The Introduction & Development of the Groat in Medieval England, Edward I & Edward III. Part I.
by Ivan Buck
Edward III Pre-Treaty Period (1351-1361) Transitional-Treaty Period(1361) Treaty Period (1361-69) Post-Treaty Period (1369-77)
This article first appeared in Coins & Antiquities Nov.1998 Vol.1 & is reproduced with the kind permission of Ivan Buck and Greenlight Publishing Ltd. Ivan and I (Mike Vosper) are numismatic colleagues and as some of you may be aware we attend numismatic shows, fairs and societies together. As you will see from the article below, Ivan and I would be interested in receiving any correspondence from you regarding Groats or any other numismatic related subjects.
Prior to the reign of Edward I, who was on the throne from 1272 to 1307, the largest denomination of coin in circulation was the silver penny, some- times known as the "Sterling". This circulated alongside its cut fractions and a few rarely encountered round halfpennies and farthings.
The only exception to this was the extremely rare gold piece of Henry III, usually referred to as the "gold penny of twenty pence". However, it is most unlikely that the coin was ever intended for general circulation, and in any case only a handful of them are known to exist.
Figs. 1. & 2.
Obverse and reverse of Edward I groat struck at 89 grains.
Longman's dictionary defines the groat thus: "Noun, a former British coin worth four pence". Longman goes on to say that in archaic times it meant "a small amount of little value", and quotes the expression "not worth a groat". I doubt if the good people of early Edwardian times would have agreed. For many of them it could represent a week's wages or even more.
In Ruding's, Annals of the Coinage of Great Britain under the date 1227 Grafton is recorded as saying that "A Parliament was holden in London in which it was ordered that The English Grote should be coined at a certeine weighte, and of the one side the Kings picture, and on the other side a cross, as large fully as the Grote to advoyd [avoid] clippying".
There is another account in 1249, again according to Grafton, "The King summoned a Parliament at London, in the which it was enacted that a coyne of a certeign weight of silver called a Grote, should be stamped and that it should have on the one side the picture of the Kings face, and on the other a crosse extended in length to the extreem parts thereof, to the extent there should be no deceyt used by diminishing or clipping the same".
Ruding says that during the reign of Edward I, William de Turnmire, of Marseilles was appointed to the office of Master of the Mint in England, under an agreement dated Thursday the Feast of the Conception of the Blessed Mary, in the eighth year of Edward's reign (i.e. 8 December 1279). Amongst other things it was agreed that Master William should make great Sterling ('grossus sterlingus') to the value of four lesser sterling.
Some of these quotes may seem contradictory, particularly with regard to dates. Also, we must remember that the work of Ruding is long out of date and is not now considered to be totally reliable, based as it is in many cases on the work of others. However, it would be very foolish to discount the written word entirely.
I had first hand experience of this when I was privileged to handle the very first round short cross halfpenny. I was able to arrange its sale to The British Museum, and it is now illustrated in Seaby's (now Spink's) Standard Catalogue reference 1357D. Prior to the discovery of this piece by a detectorist a few years ago, it was thought that only cut halves and quarters existed, even though Ruding records that dies for the issue of round farthings and halfpennies were prepared. Ruding had even recorded the names of the moneyers to whom the dies were issued, namely Terri, Elis, Ilger, and Rauf all of whom were working at the London Mint. Sure enough, the halfpenny that I handled carried the name of Terri and recent finds of both the halfpenny and the farthing have carried all these names. So, once again, we should never totally disregard the evidence of the written word.
As we have seen, the first groat was duly issued during the reign of Edward I and it was at a weight of 89 grains. (See Figs. 1. & 2.). The obverse design has a representation of the King's head within a tressure of four arcs, all within the legend EDWARDUS DI GRA REX ANG (Edward, by the Grace of God, King of England). The reverse features a long cross to the edge of the coin, as specified by Parliament, and the three pellets in each quarter are surrounded by two legends. The outer legend reads DNS HIBNE DUX AQUT (Lord of Ireland, Duke of Aquitaine). The inner legend is LONDONIA CIVI (City of London).
Based mainly on Fox's work, North specifies nine or ten varieties but none of these are plentiful. Bearing in mind that each die was hand made using a series of small punches it is not surprising that many varieties exist throughout the series of groats, particularly during the prolific reign of Henry VI. (I hope to be able to go into greater detail about these in a later article).
