THE VATICAN HOARD OF ANGLO-SAXON PENNIES By M. A. O'DONOVAN ABOUT the year 1928 a hoard of 517 Anglo-Saxon pennies of the late ninth- and early tenth- century was discovered in Rome, apparently on the site of the Vatican Wireless Station, then under construction, although this has been denied by an interested party. Tlxe hoard was sent to England by the owner 'residing abroad', and sold by Glendinings in two parts on May 16th, 1929 and November 13th, 1930.1 Some of the coins passed into the possession of the British Museum, but the rest were dispersed among private collections. No formal publication was made at the time, and the sale catalogues are the only published record of this important hoard.2 This article is an attempt to reconstruct the hoard in as much detail as has been found possible.3 The sale catalogues provide fairly detailed descriptions of the rarer coins, such as the pictorial issues of Edward the Elder, but only the names of the moneyers are listed for the more common types, with some intimation of the reverse patterns, occasionally inaccurate. Most fortunately, the Department of Coins and Medals in the British Museum possesses G. C. Brooke's copies of the catalogues, annotated by him with all the individual coin weights, various die-duplications and a few corrections. Dr. Brooke also caused plaster casts to be made of a majority of the coins in the earlier sale. These, now in the British Museum Coin Room, together with photographs of the collection of the late R. C. Lockett—a purchaser at both the 1929 and 1930 sales—have afforded much supplementary information. The contents of the hoard were as follows: Plegmund (890-923) 26 St. Edmund Memorial (c. 870-905) 1 JSlfred (871-899) 18 Edward the Elder (899-924) 437 iEthelstan (924-939) 35 Deniers of the Cologne mint 4 Deniers of the Pavia mint 2 Silver ingots 2 & 2 broken pieces. In its general composition, the Vatican hoard presents no chronological difficulties. The proportion of 437 coins of Edward to 35 coins of /Kthelstan would indicate that the coins left England within a very few (perhaps two or three) years of the latter's accession. None of the ^Sthelstan coins bear mint signatures, and it is noteworthy that one of the two iEtbclstan portrait coins has a diademed bust proper to Edward the Elder, whereas normal portrait 1 It was not until the hoard was put up for auction short visit from America to classify the continental and the British Museum raised the question of coins; to Mr. C. E. Blunt, who has given me much treasure trove, that the Roman provenance emerged. help, and has contributed most of the points of 2 G. C. Brooke published a short note on the hoard interest on the ^Ethelstan coins; to Professor in NC 1931, pp. 133-5. Whitelock, who has been more than generous with 3 I am most grateful to Miss M. Archibald and her time and knowledge, and to Mr. Michael Dollev, Dr. J. P. C. Kent, of the British Museum, Dept. who has given me constant help and encouragement, of Coins and Medals, for their advice and kind throughout my work on this article. I remain assistance, especially in arranging photography; to responsible for whatever errors this article contains. Professor K. F. Morrison, who spared time on a 10 THE VATICAN HOARD OF ANGLO-SAXON PENNIES coins of iEthelstan have a crowned bust. A diademed bust for iEthelstan does not appear in the British Museum Catalogue or in Brooke's English Coins. There is another specimen of this type in the Forum hoard (not yet published) of the moneyer Grimwald. Both the Vatican hoard portrait coins of iEthelstan illustrate a transitional type of bust, which is discussed in the following pages, and which represents an early stage in iEthelstan's coinage. The two coins of the moneyer Alfeau, one each from the reigns of Edward the Elder and iEthelstan, have been struck from the same reverse die, so that they cannot be far separate in time (cf. nos. 96, 485). The absence of any coins from the York mint may well be a further indication of date. Coins struck for the Danish or Norse rulers of York before iEthelstan's reign do not seem, from hoard evidence, to have been in general circulation in the south of England, and might not perhaps have been accepted by the officials collecting tax. But after iEthelstan's successful campaign in 927, the mint at York came under his authority, and became very active, supplying part of the currency common throughout England. All these facts indicate that the iEthelstan coins of the hoard belong to the very early years of his reign. The chronological consistency and homogeneous