Page:VCH Leicestershire 1.djvu/310

 A HISTORY OF LEICESTERSHIRE neighbourhood of Ratae may have submitted to Ethelbert of Kent (560-616), whose empire extended to the Humber, but before his time there were probably but few Anglian settlers in the Soar valley, and the Romano-British population was probably unconscious of the coming invasion or helpless to resist it. There are no relics from the county that can be definitely traced to Kentish workshops, and so far not a single specimen of the typical West- Saxon brooch of saucer shape is recorded. As this type occurs frequently in the valley of the Warwickshire Avon, in Northants, and the counties to the south, we may assume that Cuthwulf's conquests did not extend north of Buckingham, which was overrun from the south in 571. In the matter of dialect, the whole of Leicestershire belongs to what is known as the eastern south-midland district, including Shropshire east of Wem and the Severn, Staffordshire south of Stone, a slip on the north of Worcestershire, most of Warwickshire, and the south point of Derbyshire, all these being just to the north of a line beyond which the southern pronun- ciation of the test-word 'some,' sum, is not heard. 66 Philological evidence is therefore in striking agreement with what can be deduced from the archaeo- logical material in the county. Though less important from the ethnological point of view, mention must be made in conclusion of the Leicester mint, which seems to have been founded by Edgar (95975). Though not mentioned in Athelstan's Regu- lation of Mints, A.D. 929, it was evidently maintained by Canute and his successors down to the Norman Conquest. It is a question whether certain coins of Athelstan should be attributed to Leicester or Chester ; and the probability that many of the doubtful pieces belong to Leicester is increased by the fact that Derby and Nottingham, belonging to the same confederation of the Five Burghs, were privileged to strike coins in his reign. 66 55 A. J. Ellis, English dialects, their sounds and homes, p. 101 and map. 56 Numismatic Chron. (Ser. 3), xi, 1 6 ; B.M. Cal. of Eng. Coins, ii, Iv. Local moneyers represented in the Chancton hoard are given in Assoc. Arch. Soc. Rff. xii, 140. 2 4 2