It would be wrong to leave the groats of Edward I without mention of the fact that most of those found have been made into a brooch or badge. This involves the defacement, or mounting, on the obverse; and the reverse side with the cross gilded. The treatment of the coins in this way probably had some religious significance, as the brooch is worn with the gilded side on view. This gliding can be removed; however, it is my contention that as this is the way that most of these groats are found .... and were used at the end of their short life .... it is the way they should remain. It is part of their history and a part of their charm. There is certainly no possibility that I would remove the gilding from the reverse of my specimen, which was bought as a detector find from a London dealer some fifteen years ago.
In any case the coin was not popular and was soon discontinued.
Edward III
By the time of the reign of Edward III, who was on the throne from 1327 to 1377, there was a much more comprehensive range of coinage available including several issues in gold. By 1351 the need for the groat was paramount and they were again issued, but this time at a weight of 72 grains, with the halfgroats, pence, halfpence and farthings weighing in pro rata.
The Treaty of Bretigni was signed in 1360, and as a result of this the title to the Kingdom of France was returned to the French, but this treaty came to an end in 1369. As a result of these activities there were a number of separate coinages and four of these included the groats.
Pre-Treaty Period (1351 to 1361)
We first become interested at the start of the fourth
coinage of 1351 to 1377 and in particular the Pre-Treaty Period of 1351 to 1361. At this point groats were being
struck in York as well as at London, and the groats carried the French title. Normally there were nine arcs to
the tressure instead of the four around the head of Edward I, and the points of the tressures are variously fleured
or have trefoils upon them. The obverse legend usually
reads: EDWARD D.G. REX ANGL Z FRANC D HYB (Edward, by the Grace Of God King of England and France, Lord of Ireland).
The reverse has the usual three dots in each of the
four quarters, with an inner legend declaring where the coin was struck, for example CIVITAS LONDON (City of London).
The outer
legend is always POSUI DEUM ADIUTOREM MEUM or abbreviations thereof (I have made God My Helper).
I find the best reference for this series is the work of L.A. Lawrence, published in the Numismatic Chronicle and produced by The Royal Numismatic Society for issue to members. Lawrence goes into the series in very great detail but for our purposes it is only necessary to refer to Seaby's (now Spink's) Coins of England (of necessity a very simplified reference, but most useful all the same).
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1. 1351-2 Cross 1
2. 1352-3 Cross 1 broken
3. 1354-5 Cross 2
4. 1356-61 Cross 3
5. 1361-9 Cross potent
6. 1334-51 Cross pattee
7. 1369-77 Plain cross
8. 1356 Crown
The series in the main are identified by the style of the letters as well as by the mint mark. At the London mint the six basic series are designated by the letters B through to G (there is no series A groat at present).
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Figs. 3a. & 3b.
Edward III groat struck at 72 grains. Series B, mint mark cross 1. Letters C and E open, Roman M's.
Series B of 1351 (see Figs. 3a. & 3b.) has cross 1 as a mint mark and is best identified by the Roman Ms in the reverse legend at the end of DEVM and in MEVM. Also the letters C and E are open, as opposed to closed in other series. There is a very rare, or perhaps even unique issue, that has a crown in each of the four quarters.
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Figs. 4a. & 4b.
Edward III groat struck at 72 grains. Series C, mint mark cross 1.
Letters C and E closed. Lombardic M. Letter R has wedge-shaped tail.
Series C (see Figs. 4a. & 4b.), issued in both 1351 and 1352, has Lombardic Ms, closed Cs and Es, and an R with a wedge-shaped tail. The mint mark is again cross 1.
Series D. This issue of 1352 to 1353 has as its mint mark either cross 1 or cross 2. Cross 2 is the same as cross 1 but is broken away at the bottorn right hand corner - the result of a broken punch. Letters are the same as series C except that the R has a normal tail.
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Figs. 5a. & 5b.
Edward III groat struck at 72 grains. Series E, mint mark cross 2. Broken letters, nick in V.
Series E (see Figs. 5a. & 5b.). Issued from 1354 to 1355 and as plentiful as class C. It is distinguished by a series of broken letters, again the result of the punches showing signs of wear and tear. On the reverse legend the letter V on the inner circle often has a nick in the right hand limb. The mint mark is again cross 2. There is a less common example, which has a fleur-de-lis on the breast, and on the tressures. (See Fig. 5c.)
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Fig. 5c.
Edward III groat. Series E, fleur-de-lis on breast and on the tressures.
