III.

ON COINS ATTRIBUTED BY MB LINDSAY TO KINGS OP THE HEBRIDES EDWARy B . D BURNS, ESQ., F.S.A. SOOT.

In Mr Lindsay's "View of the Coinage of Scotland," three coins are placed at the head of the Scottish series, presumed by Mr Lindsay to bear the appearance of having been struck by certain kings of the Hebrides in the eleventh century. These pieces form Nos. 1, 2, 3 of plate f Lindsay'o . I s Wor Scottisn k o coins e th f h,o d NosCoinso an 1 .Tw . 3, passed into the possession of Mr Wingate, and appear in his " Illus- trations of the Coinage of Scotland," from specimens in his own cabinet, unde e hea e th Hebridesf rCointh o d f o s , exactl s attributea y d by- Lindsay remainine Th . g coin, thus assigne Hebridese e th th o dt n i s i , collectio Reve th f . no Joh . PollexfennH . The one thing indisputable about these three pieces is, that they are imitation Crue th xf o s coin l probabilityal f Ethelre so r n I fo t . dbu II , passioe th n which possesse e geniadth l and distinguished authoe th f o r "e Coinag Vieth f wo f Scotland,"«eo f otheo d —r an able numismatic works-—of giving to the different homeless and nameless coins that came " y locaa wa l s habitatiohi woul e n a name,i on d do nan n " eve r have supposed the mhavo t e been anything elst merebu e imitations currenr o , t forgeries, of the Crux pieces of Ethelred II. So far as regards the coins themselves, there is nothing in them, save to a very fertile imagination; VOL. XI. PART I. P 226 PROCEEDINGS OF THE SOCIETY, APRIL 12, 1875

to suggest a connection with the Hebrides; in respect to which, moreover, we hav groundo en believinr sfo g tha nativa t e currency ever existedt I . is quite true that the types on the money of Ethelred II. were imitated in other countries; and it will be interesting, although not of importance r immediatou o t e subject instancew glanco fe t , a t ea s wher Crue eth x type was obviously followed by other States. Olaf Scotkonung, king of Sweden, a prince well affected towards Ethelred II., adopted it as the s modecoinagehi f o l , s saidandi t i , d obtaineappliean r fo dd from Ethelre dnumbea f skilleo r d moneyers. Another kin f Swedengo , Haco the Red—A.D. 1067—has had a coin of the Crux type assigned to him; but Annunds a , predecessoe th , immediate f Hacoth o r d an , e successof o r Olaf, followe r Canutetypee ou th d f so , while Haco himself wacone th s - temporary of William the Conquerer, it is more probable that this piece belongs to Haco the Bad, Duke of Norway, who was assassinated A.D. 995. Ethelre . reigneII d d fro A.Dmo t A.D9 . 101397 . . Ther s everei y reason to believe that the Crux type must have been issued in England some time previous to A.D. 995. Professor Holmboe, from the evidence of Finds, contends that it was the very earliest type of Ethelred II. Hil- debrand, a high authority, ranks it the third in order of precedence, giving the first place to the small cross type, and the second to the Hand of Providence variety. Perhap mose sth t interesting imitatio Crue th f xno typ Ethelref eo . dII e comth s ,i formerly give Sveno t n d Estrithson, kin f Denmarkgo , A.D. 1048-74; but now, with more probability, attributed to Svend Tveskjog, the conqueror of England, and its acknowledged king, after the flight of Ethelred II. into Normandy, A.D. 1013. This piece will be found engrave "e Danskth n di e Mynter, alsd "Lelewel n oan Tabi , 85 . . viii, No . pi. xiii. No. 9. It reads on obverse, + Z'AEN • REX • ADDENER, and, on reverse, DODPI M-A• NE N DNER. These legends, Lelewel renders thus— obverse, "Swen • Rex • Anglorum • D denerum, ou bien • Danorum;" reverse, " God-wine Ne ' Lundner ." There is no doubt that Godwin, as state Lelewely db wela s l wa ,know n moneye f Londo o rtime th f e o n ni Ethelred II.d alsan ,o tha struce h t k pennie e Cruth t i xf so t type Bu . may wel e doubteb l d whether. Godwiy othean r o nEnglis h moneyer would have employed Vndnqr, or Lundner, to designate London; or Addener to represent Anglorum, Danorum. There is no such outlandish ON COINS ATTRIBUTE HEBRIDES E KINGO DT TH F SO . 22? rendering of the name of London as Vndner, or Lundner, among all the 509 pennies of the London mint of Ethelred II. given by Hildebrand. The coin was probably struck at Lunden in Denmark, before Svend became Kin Englandf go . fine dW another Crux Danske piecth n ei e Mynter—Tab. xxviii. No . 1—identical in type with the penny of Svend. It reads on obverse,

