Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 17.djvu/714

Rh 656 NUMISMATICS [ENGLAND. fall, is commemorated in this last series, unequalled in its class for completeness. The designs, notwithstanding their false classical style and that mannerism which appears to be essential to modern French art, are executed with great care and skill. England. The English coinage begins with two uncertain classes, which, wherever struck, certainly formed the currency of the country during the interval from the departure of the Romans, about 450 A.D., until the issue of money with royal names by the Saxon kings, towards the end of the 8th century. One of these classes con sists of imitations of the latest Roman copper money, and the other of the small silver pieces to which the name of sccattas is applied, having rude types which are sometimes of Roman origin, but some times original, and occasionally with Runic inscriptions. The former were first issued and then the latter. The regular coinage begins no doubt under the so-called Heptarchy. There is money of the king doms of Mercia, Kent, the East Angles, and Northumbria. The chief coins are silver pennies, but sceattas also occur ; and of Northumbria there are stycas, which are pieces of a base metal in the composition of which copper is the largest ingredient. The most interesting coins of this group are those of Ofi a, king of Mercia ; these are silver pennies, remarkable for their quaint designs and their relatively careful execution. Of this period, but extending into the earlier part of that of the sole monarchs, there are coins issued by the archbishops of Canterbury and York. The money of the sole monarchs, whether Saxons or Danes, is strictly a continuation of that of the Heptarchy ; it consists almost wholly of silver pennies, which latterly were cut into halves and quarters to form halfpennies and farthings. Under the Normans and earlier Plantagenets the same coinage continues ; but under Edward III. there is regular gold money, of which the chief piece is the noble of six shillings and eightpence ; and the silver groat now appears. The obverse type of the noble, representing the king in a ship, probably com memorates Edward s victory over the French fleet oif Sluys in 1340. At this time there is a visible improvement in the art of the coin age, which moves with the succession of styles until the close of the Tudor age. Of Henry VIII. we have gold and silver coins of most existing denominations, as well as of earlier ones long since abandoned. The finest piece is the sovereign, a large flat coin of gold, bearing on its obverse the figure of the king (whence its name) on his throne. The reign of Queen Elizabeth marks the transition from the Gothic to the modern style and the introduction of the new method of coining with the use of the mill. The coinage of Charles I. presents great varieties owing to the civil war. The scarcity of gold in the royal treasury during the troubles induced the king to coin twenty- and ten-shilling pieces of silver, in addition to the crowns and smaller denominations. One of the most remark able of his pieces is a crown struck at Oxford. It bears on the obverse the king on horseback, with a representation of the town beneath the horse, and on the reverse the heads of the Oxford Declaration.&quot; Of equal interest are the siege-pieces of many castles famous in the annals of those days. The coinage of the Common wealth is of a plainness proper to the principles of those who sanc tioned it. The great Protector, however, caused money to be designed of his own bearing his head. It is not certain that this was ever sent forth, and it is therefore put in the class of patterns. Simon, the chief of English medallists, designed the coins which are unequalled in the whole series for the vigour of the portrait (a worthy presentment of the head of Cromwell) and the beauty and fitness of every portion of the work. Henceforward there is a decline in the coinage, although skill is perceived in the portrait of William III., whose grand features could scarcely have failed to stimulate an artist to more than a common effort. Queen Anne s money is also worthy of note, on account of the attempt, on Dean Swift s suggestion, to commemorate current history on the copper coinage, which led to the issue of the famous farthings. These have been the cause of an extraordinary delusion, to the effect that a very small number (some say three) of these pieces were struck, and that their value is a thousand pounds each, instead of usually some shillings. In consequence many imitations have been forged, and such are constantly brought to collectors by unfortunate labourers and the like, who imagine that they possess the greatest numis matic treasure in the world. After this there is little to remark, except the baseness of the art of the coins under the first three Georges, until the genius of Pistrucci gave a worthier form to the currency. Besides the regal coinage there is scarcely any baronial money, the class being represented by a few pieces, generally struck by personages of the royal house, and all belonging to the period of the close of the Norman line and the beginning of the Plantagenet. The English medals are far more interesting for their bearing on events than as works of art. The best are almost all by foreigners, but the fine pieces of the Simons form notable exceptions. The medals of the Tudors are good in style, and show some excellent portraits, in particular those by Trezzo and Stephen of Holland. There is one of Mary Queen of Scots by Primavera, representing her in middle life, which is perhaps her most characteristic portrait. Elizabeth s are of historical importance, and the same is the case with the richer series of the Stuart period, often of fine style. These include works by &quot;Warm, the Simons, and the Roettiers, besides th excellent coin engravers Briot and Rawlins. The most curiou.