions 83 4. The output of the Durham mint 4.1 Beginnings and growth: 1080S-1279 86 4.2 Booms and slumps: 1279-1351 4.2.1 Hoard-mint output estimates, 1280-1351 93 4.2.2 Documentary evidence, 1283-1317 107 4.3 Zenith and nadir: 1351-1394 109 4.4 Limited revival: 1412-1460 114 4.5 The final decline: 1460-1541 116 4.6 Output summary 120 5. Explanations of output 5.1 Monetisation and mining: 1080S-1279 121 5.2 Recoinage, wool, and war: 1279-1351 126 5.3 Mint price, wool, mining, and bullion famine: 1351-1394 134 5.4 Mint price, wool, mining, and bullion famine revisited: 1412-1464 137 5.5 Mint price, mining, and monastic silver: 1464-1541 140 5.6 Explanations: summary and conclusions 144 Appendix 1. Calendar of documentary evidence 146 Appendix 2. Corpus of hoards from the British Isles containing English pence minted 1279-1544 215 Appendix 3. A revised chronology of the English coinage, 1317-1333 294 Appendix 4. The coins of the Durham mint 298 Bibliography 323 Plates List of tables 1. Dies in the Public Record Office 21 2. Trussel dies in the British Museum 21 3. Exchanges of dies in 1300-1 28 4. Revenue from the mint 70 5. The mint's contribution to the revenue of the bishop 79 6. Class Vb Long Cross pence in hoards 90 7. Durham mint output estimated from the Canterbury output 90 8. Durham mint output estimated from the London output 90 9. Hoard suitable for analysis 94 10. Hoard aggregates, 1279-1351 96 11. Comparisons with the class 2 aggregate 97 12. Comparisons with the class 3 aggregate 97 13. Comparisons with the class 4 aggregate 97 14. Comparisons with the class 9 aggregate 98 15. Comparisons with the class 10 aggregate 98 16. Comparisons with the class 11 aggregate 98 17. Comparisons with the class 14 aggregate 98 18. Comparisons of aggregates from early and late hoards 101 19. Durham aggregates as percentages of London and Canterbury aggregates, 1280-1351 102 20. Estimation of the Durham annual output 103 21. Summary of output estimates, 1280-1351 104 22. Maximum estimates of Durham output, 1355-77 108 23. London pence in post-1399 hoards and output, 1355-99 111 24. Mint output, 1412/13-60 112 25. Single coin finds in the Early Medieval Corpus, 1042-1180 120 26. Bishop Beaumont pence in hoards 314 27. Pence of classes 14-15c in hoards 315 28. Canterbury hoard aggregates and mint output 316 29. London hoard aggregates and mint output 316 30. Summary of the revised chronology, 1317-1335 317 Abbreviations AA Archaeologia Aeliana ACamb Archaeologia Cambrensis ACant Archaeologia Cantiana AJ The Archaeological Journal AN Anglo-Norman Studies Ant Antiquity AntJ The Antiquaries Journal Antiq The Antiquary Arch Archaeologia ARTYPS Annual Report and Transactions of the Yorkshire Philosophical Society; formerly [1823-1943 and 1955-65] Annual Report of the Yorkshire Philosophical Society AS Archaeologia Scotica BH Business History BI Borthwick Institute, University of York BIHR Bulletin of the Institute of Historical Research BM British Museum BMC British Museum Catalogue BNJ British Numismatic Journal BNS British Numismatic Society CH Coin Hoards CLAJ County Louth Archaeological Journal CCR Calendar of Close Rolls CPR Calendar of Patent Rolls DAJ Derbyshire Archaeological Journal; formerly [1879-1960] Journal of the Derbyshire Archaeological and Natural History Society DNB Dictionary of National Bibliography EAH Essex Archaeology and History; formerly [1852-1958] Proceedings/Transactions of the Essex Archaeological Society EcHR Economic History Review EJ Economic Journal EngHR English Historical Review GAJ Glasgow Archaeological Journal GM Gentleman's Magazine IN Irish Numismatics JBAA Journal of the British Archaeological Association JCHAS Journal of the Cork Historical and Archaeological Society JEEH Journal of European Economic History JEH Journal of Economic History LAASRP Lincolnshire Architectural and Archaeological Society Reports and Papers LP Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII N The Numismatist NA Norfolk Archaeology NC Numismatic Chronicle; formerly [1836-8] Numismatic Journal NH Northern History NM The Numismatic Magazine V.r NMAJ North Munster Antiquarian Journal NSAS The New Statistical Account of Scotland (15 vols, Edinburgh and London, 1845). PBNC Proceedings of the Berwickshire Naturalists' Club PMNS Proceedings of the Manchester Numismatic Society PNS Proceedings of the Numismatic Society PRIA Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy PRO Public Record Office PSA Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries PSAN Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle-upon-Tyne PSAS Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries PSIANH Proceedings of the Suffolk Institute of Archaeology and Natural History PYPS Proceedings of the Yorkshire Philosophical Society R The Reliquary RBN Revue Beige de Numismatique RNM Riocht Na Midhe: Records ofMeath Archaeological and Historical Society RNS Royal Numismatic Society RSAI Journal of the Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Ireland; formerly Proceedings and Transactions of the Kilkenny Archaeological Society [1849-67]; The Journal of the (Royal) Historical and Archaeological Society of Ireland [1868-89]. SAS(a) J. Sinclair, The Statistical Account of Scotland, Drawn up from the Communications of the Ministers of the Different Parishes (21 vols, Edinburgh, 1791-9). SAS(b) The Statistical Account of Scotland 1791-1799, ed. D.J. Withrington and I.R. Grant (20 vols, Wakefield, 1973-83). SCBI Sylloge of Coins of the British Isles SCMB Seaby Coin and Medal Bulletin SM Scots Magazine SNC Spink Numismatic Circular SurrAC Surrey Archaeological Collections SussAC Sussex Archaeological Collections TAASDN Transactions of the Architectural and Archaeological Society of Durham and Northumberland TBGAS Transactions of the Bristol and Gloucestershire Archaeological Society TCWAAS Transactions of the Cumberland and Westmoreland Antiquarian and Archaeological Society TDGNHAS Transactions of the Dumfriesshire and Galloway Natural History and Antiquarian Society TH Textile History THAS Transactions of the Hawick Archaeological Society TLAS Transactions of the Leicestershire Architectural Society TRHS Transactions of the Royal Historical Society TRS Transactions of the Radnor Society TTRCAR Treasure Trove Reviewing Committee Annual Report TYNF Transactions of the Yorkshire Numismatic Fellowship UJA Ulster Journal of Archaeology WAM Wiltshire Archaeological Magazine; formerly [1854-1969] Wiltshire Archaeology and Natural History Magazine YAJ Yorkshire Archaeological Journal YN Yorkshire Numismatist Preface The university libraries of Durham and Cambridge have been the indispensable foundation of my work. I have spent countless enjoyable and extremely fruitful hours in the Archives and Special Collections department of Durham University Library, and in the Dean and Chapter Library of Durham Cathedral. The archivists and librarians of those two great sources of material and inspiration for Durham historians have always been helpful, often beyond the call of duty. Mr Patrick Musset and Mr Alan Piper helped me with many tricky matters of palaeography, and Ms Linda Drury has been a source of wisdom concerning Weardale mining.