page_title: History of the English penny (1154–1485)
section_title: Edwardian coins
hierarchical_section_title: History of the English penny (1154–1485) / The Plantagenets (1154–1485) / Edwardian coins
caption_attribution_description: Edward I, Longshanks, (born June 17, 1239, Westminster, Middlesex, Eng. — died July 7, 1307, Burgh by Sands, near Carlisle, Cumberland) King of England (1272 – 1307). The eldest son of Henry III, he supported his father in a civil war with the barons, but his violent temper contributed to Henry's defeat at the Battle of Lewes (1264). Edward triumphed over the rebels in the following year when he defeated them and slew their leader at Evesham. Edward joined the abortive Crusade of Louis IX of France (the Eighth Crusade) in 1271 – 72, then returned to England to succeed his father. His reign was a time of rising national consciousness, in which he strengthened the crown against the nobility. He fostered the development of Parliament and played an important role in defining English common law. He conquered Wales (1277) and crushed Welsh uprisings against English rule, but his conquest of Scotland (1296), including the defeat of William Wallace, was undone by later revolts. He expelled the Jews from England in 1290; they would not be readmitted until 1655. He died on a campaign against Robert I, who had proclaimed himself king of Scotland the previous year.
context_page_description: This is the history of the English penny from the years 1154 to 1485.
context_section_description: King Edward I (1272–1307) succeeded his father while on Crusade in the Holy Land. Coin production had to continue while the king made his seven-year journey home, so long-cross pennies inscribed HENRICUS REX III continued to be produced at the Bury St Edmunds, Durham, and London mints. As Edward made his way home he concluded an important wool-trade treaty in the Netherlands, which indicated the importance of foreign trade at that time. He also acknowledged the need to improve the style and fineness of English coins to avoid the poor-quality coins which had sometimes appeared during earlier reigns and shaken public confidence in the currency. There was also a need for larger and smaller denominations since the penny had not changed much in 500 years, so the groat (4d), halfpenny, and farthing were successfully introduced. Finally there was the problem of clipping, for which the Jews were blamed.
  In response to all these pressures, a completely new coinage was struck in 1279 with a different design which made clipping much easier to detect. Millions of coins were struck at London and Canterbury and the public could take their old, underweight short- and long-cross pennies to the mint and exchange them for new coins of the correct weight and fineness. This exchange also served as a form of taxation as moneyers were required to charge a fee for the service. The new coins were much admired in Europe and were extensively copied there, often with poorer fineness silver – but this only made Edward's coins even more popular and severely drained the local supply of silver such that the export of English coins was forbidden in 1299. The strong, good-quality coins strengthened the economy and brought prosperity to the country. The 1279 penny was different from earlier issues in many ways. The king's bust is more lifelike, facing the front, and the legend on the obverse is longer, usually EDW REX ANGL DNS HYB – Edward King of England Lord of Ireland. The reverse had a long cross going to the edge of the coin; the moneyer's name is omitted except for one issue, but the name of the mint is usually given in full, e.g. CIVITAS LONDON City of London, or VILLA NOVI CASTRI Town of Newcastle. The new coins also contained a privy mark, small differences such as a rose on the king's breast, differences in the king's hair style, or an alteration in the size of the king's eyes, or the style of a letter; these differences were not caused by carelessness but to enable identification of the moneyer who produced the coin, in place of giving the moneyer's name.
  
  The crockards, pollards, and rosaries minted in Europe as debased forms of Edward's penny were first accepted as the legal equivalents of halfpence and then banned as counterfeit. The treasurer and justiciar of Ireland, Archbishop Stephen de Fulbourn, had permitted the use of similarly debased Dutch shillings as equivalent to pence. These became known as steepings, scaldings, and Bishop's money but were also banned, as were leonines, mitres, and eagles named for the images they bore.
  Coins of Edward II (1307–1327) were deliberately made very similar to those of his father. Edward I coins were minted at Berwick-upon-Tweed, Bristol, Bury St Edmunds, Canterbury, Chester, Durham, Exeter, Kingston-upon-Hull, Lincoln, London, Newcastle, Reading, and York. Edward II coins were only minted at Berwick, Bury St Edmunds, Canterbury, Durham, and London.
  King Edward III (1327–1377) succeeded his father at the age of 14. His reign was a period of conflict with Scotland and France, which is reflected in his coins. In the first part of Edwards' reign only a small quantity of pennies was produced, in a similar style to those of his father. New gold coins – the noble, half noble, and the quarter noble – were introduced, followed later by the silver groat or fourpence which became very popular and eventually superseded the penny in importance, together with the half groat which was also popular. Together with the production of half pennies and farthings, England had at last an adequate supply of varying denomi
caption: Edward I Penny, Minted: London Only, Class: 1d2, Year Minted: Nov 1279.
exif: {"Image Make": "FUJIFILM", "Image Model": "FinePix F30", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Corel Photo Album 6", "Image DateTime": "2010:02:16 12:35:22", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image Copyright": "", "Image ExifOffset": "233", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "1295", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "9504", "Thumbnail YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/70", "EXIF FNumber": "14/5", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Normal", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "200", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0220", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2010:02:16 13:31:24", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2010:02:16 13:31:24", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "2", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "611/100", "EXIF ApertureValue": "3", "EXIF BrightnessValue": "13/4", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "3", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "8", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "1292", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "1332", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "1154", "EXIF FocalPlaneXResolution": "3703", "EXIF FocalPlaneYResolution": "3703", "EXIF FocalPlaneResolutionUnit": "3", "EXIF SensingMethod": "One-chip color area", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF Sharpness": "Normal", "EXIF SubjectDistanceRange": "0"}