-i pieces are those popular issues relating to current events, such as the so-called &quot;Popish plot.&quot; From this time there are no works deserving notice except military and naval medals, the historical interest of which makes some amends for their poverty of design and execution. The English tokens form a curious class. They are of two periods : the earlier, wli^eh are generally of copper, were issued at the middle of the 17th century and somewhat later ; the later, which are mainly of copper, were struck during the scarcity of the royal coinage in this metal at the end of the last century, and during the earlier years of the present century. Both were chiefly coined by tradesmen, and bear their names. The colonial money of England was until lately unimportant, but now it is not unworthy of the wealth and activity of the dependencies. The money struck by the English kings for their French dominions forms a peculiar class, mainly French in its character, termed the Anglo- Gallic. This may be used to fill some gaps in the regal series of England ; for instance, it supplies us with money of Richard I., of whom no English coins bearing his name are known. The coinage of Scotland is allied to that of England, although Scot- generally ruder ; but it seems to have been more influenced in the land, early period from England, and towards its close from France. The oldest pieces are silver pennies or sterlings, resembling the contemporary English money, of the beginning of the 12th century. In the 15th and 16th centuries there is an important coinage, both in gold and silver, not the least interesting pieces being those of Queen Mary, many of which bear her portrait. The indifferent execution of the coins of this period is traceable to the disturbed state of the kingdom. The money of Ireland is more scanty and of less importance than Ireland, that of Scotland. The pieces most worthy of notice are the silver pennies of the early Danish kings. Of later times there is little that is interesting, except the forced currency of James II. during his attempt to maintain himself in the island. Belgium occupies the next place in our arrangement. Its coin- Belgium age comprises many pieces struck by foreign rulers, and has little and of an independent character in either the regal or the seignorial class. Holland. It closely resembles the money of France and Germany. The series of Holland is similar in character until the period of the revolt of the provinces. The medals are highly interesting, more especially those which were struck by the Protestants in commemoration of current events. Most of these are of silver, but a few are in gold. There is also a remarkable series of bronze medallets or jettons, which form a continuous commentary on history during the 16th and early part of the 17th centuries. Both are interesting, as largely illustrating not only local events but also those of the chief Euro pean states. Such are the pieces recording the raising of the siege of Leyden, likened to the destruction of Sennacherib s army, the assassination of. William the Silent, and the discomfiture of the Armada, affording striking indications of the zeal, the piety, and the confidence in the right which built up the great political struc ture of the Dutch republic. After this time the medals lose much of their interest. The money of Switzerland illustrates the varying fortunes ofSvvitzer- this central state, and the gradual growth of the stronghold of laud. European freedom. First we have the gold money of the Frankish kings, among whose mints Basel, Lausanne, St Maurice, Sitten (Sion), and Zurich already appear. The silver deniers, which Charle magne made the coinage of the empire, are issued by fewer mints ; the dukes of Swabia struck coins in Switzerland, and the empire granted during the 10th and to the 13th century the right of coinage to various ecclesiastical foundations, bishoprics, and abbeys. Bern and Zofingen were allowed mints by the emperor Frederick II., and the civic coinage of Switzerland then began in the period of the bracteates. Other towns gained the same right, as well as the counts of Kyburg, Hapsburg, &c. The 14th century witnessed the rise of the Swiss confederation, and by degrees the cantons struck their own money. These, together with the coins of some few sees and abbacies, form the bulk of Swiss money of the mediteval and modern periods. The separate cantonal coinage, interrupted by the French occupation, was finally suppressed in 1848, when a uni form currency was adopted by the whole republic. The monetary systems of the cantonal and ecclesiastical mints were extremely com plicated. This was partly due to the variety of coins, partly to the debasement practised by the ecclesiastical mints. Geneva had a peculiar system of her own. The most interesting coinages are those of Basel (the see, can ton, and city), Bern, a large series, the see of Chur, the abbey of St Gallon, the great issue of Geneva (the bishopric, the city, and the canton), the see of Lausanne, Lucerne, the Forest Cantons, the bishopric of Sitten, and the long currency of Zurich. Some of the earlier large coins of the Middle Ages, particularly thalers, are interesting for their bold work and their sacred and heraldic sub jects. Throughout the Swiss series we are awakened to a higher than archa ological sentiment by the traditions and records of two great periods, the age when the Irish missionaries planted the