Edward the Confessor, 1042-1066, sovereign & eagles penny, Ulfcetl of York, ex-Elmore Jones

Session 1

Abstracts – Session 1

1. Megan Gooch
‘Monetary circulation in tenth-century Viking York’
Coins were made and used in Viking York and its surrounding kingdom, but it is unclear to what geographical extent coins were used and how far Viking society of the tenth century was monetised. By looking at coin hoards, single finds and documentary evidence to understand where coins were found, how they were used and how many were in circulation, the functions of coinage in the Viking economy can be elucidated and compared to the situation in neighbouring kingdoms.
 
2. Andy Woods
‘The Production of coinage in C11 Dublin’
Degraded Imitation? Assessing Coin production in late Viking-Age Dublin
Unhelpfully described as 'reduced weight' or 'degraded' imitations and with unintelligible legends, the coinage of eleventh- and twelfth-century Dublin is often unfairly overlooked.

This paper proposes to assess whether this is valid by considering the nature of coinage production in the late Viking Age. In doing so, it will draw upon a corpus of hoard data in addition to the finds from Dublin's extensive excavations.

The form of the coins themselves will be central, particularly the intensity and uniformity of their manufacture. The iconographical relationship between innovation and imitation will also be drawn into an analysis of Dublin's monetary economy.


3. Hendrik Mäkeler‘Globalised monetary systems of the Viking Age’
The medieval monetary system was globalised by and large, at least it covered most of the by then known world. However, the resulting implications have never been studied systematically before. Yet, there is a sincere economic interest in international monetary systems that were in exist before the idea of sovereignty arose: A globalised economy, where institutions and states alike are losing their power to steer capital flows, can profit a lot from lessons learned by societies a thousand years ago, equally lacking all-embracing power structures. This is especially valid for Viking Age monetary systems as Anglo-Saxon and German coinages circulated to a high degree far distant from their place of origin. The same is true for modern U.S.-Dollar-banknotes, too…