Norwegian Collections : Part II. Anglo-Saxon and Later British Coins, 1016-1279

The Anglo-Saxon and British coins found in Norway give us an insight into Viking raiding, trading and tribute, and coin use in Norway. This fully illustrated catalogue of Anglo-Saxon and British coins (from 1016 to 1279) in Norwegian museum collections will make the detailed study of them possible for the first time.

This volume publishes all the Anglo-Saxon and British coins in Norwegian museum collections that date from 1016 (the accession of Cnut) to 1279. It thus completes the two-part catalogue of over 4,200 coins (those of the Anglo-Saxon period to 1016 were published in volume 65 of the Sylloge of Coins of the British Isles) in eight museum collections.This important material is made available for analysis by archaeologists, historians and numismatists of the Viking Age and Anglo-Saxon England for the first time. Finds of English coins constitute some of the most important Norwegian evidence for Viking activity, and for economic life in Norway before the first royal coinage was issued by King Harald Hardrada in the mid-eleventh century. Anglo-Saxon coins made their way to Norway in such numbers through Viking raiding activity, trade and payments of tribute over many years; consequently these collections provide a broad perspective of the late Anglo-Saxon coinage. The volume also includes significant groups of Anglo-Scandinavian and Hiberno-Scandinavian imitative coins, six Scottish and one Irish coin. Rarities include two Hiberno-Manx coins, and further coins from the B. F. Brekke collection of Anglo-Scandinavian imitative coins. Appendices summarise information on the very small fragments from hoards, which are exceptionally well preserved in the Norwegian collections. Cumulative indexes of mints and moneyers include all the coins published in both volumes.