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Medieval Silver Pennies Struck All Over EuropeMedieval silver pennies, descended from the ubiquitous denarius of the Roman Empire, were small, hammer struck, with simple designs that evolved slowly over time.The coin pictured above is a silver penny struck for King Cnut in Britain during the 11th century. Below you will see more examples of medieval silver pennies of English, French, and German origin.
The leftmost coin, called a sceat, was struck in Britain between 685 and 705 AD for King Aldfrith of Northumbria. The sceat was one of the earliest penny weight coins to follow the Roman denarius. The denarii remained in circulation long after the Romans departed Britain. Eventually their numbers dwindled to the point that the locals were required to produce their own coins to preserve liquidity. Referring again to the photo, second from the left is another British penny, struck between 757 and 796 for Offa, a Saxon King of Mercia. Next is a denier, a silver penny from France, struck at the Le Mans mint for Charles The Bald between 864 and 875. The rightmost coin is a 12th century German pfennig struck for the Archbishops at Freisach. Notice that although the designs differ, each of these coins is of similar weight, between 1 and 2 grams. Except for the sceat, the coins are rather thin. As the medieval age wore on, the silver pennies of many parts of the European continent adopted similar design elements, namely, a symbolic portrait of the King on the obverse, and a cross on the reverse. Typically the coins bore legends (inscriptions) indicating the king’s name and the mint of origin that circled these designs.
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