Hostname: page-component-6766d58669-kn6lq Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2026-05-21T06:49:37.039Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Units of Account in Gold and Silver in Seventh-Century England: Scillingas, Sceattas and Pæningas

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 September 2010

John Hines
John Hines*
Affiliation:
John Hines, School of History and Archaeology, Cardiff University, Humanities Building, Colum Drive, Cardiff CF10 3EU. UK. E-mail: hines@cardiff.ac.uk
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The seventh-century vernacular laws from the kingdoms of Kent and Wessex specify fines or compensation payments using units of account that have given us familiar terms in the numismatics of this period: scillingas (shillings), sceattas and pæningas (pennies). In light of the use of cognate words in Gothic and Old High German, and the comparative values given in the Old English law-codes themselves and in the fifth-century Theodosian Code, it is suggested that these represent a regular and durable bimetallic system correlating values in gold and silver. This proposition is examined further against the evidence of weighing-sets from sixth- and early seventh-century Anglo-Saxon graves, and it is argued that the results give greater and more precise meaning to the use of gold and silver in Early Anglo-Saxon artefacts, such as the great gold buckle from Mound 1 at Sutton Hoo, Suffolk.

Résumé

Au septième siècle, les lois locales des royaumes de Kent et de Wessex précisaient des amendes ou des dédommagements en unités de compte qui nous ont donnés des termes familiers de la numismatique de cette période: scillingas (shillings), sceattas et pæningas (pennies). Au regard de l’emploi de termes apparentés en gothique et en vieux haut allemand, et des valeurs comparatives données dans les codes juridiques eux-mêmes en vieil anglais, et dans le Code Théodosien du cinquième siècle, on suggère que ces unités représentent un système bimétallique régulier et durable pour coordonner des valeurs en or et en argent. Cette proposition est examinée de plus près par rapport aux indices de séries de poids provenant de tombes anglo-saxonnes du sixième siècle et du début du septième siècle, et on soutient que les résultats donnent un sens plus important et plus précis à l’utilisation de l’or et de l’argent dans les objets fabriqués du début de l’époque anglo-saxonne, tels que la grande boucle en or du monticule 1 de Sutton Hoo, Suffolk.

Zusammenfassung

Die aus dem siebten Jahrhundert stammende Volksrechte aus den Königreichen Kent und Wessex geben an, daß Geldstrafen und Entschädigungsgelder Betragseinheiten benutzen, die uns vertraute Benennungen aus der Numismatik dieser Periode abgeleitet haben: scillingas (Schillinge), sceattas und pæningas (Pfennige). Angesichts des Gebrauchs von verwandten Wörtern im Gothischen und Althochdeutschen, und den vergleichenden Beträgen, die in den altenglischen Gesetzbüchern und in den Theodosischen Gesetzbüchern aus dem fünften Jahrhundert angegeben sind, wird gefolgert, daß diese Einheiten ein geregeltes und beständiges bimetallisches System darstellen, das auf Gold- und Silberwerten basiert. Diese Behauptung wird weiter im Zusammenhang mit Waagen und Gewichten untersucht, die in angelsächsischen Gräbern aus dem sechsen und frühen siebten Jahrhundert gefunden wurden. Es wird argumentiert, daß diese Schlußfolgerungen sibernen und goldenen Gegenständen aus frühen angelsächsischen Funden eine präziseren Sinn geben, wie zum Beispiel der großen goldenen Spange aus Grabhügel 1 im Fundort Sutton Hoo, Grafschaft Suffolk.

Information

Type
Articles
Information
The Antiquaries Journal , Volume 90 , September 2010 , pp. 153 - 173
Copyright
Copyright © The Society of Antiquaries of London 2010