Series F of 1356 is a most distinctive issue having a crown as its mint mark. This is the first instance where a device other than the various forms of the cross is utilised, apart from the lion used by Beaumont on the pence of Edward II at the ecclesiastical mint at Durham.
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Figs. 6a. & 6b.
Edward III groat, struck at 72 grains. Series G, mint mark cross 3. Annulet under bust and in third quarter.
Series G was issued from 1356 to 1361, is prolific, and there are many varieties. Having cross 3 as mint mark, it usually has an annulet in one quarter of the reverse and also sometimes under the bust, between the tressure and the inner circle (see Figs. 6a. & 6b.).
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Figs. 7a. & 7b.
Edward III groat of York struck at 72 grains. Series E, CIVITAS EBORACI.
Up to now we have examined the groats from the London mint. However, coins were also being struck at York where Archbishop Thoresby held the See, and had authority to coin small change, but not the groat. Both series D and series E groats were duly struck on the King's behalf with an inner legend of CIVITAS EBORACI (City of York); however, all other identification points are the same as those relating to the groats of London. The groats of series E (see Figs. 7a. & 7b.) are quite common but those from series D are much more difficult to come by.
Although this article is an introduction to the groat series, in the case of the coinage of Edward III all the comments made up to this point apply equally to the halfgroat series.
Transitional-Treaty Period (1361)
In 1360 the Treaty of Bretigni was signed. Edward no longer had jurisdiction over France and his claim to France was dropped from the legend of the coinage .... but only until 1369.
England needed a cross Channel trading base and this was achieved by another treaty with France which enabled England to use Calais, where a mint was established and coins were struck in gold as well as silver.
As has been indicated, the Transitional Treaty Period groats of 1361 had the French title omitted and these coins are scarce. It will be noted that the punch sizes for the lettering are of irregular size. The mint mark in use is the cross potent.
The groats still had no French title, but new letter punches were used in the legends. The X in REX on the obverse is usually of the Treaty type, but occasionally occurs in the form of the curule chair. The mint mark remains unchanged and is still the cross potent.
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Figs. 8a, & 8b.
Edward III Treaty Period, still at 72 grains, No French title. Treaty X. Mint mark cross potent.
The London pieces have many varieties (see Figs. 8a. & 8b), some have an annulet before Edward and a few have an annulet on the breast.
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Figs. 9a & 9b.
Edward III Treaty Period still at 72 grains. Calais mint, VILLA CALISIE. Treaty X. Mint mark cross potent.
The pieces from the Calais mint are scarce and have for the first time the reverse inner legend of VILLA CALESIE (see Figs. 9a. & 9b). In all other respects the legends are identical to those from London.
Post-Treaty Period (1369 to 1377)
This last coinage of the reign of Edward III ran from 1369 until the King's death in 1377. The French title has been resumed on the obverse legend, the X in REX is in the form of St. Andrews cross, and the mint marks are either cross pattee, cross potent or the plain cross (see Figs. 10a. & 10b.)
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Figs: 10a. & 10b.
Edward III Post Treaty period, 72 French title resumed. St. Andrews cross. Mint mark cross pattee. Pellets by central
fleur on crown.
There are an assortment of readings of the obverse and the reverse legend and some specimens have a pair of pellets, one on each side of the central fleur of the King's crown. One scarce issue has a row of pellets across the King's breast to signify chain mail.
The final, and perhaps the rarest, issue of Edward III has a row of annulets below the bust, again to signify chain mail and this looks more realistic. The mint mark is cross potent with four pellets.
In the next article I will cover the last of the Plantaganets, King Richard II, and pick up the story of the groats, still at 72 grains. I will then move on to the House of Lancaster and the reigns of Henry IV and Henry V when the weight of the coinage was reduced, and the groat was retariffed at 60 grains.
In the meantime, in anticipation of a future article, I would be very pleased to receive details of any coins of Henry VI. In particular any groats that readers may have which display examples of die sinkers errors, together with any theories as to how the error came about, or any logical reasons why the 'error' should have been deliberately made.
This article first appeared in Coins & Antiquities
Nov.1998 Vol.1 & is reproduced with the kind permission of Ivan Buck and Greenlight Publishing Ltd. Ivan and
I (Mike Vosper) are numismatic colleagues and as some of you may be aware we attend numismatic shows, fairs and
societies together. As you will have see from the above article, Ivan and I would be interested in receiving any
correspondence from you regarding Groats or any other numismatic related subjects.
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