ONLAF- REX • NOR -j on reverse, C.ODPINE ' M-ONO, that is to say; GODWINE • MO ' NO. This coin apparently belongs to Olaf Tryggveson, king of Norway, who accompanied Svend Tveskjog in his expedition against Englan n A.Ddi . 994. Olaf visited Ethelre t Andovera . dII , where eh received the rite of confirmation. He further pledged himself never again to invade England, a promise faithfully observed. According to some theorists, the Crux type was introduced in the English coinage to com- memorate this occasion. To iis in Scotland, Olaf Tryggveson is memor- able strikinfoe rth g fea missionarf o t y enterpris musculad ean r Christianity, which has connected his name with the conversion of the people of Orkney. By mere chance, this zealous proselytiser had put in, with his fleet, into the harbour of Osmundwall, where that rank heathen, Sigurd the Stout, earl of the Orkneys, with only a small force, was lying in fancied security. Profibin e occasionth y b g , Olaf mad e earth e l prisonerd an , gave him. the option of instant death, or immediate conversion. Sigurd, as the less disagreeable alternative, chose the latter, and was baptised along with s peoplsuchi f ho wers ea e with faite him f thiTh ho .s inter^ esting convert appear havo st e suffere killeds relapsea dwa e ,h fightinr fo , g heathee onth nbattle sideth t f Clontarffea o , . The Crux coins of Sithric III., king of Dublin, another contemporary of Ethelred II.wele ar , l known coine .th f so f Strango e on sayo t et no , this type of Sithric III. seems to bear proper legends, while on those of his usual type the inscriptions are in general correct. Mr Lindsay himself thus describes them:—"The coins are neatly executed, but the legends in general rude; the most perfect bearing the legend ZITIR • DIFLMEORVM e lasth , t word being contracted fin e Englisn w o d s a , h coin f Ethelreso d r LindsaII.M " y might have added, tha somn o t f eo these piece e inscriptionth s s bea vero s r y little resemblanc name th eo t e and style of Sithric, that it is difficult to understand why they should be attributed to the Irish coinage at all. With equal propriety, at least, 8 22 . PROCEEDING SOCIETYE TH F SO , APRI , .1875L12 .

•might they have been employed to swell the:series of those so-called coins .of the Hebrides,-with which we have .now to deal. With a .trifling .exception, .the legend .;on .obverse of the .first of the three coins, assigned to the Hebrides, has been .correctly rendered in the engravings of the piece in fthe plates of Lindsay and Wingate. I ought .her mentiono et , that throug courtese Wingatehr th M f yo I hav, d eha the opportunity .of Examining, the two coins belonging to him,-and my bes Keve tr Pollexfe th thankM .o t alse e ar sodu n .for'allowine th e m g same privilege with respect to the coin in his possession. The exception above referre s tha i secone , th td to d inscriptioe letteth f ro -Ds ni , equiva- len s give a t plates. e tbotn th onD, i f thaTHo t he o whols , no th t, e legend, allowin r .thgfo e contractio e end r th RV nfo ,t Ma shoul d read ETHEL ' RE XEVGORVM• . Through some recondite process t quitno , e •palpable to ordinary understandings, Mr Lindsay has persuaded himself that EVGORVM—to quote his own words—is " the genitive of Eubudae, ..ffibudae r Hebudaeo , , whic anciene hth s lastwa tHebridese namth f eo , or Western Isles." . But .with what Hebridean celebrity to associate this .coin, wit e wordhth s plainlo ETHEs X e faceth yRE L • starin?n i e gon Nothing daunted r LindsaM , y turns .to-the legen revers n whae do se to et he can find there to help him. He imagined that he could make out the name SVEN beginnine th t legende Oa th f go , and, presuming that Svend .Tveskjo s earliehi n gi r year havy esma ruled ove Hebrides—oe rth f which there is no proof—he thought it highly probable that either he, or Svend f Canute o s Alfifason capacitn hi so n i , f e kino y th ,f Norwaygo y ma , have caused the coin to be issued. But while there is some doubt about the proper reading of the legend of the coin on reverse, there is no doubt whatever tha t doei t t commencsno e wit wore hth d SVENO. .firse Th t . , the.SaxoP a t bu n, t alette S nWno s , i ra s .ma distinctle yb y seen from the drawing of the piece in Mr Lindsay's own plate. The next two letters, which are in monogram, and which. are rendered by Mr Lindsay in.his Descriptive Catalogue as VE, ought rather to be construed as AE, for ther connectina s ei g link barr o , , between -the characters, quite visible e coionth n itself, althoug t showhno plateeithee n no th f f Lindsaso o r y o rletter o Wingatetw e s thaTh .t follo NDe war , makin n galli , PAEND or WAEND. The remainder of the legend .seems .to be EVWSEVRO, whatever .that may. mean; not that we^need trouble' ourselves very much ON COINS ATTRIBUTE HEBRIDES E KINGO 9 DT TH 22 F SO .

