C 316 ]

XXXVI. Remarks on the firft Noble, coined 18 Ed- ward III, A.D. 1334; wherein a new and more rational Interpretation is given of the Legend on the Reverfe. By the Rev. Mr. Pegge*

Read at the SOCIETY of ANTIQUARIES, 27 May, 1773V

ING. Edward III. may properly be efteemed the father of the gold fpecie- of England, notwithftanding fome fin- gular appearances which precede his time; fince gold has in a: manner continued to be minted without interruption ever iince his reign. IN the 18th year of this king's reign, (27 January, 1344,)' florins of fix fhillings value were coined, with half-florins and* quarter-florins. The firffc were imprefled with two leopards; the fecond* with one; and the third, with an helmet, infigned or furmounted with a lion [#J. None of thefe pieces, how- ever, except the quarter-florin, the property of the late Brian Fairfax, efq; [£], have ever been feen by our Antiquaries; but; of this we have a type both in Mr. Folkes's [c] and Mr. Snell-r ing's plates [d]; and a verbal defcription of. it both'by Mr, Snelling; and Mr. Wife [e].

[] Wife's Num.Bodh CataF:.p. 233. [b~\ Snelling's View of the gold coin of England, p. 2 PI. I. N° 1. [

Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. INSEAD, on 03 Oct 2018 at 12:01:09, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0261340900016234 Mr. PEGGE'S RemarksI &c. JULY II, the fame year, an order was iffued for coining no- bles, or denarii; half-nobles, oboli, or maille nobles; and quarter-, nobles or farthings of gold; whereof the integer; or whole piece, was to be current at fix (hillings and eight-pence; and the others in proportion. And as foot) as the order was complied with, and the money coined, the former coinage was recalled, Auguft 20 ; which probably is the reafon that thofe pieces, the florins and half-florins above-mentioned, are not now to be found. Even this Noble, and its parts, are fo extremely fcarce, that there is only one fpecimen extant which is of the entire Noble [/*]. This is engraved by Mr, Folkes [g]; and we have a large and accurate description of it by Mr. Snelling, who had feen and handled it often in the pof- feflion of Mr. Hodfol. For it mufl be obferved, that the noble defcribed by Mr. Evelyn [b~], Stephen Martin-Leake, efq; [/], and Mr. Wife [£], is a different piece from this of the 18th year of king Edward. Mr. Snelling's defcription runs thus: * THIS coin exhibits the king {landing upright in the middle « of a fhip, in armour, with his Tword erecT: in his right-hand, * and his fhield in his left, on which appear the quartered arms * of France and England; thofe of France being feme of « fleurs-de-lis ; the legend, EDWAR. D. GRA. REX ANGL. « Z. FRANC. DNS. HYB. The reverfe has a crofs formed « of three lines, two of which are dotted, and terminated 4 with a fort of flourimed ornament and a fleur-de-lis, having * on its centre a fmall rofe, or compartment, of four leaves or « arches, and four angles, whofe points terminate in three [/] Snelling, p. 3. [g] PI. H. N° 1. [b] Numifmata, p. 86. [/] Hiftorical Account of Englifh Money, p. no. et feq. adduced below.

' pellets

Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. INSEAD, on 03 Oct 2018 at 12:01:09, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0261340900016234 318 Mr. PEGGE'S Remarks on 4 pellets in the void (paces made by the crofsj which have alfb, ' in each of thofe fpaces, a lion with a crown over it, all con- * .tained within a compartment of eight arches dotted like the * crofs. In the centre is an L, very probably for London, the * place of its mintage. Infcription, IHC TRANSIENS PER < MEDIUM ILLORUM IBATjVJ." THIS Noble, imitated, with proper variations, by many of our kings, has been by fome efteemed a medal [*»] ; but it-has no more of the medal, than the common Roman coins, and was intended to be the current money of the kingdom. Our roedallic feries does not properly begin till the rcign of king Henry VIII. BUT here, as Mr. Leake, in his Account of Englilh Money, has brought together fundry particulars relative to this piece, it may be worth while to tranfcribe the paffage, and to fubjoin fome remarks upon it, * As thefe nobles bear the arms of France, they have the title « of France, Edward, Dei Gra. Rex AngL Z Franc. Dns* Hyb, 'but upon his great feal the title of France is placed firft, * agreeable to the bearing of the arms; whereas before, his 4 titles were Rex AngL Dns. Hyb. et Aquit. the title of Aqui- * taine being now immerged in that of France. Upon the fides « of the fhip, towards the bottom, are two fpikes {landing out, * and above them in a row three lions of England, and four * fleurs-de-lis, viz. a fleur-de-lis, and a lion, alternately. Re- « verfe, a crofs-flory, with a fleur-de-lis at the points, a lion of * England under a crown -in each quarter, and the letter E « within a fmall rofe in the centre; all within a compartment, •called a rofe of eight parts, or leaves, or, as Mr. Evelyn calls * them, eight goderons ; circumfcribed with this legend in. Old P* 3- [^JMr. Evelyn,p. 85. Mr. Leake,below., Mr. Snelling, p. 3.

Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. INSEAD, on 03 Oct 2018 at 12:01:09, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0261340900016234 the firjl Noble coined 18 EDWARD III. 319 * Englifh charafters, IHG. AVTEM. TRANSIENS. PER. < MEDIVM. ILLORVM. IBAT, which our Alchymifts pro- » foundly expound, that as Jefus palled invifible, in moft fecret * manner, by the middeft of the Pharifees (John viii. 59.); fb «that gold was made by invifible and fecret art alchymical of * Raymund Lully in the Tower. But others fay, that the text * was only an amulet, ufed in that credulous age to efcape dan- « gers, fuperftitioufly applying the words of the Gofpel, to * make the wearers invulnerable. This laft conje&ure feems « mofl probable ; and the occafion of it, no doubt, firft fprung < from the wonderful prefervation of the king, who, by the in- « vifible hand of Providence, paft unhurt through the midft of * his enemies, in that extraordinary fea-flght which this noble * coin was intended to commemorate [»].* MR. SNELLING, in his defcription, takes no notice of the [pikes mentioned by Mr. Leake; neither do they appear to be fpikes in Mr. Folkes's plates, but rather an ornament of fome kind. THESE gentlemen are greatly miftaken who bring in Ray- mund Lully and his art alchymical on the occafion [

Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. INSEAD, on 03 Oct 2018 at 12:01:09, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0261340900016234 320 Mr. PEGGE'S Remarks on ground for the application of the text. • Befides, this gold with its alloy was no invention of Raymund's ; for the Florentines of Italy, whom the king particularly followed in ftriking his gold coins, fome of whomalfo are fuppofed to have affifted him in his mint, and from whom the pieces firft took the name of Florins [j], had devifed the ftandard before, viz. anno 1252 [/], when Raymund was but a wild and giddy youth of iixteen: I think it cannot be doubted but the Italian pieces and ours were much of the fame alloy. The text, by the way, is not taken from John viii. 59, where the words are, Iefus autem abfcondit fe, & exivit de templo, but from Luke iv. 30, where we have it in the Vulgate, Ipfe autem tranfiens per medium illorum that. IN regard to the next, and the more approved, conjecture; it is fuggefted, that this text of fcripture was, at that time, commonly ufed as an amulet; and it might be fo for any thing I know to the contrary [#]: but furely it is moil ridiculous to fup- pofe an amulet, or charm, mould be placed, as fuch, upon the public money of a great kingdom. Whatever fuperftition of the kind might then prevail amongft the vulgar, fuch weaknefs cannot be expected to proceed from the king's miniflers, or the officers of his mints. I regard it therefore as an idle fancy, or imagination, unfupported by experience. For though we have the hand of Providence with Alpha and Omega [w], the crofs, and the like emblems of religion, on the Byzantine coins of the lower empire, and even upon our own; yet there is na inftance-of fuch vulgar fuperftition as this upon the national coins of this kingdom. We alfo find the words of Holy Scrip- ture fometimes placed upon reverfes; but always in a religious*

[5] Camden and Wife, 11. cc. \t\ Snelling, p. 1. [u] Camden, Remains, p. 187. [w] See the coins of Ethelred 1I_ and

Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. INSEAD, on 03 Oct 2018 at 12:01:09, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0261340900016234 the fijl Noble coined I8EDWARDIIL 321 and never in a fuperftitious or fantaftical way, as this is fuppofed to be. THE queftion then arifes, in what refpecl tlie mint-mafter, fuppofing it to be his doing, has accommodated the words of St. Luke to king Edward and his coin; or, in other words, what object is to be underftood by illorum in this cafe ? I anfwer, the two kingdoms, England and France, mentioned in the king's ftile, as is plain if you conned: the epigraphs on the obverfe and reverfe together, thus, < Edwardus Dei gratia rex 4 Angliae & Franciae. Iefus tranfiens per medium illorum ibat? meaning, by an application of the words of the Gofpel, the king in his Jhip, and, by illorum, the two kingdoms. I CONCEIVE then, that, as the two kingdoms of England and France are exprefled in the king's ftile on the obverfe, and in nature are only parted by a narrow ftrait or channel, the king in his (hip is here fuppofed to be pafling that ftrait, and con- fequently not only to affert his dominion over the tea, but over the two kingdoms alfo ; in which cafe regnorum will be the fub- ftantive underftood to illorum. Edward's claiming the kingdom of France is the moft ftriking tranfa&ion of his reign ; and at this very time, anno 1344, the claim was fubfifting in its full vigour. The truce was juft now broken between Edward and Philip ; and the former was entering upon a war, for the pur- poie of afferting his right to the crown of France, at the very inftant, 11 July, that the precept for ftriking our Noble was iflued. He had fent the earl of Northampton to defy Philip, and to declare war againft him by fea and land. He exhorted the French, on the occafion, to own him for fovereign; pro- mifing to exempt them from taxes, and to govern them accord- ing to the laws and cuftoms obferved in France under St. VOL. HI, Tt Lewis

Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. INSEAD, on 03 Oct 2018 at 12:01:09, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0261340900016234 322 Mr, PEGGE'S Remarks on Lewis [x]. HOW natural therefore was it for him to exhibit his claim on his coins! and does it not appear flrongly on the piece in quefiion ?

chymical, nor was of the nature of a common amulet, nory laftly, alluded to any particular victory obtained by the king over his enemies at fea, as Mr. Leake and Mr. Snelling[z] fugged; fqr the great victory, which thefe gentlemen mean, happened four or five years before, 1340, much too early in point of time- And as for the victory gained over the Corfairs, 1349, to> which Monf. Rapin refers the original of this coin [a], this was- as much tOQ'late. I am therefore of opinion, that the device and legend of the reverfe point generally to Edward's two- |>J Rapin, p. 423. [y ] Snelling, p, 1, . 4*8, kingdoms,

Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. INSEAD, on 03 Oct 2018 at 12:01:09, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0261340900016234 thefrjl Noble coined it EDWARD III. 323 kingdoms, and by confequence imply the fovereignty of the fea between them, as the old poet underflood it, * For foure things our NOBLE fheweth unto me, 'King, fhip, and fword, and power of the fea [By* and as it has been explained by many later authors. BUT you have feen, it may be objected, fome nobles, in which France is omitted in the king's ftile, though the fame legend ap- pears on the reverfe; and what is to be faid to that ? I anfwer, thofe pieces are indeed very common, and are fuppofed to be coined after the year 1360, when the treaty of Bretigny took place [c], in confequence of which Edward relinquished his title to the crown of France [d]; and before 1369, when Charles V. broke the treaty, and declared war againft Edward [e~\; and Edward thereupon refumed the title of king of France [jf ] : but, by a ftrange inconfiftence, the arms of France ftill continued to be quartered [g], and the fleurs-de-lis, with the legend, flill appeared on the reverfe. The legend, with equal abfurdity, was retained on the Nobles" of Richard II. and Henry when the claim lay dormant, and the legend in a manner lofl its meaning, fb that nothing can be inferred from the conti- nuance of the legend after 1360, to invalidate our conjecture concerning it, as offered above. It was abfurd, I grant, that the arms fhould - flill be quartered, and the fleurs-de-lis ftill nfed; but fb it was; and after that, it is no wonder the legend fhould be retained along with them, though there was fuch a glaring impropriety in it. [b~\ Snelling, p. 3. Campbell's Lives of the Admirals, IV. p. 310.

[c] Rapin, p. 441. [d] Rap»n5 P- 440, 441. Leake, p. 98. 114. [e] Snelling, p. 4. [/] Rapin, p.441. [g] It is faid, in the notes on Rapin, p. 440, that Edward ceafed to quarter the arms of France with thofe of England. But, as the nobles coinedafter 1360 ex- hibit the-arms, the aflertion is not true in refped of the coin. [b] Folkes, Plate I. • T t 2 XXXVIL Ob-

Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. INSEAD, on 03 Oct 2018 at 12:01:09, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0261340900016234