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Published sources

Abdy, R Williams, G 2006. ‘A catalogue of hoards and single finds from the British Isles c AD 450–675’, in Cook and Williams (eds) 2006, 11–73CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Attenborough, F L 1922. The Laws of the Earliest English Kings, Cambridge: Cambridge University PressGoogle Scholar
Bakka, E 1978. ‘Two aurar of gold: contributions to the weight history of the Migration Period’, Antiq J, 58, 279–298CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bakka, E 1981. ‘A set of weights from Late Roman or Early Migration times found at Bråten, Ringerike, eastern Norway’, Frühmittelalterliche Stud, 15, 294–315CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bazelmans, J 1999. By Weapons Made Worthy: lords, retainers and their relationship in Beowulf, Amsterdam: Amsterdam University PressCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Boddington, A 1990. ‘Models of burial, settlement and worship: the final phase, reviewed’, in Anglo-Saxon Cemeteries: a reappraisal (ed E Southworth), 177–199, Stroud: Alan SuttonGoogle Scholar
Borethus, A (ed) 1883–90. Capitularia regum Francorum, Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Legum Sectio II, 2 vols, Hanover: HahnGoogle Scholar
Brøgger, A 1921. Ertog og Øre: Den Gamle Norske Vegt, Christiania [Oslo]: VitenskapsselskapetGoogle Scholar
Bruce-Mitford, R L S 1975. The Sutton Hoo Ship-Burial. Vol 1: Excavations, background, the ship, dating and inventory, London: British Museum PublicationsGoogle Scholar
Bruce-Mitford, R L S 1978. The Sutton Hoo Ship-Burial. Vol 2: Arms, armour and regalia, London: British Museum PublicationsGoogle Scholar
Burnett, A 1987. Coinage in the Roman World, London: SeabyGoogle Scholar
Campbell, A 1959. Old English Grammar, Oxford: Oxford University PressGoogle Scholar
Colgrave, B Mynors, R A B (eds and trans) 1969. Bede’s Ecclesiastical History of the English People, Oxford: Clarendon PressGoogle Scholar
Cook, B Williams, G (eds) 2006. Coinage and History in the North Sea World, Leiden: BrillGoogle Scholar
Fagerlie, J 1967. Late Roman and Byzantine Solidi Found in Sweden and Denmark, Numis Notes & Monogr 157, New York: American Numismatic SocietyGoogle Scholar
Fell, C 1983. ‘A friwif locbore revisited’, Anglo-Saxon England, 13, 157–165CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Geake, H 1997. The Use of Grave Goods in Conversion-Period England, c600–c850, BAR Brit Ser 261, Oxford: ArchaeopressCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Green, D H 1999. Language and History in the Early Germanic World, Cambridge: Cambridge University PressGoogle Scholar
Grierson, P 1959. ‘Commerce in the Dark Ages: a critique of the evidence’, Trans Royal Historical Soc, 9, 123–140; reprinted in 1979 in Dark Age Numismatics (P Grierson), no. II, London: AshworthCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Grierson, P 1961. ‘La fonction sociale de la monnaie en Angleterre aux VIIe–VIIIe siècles’, Moneta e scambi nell’alto medioevo, 341–362; reprinted in 1979 in Dark Age Numismatics (P Grierson), no. XI, London: AshworthGoogle Scholar
Grierson, P 1991. Coins of Medieval Europe, London: SeabyGoogle Scholar
Grierson, P Blackburn, M A S 1986. Medieval European Coinages. Vol 1: The early Middle Ages, Cambridge: Cambridge University PressGoogle Scholar
Harl, K W 1996. Coinage in the Roman Economy, 300 BC to AD 700, Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University PressGoogle Scholar
Hines, J 1997. A New Corpus of Anglo-Saxon Great Square-Headed Brooches, Rep Res Comm Soc Antiq London 51, Woodbridge: BoydellGoogle Scholar
Hughes, M J, Cowell, M R, Oddy, W A Werner, A E A 1978. ‘Report on the analysis of the gold of the Sutton Hoo jewellery and some comparative material’, in Bruce-Mitford 1978, 618–625Google Scholar
Jørgensen, L 1994. ‘The find material from the settlement of Gudme II: composition and interpretation’, in Nielsen et al (eds) 1994, 53–63Google Scholar
Jørgensen, L Vang Petersen, P 1998. Guld, Magt og Tro, Copenhagen: NationalmuseetGoogle Scholar
Kent, J P C with Bruce-Mitford, R L S, Oddy, W A, Hughes, M J, Rigold, S E, Hill, P V, Fletcher, J M, Godwin, H Burleigh, R 1975. ‘The coins and the date of burial’, in Bruce-Mitford 1975, 578–682Google Scholar
Kilger, C 2008. ‘Wholeness and holiness: counting, weighing and valuing silver in the early Viking period’, in Means of Exchange (ed D Skre), 253–325, Kaupang Excavation Project Pub Ser 2, Aarhus: Aarhus University PressGoogle Scholar