to extract a meaning from this-jumble of letters, for, by no twisting or tinkerin inscription,e th f go e coi th made nb n appea.o ca e t havo t ry ean connection with:the Hebrides. ' . e seconth n f thesdo O e pieces e namth , n obverso e s ANEGMDei r o , rather AIMNEGMD, there being a cross stroke, betweeE e th d n an th eN which give doubla s su e remaindee Th Ne legend. th f o rs CNEROX "i , t betweebu n thi e precedins th wor d dan e ginscription th par f o t neaa , t cross patee has been interposed. It is not so very clear how the legend on reverse shoul renderede db , owin lettere o somgt th f eo s having been indicated rather than expressed. The literal representation, as seen on the coin, is OAiRLn—DEMAND-, which Mr Lindsay in his descriptive catalogue treat equivalens sa o OAt t I RCM—OhEAND, although perhaps better rendered by OANRC-MO-CNEAND. This coin Mr Lindsay assumes to have been struck by a .Norwegian named Tngemund, " who, statese " h elevent e th , "n i h centur knows yi n to have ruled over these islands." elevente Bu twelfthth e t wati n th i t n shi no , century, that we find the name of Ingemund occurring in connection with the Hebrides, quitands i t -i e certain tha nevee h t r ruled over theme H . had been invited, during the minority of Olaf, the king, to succeed Donald O'Brien in the regency of Man and the Isles—A.D. 1111. On undertako t n Ma eo t thiy swa offices hi landee h , d wit followers hhi t sa e Lewisth , wher e gavh e e himsel o evert p yu f kin f licensedo . Dissa- tisfied with the minor dignity of regent, he aspired to be king, and com- manded the island chiefs to meet at an early day and proceed with his islandere election th t see t no havo mt Bu o sd e. appreciate mannee th d r in which Ingemund and his associates were making themselves at home* among them. appointey Befor da electioe e th eth r dtheifo f no r would-be sovereig f Lewino n arriveds me gatheree th , forcen i dd surroundin an , g the place of his abode, roasted Ingemund and all his Norwegians alive. And this was the beginning and the end of the connection of that worthy wit islandse hth . We now come to the consideration of the third and last of the coins ascribed by Mr Lindsay to the Hebrides. It bears on obverse the • in- scription SXOMATCED ROAE legene Th reversen .d r o Lindsay' M n i , s opinion s "i , partly retrograde partld an , y turned upside down prod an -, bably blundered." There cannot be much doubt, however, but that it is 230 PROCEEDINGS OF THE SOCIETY, AFKIL 12, 1875. simply retrograde from beginning to end. According to my reading it is VQL3/3MQ5\Q&3/3/3 .which, reversed,gives ESESEZflROMSENELOV; equivalent probabl o ENENESTHyt RON.• ' NENELOV; under reserva- tion coursef intelligiblo ,y an s , thaha t i te equivalent. , On this coin Mr Lindsay chiefly founds to prove his case that these three pieces belong to the Hebrides. " This last coin," he remarks, kine name th s g th i f wholee o f i th r f fo o , y "ke I conside e th s a r Somerled, wills a I thin, admittede kb ,little b ther n e ca et doubi t bu t belong Westere th o st nothee th Isles d r two,an , from their strong general resemblanc , musit o et t evidently follo same wth e appropriation; indeed, name th e Somerle peculias di Scottise th o rt h IslesI hav t found eno ,an d t connectei d wit histore othey hth an rf yo country. " Ther somethins ei g charmingly vague about this styl argumentf eo n I . quietly assuming that SXOMATCED is intended for Somerled, Mr Lindsay make attempo n s t whateve o shot r w e namprincthay th an f tf o e o e Somerle s connectewa d d wit Westere th h ne perio th Isle t da s when, presumably, these coins were struck,—i.e., about the end of the tenth, or at latest, at the commencement of the eleventh century. And, indeed, it would be difficult, if not impossible, to show that any person of the name of Somerled playe importann da histore t th par thesn f i yto e islandt sa perioe th d indicated lonr fo gr o kno,e after W w. that when Sigure th d Stout Orkneyse , th ear f o l , whose conversio Christianito