The Winchester Mint: and Coins and Related Finds from the Excavations of 1961-71 (Winchester Studies) - Hardcover

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0198131720 ISBN 13: 9780198131724

Publisher: Oxford University Press, 2012

Synopsis

Over three and a half centuries from the 880s to 1250, moneyers working in Winchester produced at the very least 24 million silver pennies. About five and a half thousand survive in national and local museums and private collections all over the world and have been sought out, photographed (some 3200 coins in 6400 images detailing both sides), and minutely catalogued by Yvonne Harvey for this volume. During the period from late in the reign of Alfred to the time of Henry III, dies for striking the coins were produced centrally under royal authority in the most sophisticated system of monetary control at the time in the western world. In this first account of a major English mint to have been made in forty years, a team of leading authorities have studied and analysed the use the Winchester moneyers made of the dies, and together with the size, weight, and the surviving number of coins from each pair of dies, have produced a detailed account of the varying fortunes of the mint over this period. Their results are critical for the economic history of England and the changing status of Winchester over this long period, and provide the richest available source for the history of the name of the city and the personal names of its citizens in the later Anglo-Saxon period.

About this title

About the Author

The general editor of the Winchester series, Martin Biddle, is an archaeologist with a particular interest in towns. He has excavated at Winchester, Repton, and St Albans, and at Qasr Ibrim in Nubia, and in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. Biddle has been the Director of the Winchester Research Unit since 1968 and is Emeritus Professor of Medieval Archaeology at Oxford.

Review

This book is not only a major contribution to the study of the issues of the Winchester mint over a period of 400 years but also to the study of Anglo-Saxon numismatics in the specific context of Winchester and also the wider be a worthy template for any similar studies * Peter A. Clayton, The Journal of the London Numismatic Club * [the editors] deserve unstinting praise ... splendid * Hugh Pagan, Spink's Numismatic Circular * Everything within this volume is well documented, clearly presented by expert authors, and illustrated to a very high standard ... [it] will continue to be important and relevant as a foundation for much further work for many years to come. Any collector or scholar of the period should have a copy on their shelf. * Andrew Woods, The British Numismatic Journal * This is high-quality scholarship: the contributors provide a roll call of the great medieval numismatists of the 20th century starting with Christopher Blunt. ... This is no hasty ... compilation: in its measured way it carries the Winchester story forward and, after mature reflection and further research, adjusts what was said at the time of the excavations. * Tom Beaumont James, Journal of Medieval Archaeology *

Edition details

• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Publication date: 2012
• ISBN 10: 0198131720
• ISBN 13: 9780198131724
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 768
• Editor: Biddle Martin