THE ANGLO-SAXON AND NORMAN MINT OF WARWICK By N. J. EBSWORTH THE first recorded history of the town was written by John Rous. He was a native of Warwick who resided for many years as Chantry Priest at Guys Cliffe, which is about one mile to the north of the town, during the latter part of the 15th century. Rous died at Warwick on January 14th 1491 and was buried in St. Mary's Church. Unfortunately the greater part of his writings are lost but one work Historia Begum Angliae was published by Hearne at Oxford in 1716, a more complete second edition following in 1745. This work contains a history of the origin of the town; to quote the words of H. A. Cronne, Professor of Medieval History, University of Birmingham, . 'we need not linger over the fabulous origins of the town, which are recounted with such charming naivete and wealth of circumstantial detail. This work does however include a description of the mint and its moneyers which, based upon some early 12th century charters recently transcribed, is extremely accurate. Rous states:— 'The mint of Warwick was in earlier times at a place towards the East of the churchyard (St. Mary's) as I have discovered in legal writings of the Collegiate Church of St. Mary, Mother of God, where as I knew in my own days was a lane now stopped up and transferred to the south of the churchyard. Also I have often read in writings the names of moneyers lawfully abiding there then and earlier, as Baldred, Everard and other moneyers of the same sort. Their accustomed dwelling place was certainly at the site where the vicars of the College now live.'2 Rous must have been writing of charters dated after 1123 A.D. as the Church of St. Mary was not made Collegiate until that year. This is further confirmed by coins of the moneyer Everard being known for Stephen (1135-1154). The confirmatory charters are mentioned later. There is no authentic evidence to show that the site of Warwick was a place of importance before Saxon times and the first positive record is for the year 914 A.D. when the Anglo- Saxon Chronicle3 states .... 'In the year 913, by the Grace of God, iEthelflaed the "Lady of the Mercians" went with all the Mercians to Tamworth and built the fortress there early in the summer, and afterwards that at Stafford before Lammas. Then in 914 was fortified the fortress at Eddisbury in early summer, and later in the same year, late in autumn, that at Warwick.' This was one of a series of fortresses built for the defence of Mercia against the Danes. There exists in the castle grounds a mound which bears the name ^Ethelfited's Mound but today it is considered that this is not the original fortress but of Norman origin. Although considerable Danish activity was evident in Mercia there is no positive evidence that Warwick was involved until 1016 A.D. when the town was sacked by Cnut on his way north to conquer Northumbria. 1 The Borough of Warwick in the Middle Ages John Rous: 2nd edn. Thos. Hearne, Oxford. by H. A. Cronne, Dugdale Society Occasional 1745, p. 194. Paper No. 10, 1951. 3 The Anglo Saxo?i Chronicle ed. G. N. Garmons- 2 Translated from Historia Regum Angliae by way, Everyman's Library, No. 024, 1962. 54 THE ANGLO-SAXON AND NORMAN MINT OF WARWICK In 1068 Warwick Castle was founded and Henry de Beaumont entrusted with its keeping. He was created Earl of Warwick shortly after the Domesday Survey. William the Conqueror was in the town in 1068 and the founding of the castle was probably a direct result of the visit. J. H. Round considers that the castle was founded at this date and not just restored, and bases his opinion upon the statement in the Domesday Survey that four houses had to be pulled down to make room for the castle.1 If this is correct we must look elsewhere for the site of the Anglo-Saxon mint. The Domesday Survey gives us the first detailed information regarding the town2 but, as is so often the case, the information for Warwick is unsatisfactory and provides us with very little idea of its life and activities. It is obvious however that the town was of considerable size as it lists 113 houses of the King and 112 belonging to the Barons. In addition there are a further 23 houses mentioned as being in Warwick but belonging to various rural manors in the county. These are listed, not in the entry for the town, but in the respective entries relating to the manors. Together this makes a total of 248 houses which must imply a popu- lation