nt y came about in the manner above related, fell at Clontarif on that memorable Good 'Friday, A.D. 1014, he left four sons—Somerled, Einar, Brusi, and Thorfin three Th e . elder inherite Orkneyse dth ruled an , d over thess ea joint earls. Thorfi youngeste nth diiferena y b , t mother daughtee th , f o r Malcolm II., secured, through the influence of his royal grandfather, the Earldom of Caithness, and the mainland possessions of his late father. We have very little information about this Somerled. All that the Ork- neyinga Saga says oi him is that he was the shortest lived of the brothers. t doe i t appea t no s brotherBu o r tw tha e stth r eitheassociateo , rhe d with earldoe hith Orkneyse mn th i mf o anythind ,ha wito Hebridese d ho th gt . Apparentl e chiefyth f thesso e island d shakeha s n themselves free from Orkney domination after the disaster at Clontarff. At a subsequent period, whe thres nhi e elder brothers were dead, Thorfin hao d wh ,succeede o dt their title and estates, seems to have made himself master of the Hebrides ON COINS ATTRIBUTED TO KINGS OS THE HEBRIDES. 231 "by dismis y conquestma e s W fro r consideratio. mou claime nth f thiso s Somerled to royal honours, and to the coin in question. The only Soinerled, of whom we have actual proof as having exercised sovereignty Westere th n i n Isles Somerleds ,wa , Lor Argylef do , and virtuy e ,b th f eo strong hand, King of the Isles from A.n. 1158 to 1164. To this Somerled, Mr Wingate—improving upon Lindsay, who is judiciously vague, and merely says tha tnam e "th e Somerle s peculiadi Scottis e th o t r h Isles," as if Somerleds had been as plentiful there as any of the natural productions of the soil—has ventured to assign the coin. " It is natural," Mr Wingate remarks, " to suppose that Somerled, who was contemporary with Davi chieftaia dd I.an , n holding sway ove larga r e portion botf ho e WesterIslande th th d an sn Mainland, should strike money aftee th r type of the Anglo-Saxon coins which were brought in such quantities to his dominions by the Danish pirates, who had their head-quarters among Vikinge th f oves o sy wa r beforda e Islands.e th th e t SomerleBu " d dha established himself on the throne of the Isles, and he was too powerful a chief to allow Danish or other pirates to make their head-quarters in his dominions. Nor were Anglo-Saxon coins the circulating medium in Englan reige th f Henr no n di y II. whof o , m Somerle e contemth s dwa - porary nots i t I natural. , therefore supposo t , e that Somerled struce h f i ,k coins at all, would have overlooked the coinage of his own time, and have made his money facsimiles in type and texture of the Crux coins of Ethelred II., just about a century and a half after that unfortunate monarc d ceaseha h o reignt d . Long oddsafely e takema sb y n that Somerled Crunevea w xrsa coi Ethelref no . dII t seemI s like killin gdeaa d anythin y horssa o et g furthe thin o rs subject, fea wt wordbu permittede s b mor y eLindsama r M . jumpes ycone ha th -do t clusion whic, tha lettere AE htth O terminatsR legene eth obversn do f eo this coin thus attributed by him to some mythical Somerled, represent REX AEBVDAE. He informs us that "the word RO, as on other Northern coins, probably denote wore dth d wha n King.o t t NortherBu " n coins si employed o wors e th O dR 1! Not certainl Hiberno-Danise th n yo h coinss ,a we find them describe Lindsar M y db y himsel hin i fs Irish Coinaget no ; on Danis Norwegiar ho n coins s thea , y appeasplendie th n i r d platef so "e Danskth e Mynter; Swedisn o t no " h coins thes a describee , yar n di the pages of Brenner. Nor can the letters AE represent AEBVDAE, on a 232 . PKOCEEDINGS OS THE SOCIETY, APRIL 12, 1875. coin of the period at •which this 'piece has presumably been-struck—for the simple reason, that no such name appears to-.have been known for the Western Islands in the" tenth and eleventh centuries. The Norwegian and Orkney Sagas always call the Sudreyae mth r (Southern) somy b r eo , similar name, in reference to their geographical