Krusch, B Levison, W (eds) 1951. Gregorii Turonensis opera Teil 1: Libri historiarum X, Scrip Rer Mer, 1 (1), Munich: Monumenta Germaniae HistoricaGoogle Scholar
Kyhlberg, O 1986. ‘Late Roman and Byzantine solidi: an archaeological analysis of coins and hoards’, in Excavations at Helgö X: coins, iron and gold (eds A Lundström and H Clarke), 13–126, Stockholm: Kungl Vitterhets Historie och Antikvitets AkadGoogle Scholar
Leeds, E T 1936. Early Anglo-Saxon Art and Archaeology, Oxford: Clarendon PressGoogle Scholar
Lendinara, P 1997. ‘The Kentish Laws’, in The Anglo-Saxons from the Migration Period to the Eighth Century: an ethnographic perspective (ed J Hines), 211–243, Woodbridge: BoydellGoogle Scholar
Liebermann, F 1903–16. Die Gesetze der Angelsachsen, 3 vols, Halle: NiemeyerGoogle Scholar
Lyon, S 1976. ‘Some problems in interpreting Anglo-Saxon coinage’, Anglo-Saxon England, 5, 173–224Google Scholar
Mattingly, H 1960. Roman Coins, rev edn, London: MethuenGoogle Scholar
Metcalf, D M 1993–4. Thrymsas and Sceattas in the Ashmolean Museum Oxford, 3 vols, London: Royal Numismatic SocietyGoogle Scholar
Mommsen, T Meyer, P M (eds) 1954. Theodosiani libri XVI: cum constitutionibus sirmondianis et leges novellae ad Theodosianum pertinentes, 3 vols, Berlin: WeidmannGoogle Scholar
Moreland, J 2000. ‘Concepts of the early medieval economy’, in The Long Eighth Century (eds I L Hansen and C Wickham), 1–34, Leiden: BrillGoogle Scholar
Nau, E 1971. Epochen der Geldgeschichte, Stuttgart: Württemburgisches LandesmuseumGoogle Scholar
Nielsen, P O, Randsborg, K Thrane, H (eds) 1994. The Archaeology of Gudme and Lundeborg, Copenhagen: Akademisk ForlagGoogle Scholar
Polanyi, K (ed G Dalton) 1971. Primitive, Archaic and Modern Economies: essays by Karl Polanyi, Boston, Mass: Beacon PressGoogle Scholar
Rigold, S E 1975. ‘The Sutton Hoo coins in the light of the contemporary background of coinage in England’, in Bruce-Mitford 1975, 653–677Google Scholar
Scull, C 1986. ‘A sixth-century grave containing a balance and weights from Watchfield, Oxfordshire, England’, Germania, 64, 105–138Google Scholar
Scull, C 1990. ‘Scales and weights in early Anglo-Saxon England’, Archaeol J, 147, 183–215Google Scholar
Snædal, M 1998. A Concordance to Biblical Gothic, Reykjavík: University of Iceland PressGoogle Scholar
Spratling, M 1980. ‘The Sutton Hoo purse: analysing the weights of its contents’, in Anglo-Saxon Cemeteries 1979: the fourth Anglo-Saxon symposium at Oxford (eds P Rahtz, T M Dickinson and L Watts), BAR Brit Ser 82, 363–370, Oxford: British Archaeological ReportsGoogle Scholar
Steinmeyer, E Sievers, E 1879–98. Die Althochdeutschen Glossen, 4 vols, Berlin: WeidmannGoogle Scholar
Steuer, H 1987. ‘Gewichtsgeldwirtschaften im frühgeschichtlichen Europa’, in Untersuchungen zu Handel und Verkehr der vor- und frühgeschichtlichen Zeit in Mittel- und Nordeuropa 4: der Handel des frühen Mittelalters (ed K Düwel), 405–527, Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & RuprechtGoogle Scholar
Sutherland, C H V 1948. Anglo-Saxon Gold Coinage in the Light of the Crondall Hoard, London: Oxford University PressGoogle Scholar
Vang Petersen, P 1994. ‘Excavations on Gudme-sites with treasure finds 1984–91’, in Nielsen et al (eds) 1994, 30–40Google Scholar
Vierck, H E F 1965. ‘Some leading types of the Anglian province of culture, fifth to seventh centuries AD, with their oversea connections’ unpublished BLitt thesis, Oxford UniversityGoogle Scholar
Vierck, H E F 1977. ‘Zur relativen und absoluten Chronologie der anglischen Grabfunde in England’, in Archäologische Beiträge zur Chronologie der Völkerwanderungszeit (eds G Kossack and J Reichstein), 42–52, Bonn: HabeltGoogle Scholar
Voss, O 1954. ‘The Høstentorp silver hoard and its period: a study of a Danish find of scrap silver from about 500 AD’, Acta Archaeologica, 25, 171–219Google Scholar
Webster, L 2000. ‘Ideal and reality: versions of treasure in the early Anglo-Saxon world’, in Treasure in the Medieval West (ed E M Tyler), 49–59, Woodbridge: York Medieval PressGoogle Scholar
Williams, G 2006. ‘The circulation and function of coinage in Conversion-period England, c AD 580–675’, in Cook and Williams (eds) 2006, 145–92Google Scholar
Witthöft, H 1984. Münzfuß, Kleingewichte, pondus Caroli und die Grundlegung des nordeuropäischen Mass- und Gewichtwesens in fränkischer Zeit, Ostfildern: Scripta Mercaturae VerlagGoogle Scholar
Wormald, P 1999. The Making of English Law: King Alfred to the twelfth century, Oxford: BlackwellGoogle Scholar
Wrede, F (ed) 1913. Stamm-Heyne’s Ulfilas, Paderborn: Ferdinand SchöningGoogle Scholar
Zupitza, J (ed) 1880. Ælfrics Grammatik und Glossar, Berlin: WeidmannGoogle Scholar