of at least 1,000 people. Warwick is the only town in the county for which burgesses are listed—22 in all including 3 from rural manors—and whilst no mention is made of its possessing a mint a comparison with the surrounding area shows that in a total of 8 counties 16 towns only are listed as having burgesses and of these 12 are known to have struck coins in the Norman period. Of these 12 only 5 are mentioned in Domesday as possessing a mint and furthermore in the 8 counties there are only two other towns known to have been striking coins during this period. The particulars are shown in Appendix A.3 It has been suggested4 that the mint probably dates from the time when the burgesses acquired the right to hold the town by military custom, namely supplying 10 burgesses to the King's army against the Danes, but what weight should be given to this theory is not easy to determine, and the advice of a Domesday specialist would be desirable. If this is correct, however, it would not come under the scope of Domesday for it was one of the privileges of the burgesses. Consequently there would be no record of its contributions in the survey and the creation of the Earldom of Warwick would not disturb these ancient privileges. In other words the King could not grant to the Earl what was no longer his to give. The history of most boroughs before 1086 is obscure, but whilst the growth of many can be followed from then on Warwick is an exception. There is practically no information about the borough for the whole of the 12th century although it was the shire town. Its importance mainly derived from the fact that the castle was a military centre of the first rank and it seems probable that the town's trade and industry depended very largely upon the needs of the castle. Mention has previously been made of John Rous and his writings describing the mint and its moneyers. Mrs. D. Styles is currently transcribing some 12th century charters dealing with the foundation and early years of the Collegiate Church of St. Mary, Warwick, and in two cases has discovered moneyers signing as witnesses to documents.5 1 Victoria County History of Warwickshire, Vol. 1, Terrett, Cambridge University Press, 1954. p. 277. 4 A Numismatic History of Henry I by W. J. 2 Domesday Book for the County of Warwick. Andrew, 1901, p. 444. Translated by Wm. Reader, 2nd edn, ed. E. P. 5 I am indebted to Mrs. Styles for allowing me to Shirley, c. 1879. quote here from her as y6t unpublished research in 3 Details extracted from The Domesday Geography this matter. of Midland England, ed. H. C. Darby and I. B. 55 THE ANGLO-SAXON AND NORMAN MINT OF WARWICK This is of first importance as not only does it confirm Rous' writings but for two moneyers, Everard and Ricard, we have both coins and signature extant. In the case of the other moneyer mentioned, coins are not known but attribution of doubtful pieces can possibly be confirmed if and when they appear. The charters are: (A) Register of St. Mary's. Public Record Office. Exchequer. Kings Remembrancer. Miscellaneous Books Series 1. (E.164) Vol. 22. (A.l) Folio 8 verso and 9. Charter of Roger, Earl of Warwick (1119-1153) in which he gives Chapel of St. James in pure and perpetual alms to God and the Canons of St. Mary's. Witnesses include Everardus monetarius Ricardus monetarius The probable date of this charter is 1125-1129 A.D., based upon the fact that the gift was confirmed by Bishop Simon of Worcester who was in office 1125-1150 A.D. (Confirmatory charter in same register, folio 13 and 14). (A.2) Folio 9 verso and 10. Charter of Robert De Curie granting Budbrooke Church to St. Mary's. Witnesses include Ricardus filius Badret monatarii Everardus monetarius This charter cannot be dated with certainty but it belongs to either Henry I's or Stephen's reign and is therefore before 1154 A.D. Both the above are 13th century copies of the actual charters and the following extract is taken from an 18th century manuscript now in the Birthplace Trust Library at Stratford- upon-Avon. (B.) Saunders' Collections relating to Warwickshire. Volume 1, No. 140, pp 129-130. Charter of Earl Roger of Warwick (1119-1153) in which he grants to the Hospital of St. John in Warwick two houses in Northgate Street, one of which belongs to Richard, son of Everard the moneyer. Amongst the many witnesses is listed Everard the moneyer. St. Mary's Church stands at the south end of Northgate Street and on the west side.