position to Norway and the Orkneys. Hector Boece, in reviving in the sixteenth century Pliny's ancient appellation for these islands, now corrupted into " Hebrides," has much to answer for. Lindsay and Wingate would have been saved the publication of their -coins of the Hebrides, and the present writer would have been spared' the thankless task of writing this article. A passage in Mr Lindsay's " View of the Coinage of Ireland," published by him in 1839^ six years previous to the appearance of his " View of the Coinag Scotland,f eo " shows tha t ona t e tim Lindsar eM y entertainee dth intention of carrying back the coinage of Scotland to a period still earlier than his coins of the Kings of the Hebrides. He remarks at page 20 in the above work, "The discovery (?) of the name Indulf"—A.D 954-962 •" on a coin similar to No. 12 of Snelling's 1st Ad. Plate to Simon, has enabled me to assign that coin, and others of the same type, to the early Scottish Kings" (!) Fortunately, by the time the "View of the Coinage of Scotland" appeared, Mr Lindsay had thought better of the matter, and allowed Indulf, and the other early Scottish kings; quietly to sleep in the 'tom theif bo r fathers thio T s .oblivion , rathelimbe or ,th thingf o o rt s •that never we're, let these poor ghosts of Kings, Messrs Lindsay and Win- gate's Reges Aelmdae, hencefort relegatede hb . -The objec f thio t s paper having bee cleao nt r away from 'the Scottish coinage certain pieces that .obviously should never have been attributed to it, a few remarks may be permitted with respec another-coino t t , whic r LindsahM s assigneyha d Scotland—Noo t firss hi tf plateo 4 . . This piece quoto t , r Lindsay'eM s •description of it "exhibits a rude full 'face without legend (unless what appears lik undeconsiderev e b er e hea o y ath nrA dma d such); reverse, •a large cross potent, with a large pellet in each angle." With so very •little to guide him regarding its allocation, Mr Lindsay has not ventured to appropriate this coin to any particular prince, but he remarks/ " from the strong similarity between the type of its reverse and those of the coins .of Alexande David an . dI r I. I thin, k there appear higa s h degree of probability that it is Scottish, and struck by some of the kings who ON COINS ATTRIBUTED TO KINGS OF THE HEBRIDES. 233 preceded Malcolm III. perhapsr o , , with still greater probability somy b , e princee Islese oth fth f ,so contemporary with Davi reverse dth Lo f t ,e o whose coins (vie., Davif o d I.), tha f thio t s coin bear strongese sth t resem- blance Nortfoune s pose th th wa Ireland.- n f dhi t n o ; i i w piece no Th "s ei sessio Reve th f .no M i Pollexfen, .to -who obligem a m I d opportu e foth r - nity of examining it. At the left side of the coin, appears an object which first a t glance migh mistakee tb sceptrea r n fo t whic bu , realls hi ycrosiera . Taking into consideration that the type of reverse is common to the Epis- copal coins of the Ehenish provinces, there is " a high degree of proba- bility " that this coin belongs to some of the ecclesiastical princes in this district, probabl e Bishopsomo yth t f e o elevent ef Metth o s n i z h cen- tury. There are no grounds whatever for assigning the coin to Scotland.

. MONDAY, Wt7i May 1875. DAVID LAING, ESQ., Foreign Secretary, in the Chair. A ballot having been taken, the following Gentlemen were elected, viz.:— . . . Professor THEODORE AUFRECHT, LL.D., aCorrespondinsa g Memberd an , EDWARD FISHER, Jun., Esq., Overseale, Ashby-de-la-Zouche, was also elected a Fellow of the Society.

followine Th g Donation Museue th o Librarst d man y were e th lai n do table, and thanks voted to the Donors, viz. :—

(1.) By the HERITORS OF WHITHORN, through the Eight Hon. the Earl of STAIR, ¥.8.A. Scot. Circular Head of a Wheel Cross in Grey Sandstone, measuring 2 feet in diameter, and ornamented by four holes arranged round a central boss. Circular Head and part of the Shaft of a Wheel Cross of Grey Sand- stone. The head is similar in character .to that last noticed, and measures