nature of the hoard make it unlikely that the coins were assembled in Rome or on the continent generally: had they been, one might expect to find a considerably larger proportion of continental coins. Of the six foreign coins that are included, two were struck at Pavia for Rudolf, Duke of Burgundy, between the years 922 and 926, when he held the title of King of Italy. The four remaining coins came from the mint of Cologne, and were struck probably between 900 and 923 (the latter date might be extended to 929). All are specimens of common types, and would have been easily available to people travelling on the continent between 922 and c. 940. Before mentioning coins of individual interest, it is worth considering how and why this parcel of coins should have reached Rome, for the composition of the hoard indicates that the coins were assembled in England and taken directly to Rome; they could not have formed part of some itinerant merchant's capital. Despite the distance and difficulties, surviving records show that journeys between England and Rome were not uncommon in the ninth and tenth centuries. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle contains references to such visits in the years 801, 814, 853 (when iElfred as a child was sent to Rome to receive confirmation from Pope Leo III) and 855-8.1 For the Anglo- Saxons, Rome was the chief goal for pilgrimages, and this is well illustrated in the eighth and early ninth centuries (as in Alcuin's correspondence). For the tenth century there is the evidence of a continental annalist: (921) 'Many English on the way to Rome were struck down with stones by the Saracens in the passes of the Alpes . .'; (923) '. A multitude of the English travelling to the thresholds of St. Peter for the sake of prayer were killed by the Saracens in the Alpes . ,'2 A visit almost certainly entailed alms-giving, but during the latter half of iElfred's reign there are several entries in the Chronicle that record journeys made specifically for the purpose of taking alms to Rome on behalf of the King and the West Saxon people. Under the year 883 is the entry 'In this year Abbot Beornhelm took to Rome the alms which King iElfred had promised there', followed by similar entries for 887, 888, 889 and 890, all of which except that for 8893 define the alms as those of King Alfred and the West Saxons. 1 All references to entries in the Anglo-Saxon vol. I, c. 500-1042, ed. D. Whitelock, 1955. Doc. no. Chronicle are taken from the revised translation 24, p. 315. edited by D. Whitelock, 1961. 3 This particular entry reads 'There was no 2 Annals of Flodoard, M. G. H. Scriptorcs III, expedition to Rome in this year, but King Alfred pp. 369, 373, trans, in English Historical Documents sent two courtiers with letters.' 10 THE VATICAN HOARD OF ANGLO-SAXON PENNIES The next reference comes not from the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle but from iEthehveard's Chronicle, with the entry: 'In the course of the same year [908] the bishop just mentioned [Plegmund] conveyed alms to Rome for the nation and also for King Edward.'1 The only Anglo-Saxon Chronicle entry referring to a visit to Rome in the first half of the tenth century comes under the year 927: 'In this year King iEthelstan drove out King Guthfrith and in this year Archbishop Wulfhelm went to Rome.' These entries concerning alms taken to Rome for the king and his people probably record the beginnings of 'Peter's Pence' in England. This payment, also known as 'hearth-penny' (heorthpaenig) and 'Romescot' (Romfeoh), is first specifically mentioned as a regular tax, though without secular penalties for omission, in the first code of Edmund (942 or 944-6), sect. 2: 'We enjoin upon every Christian man, in accordance with his Christian profession, to pay tithes and church-dues and Peter's Pence (Romfeoh) and plough-alms. And if anyone refuses to do so, he shall be excommunicated. '2 It also appears in the second and third codes of Edgar (955-963), sect. 4: 'And every hearth-penny is to be paid by St. Peter's day. And he who has not rendered it at that appointed day is to take it to Rome, and 30 pence in addition, and to bring back a document showing that he has handed over the amount there . This paragraph is important in regard to the Vatican hoard because it shows clearly that the tax was paid as a single penny, and it is unlikely that the collected coins would then be restruck or exchanged for gold pieces before being taken to Rome.4 Apart from public alms, there were also private bequests that would have entailed a journey to Rome.