Once I was a clever boy learning the arts of Oxford... is a quotation from the verses written by Bishop Richard Fleming (c.1385-1431) for his tomb in Lincoln Cathedral. Fleming, the founder of Lincoln College in Oxford, is the subject of my research for a D. Phil., and, like me, a son of the West Riding. I have remarked in the past that I have a deeply meaningful on-going relationship with a dead fifteenth century bishop... it was Fleming who, in effect, enabled me to come to Oxford and to learn its arts, and for that I am immensely grateful.


Thursday 4 April 2024

A purse full of coins from circa 1240


A interesting hoard of silver coins found at Watton in Norfolk is reported upon by the BBC News website. It has been declared to be treasure and it is hoped that a museum will acquire it. 

The sixty nine coins are all short cross pennies - in some cases literally divided into half pennies and quarter pennies - and no later in date than 1247 when the recoinage resulted in short cross pennies giving way to long cross pennies. Given that they include issues of the Angevin kings starting in 1180 as well as of King Henry III, and three of King William the Lion of Scots, they indicate the range of coins someone could expect to handle at the time.
 
My old Oxford acquaintance Adrian Marsden is the numismatic expert who has commented on the find in the article and suggests it may have been a purse belonging to a trader.



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