Coenwulf, King of Mercia, portrait Penny, Canterbury Mint, moneyer Swefherd

Coenwulf (796-821), King of Mercia, silver Penny, portrait type, Canterbury, group IVF (c.810-820), moneyer Swefheard, diademed portrait right extending to bottom of coin, linear circle surrounds head, legend and toothed border surrounding, +COENVVLF REX ო, rev. cross fourchée with pellet in each angle, legend and toothed border surrounding, +SVVEFHERD MONETA, weight 1.29g (BMC 80; Naismith C43c; SCBI 16:96 Norweb this coin; B.L.S. 62d; N.353; S.916). Toned, a little unevenly on obverse, extremely fine and rare

Blunt Lyon and Stewart (B.L.S.) writing in the British Numismatic Journal volume 32, 1963, pages 1-74, The Coinage of Southern England 796-840 list this coin as 62d for Coenwulf. The coin was written up by R. C. Lockett in the Numismatic Chronicle of 1915 in "Hoard of Anglo-Saxon Pennies found in Dorsetshire where this coin is listed on page 337, number 2 and illustrated on plate XVII.

Coenwulf became King of Mercia on the unexpected death of Ecgfrith the son of Offa in December 796, allegedly the son of Cuthbert descendent of Penda, and he soon earned a reputation as being unprincipled and ruthless. Early on Eadberht Praen had rebelled in Kent causing Archbishop Aethelheard to flee and Coenwulf therefore petitioned Pope Leo III to move the Archbishopric to London which was refused. Coenwulf invaded Kent in 798 and removed Eadberht and Aethelheard was restored as Archbishop of Canterbury, and the See remained under control for the next three decades, with Coenwulf's brother Cuthred as the King of Kent. Coenwulf entered a Treaty with Beorhtric of Wessex in 799 the latter clearly as the junior partner and Coenwulf removed or enforced vassalage of East Anglia around 800. He was soon styling himself as "Emperor" like Charlemagne on the continent, the first use of such a title by a British King. Other military clashes were quelled with Northumbria in 801 and the Welsh borders in 798 and later resumed in 820. Coenwulf also abandoned the Mercian See at Lichfield that Offa had set up with its one and now only Bishop, and instead attempted to set up a new Bishop for London but was refused by Rome. When Coenwulf took full control of Kent in 807 on the death of Cuthred he fell into dispute with Archbishop Wulfred over the church lands, who went to Rome to win Papal backing for the claims returning in 815 to take those lands, however Coenwulf expelled Wulfred by taking control of Canterbury and there was no Archbishop in situ for some six years, though Coenwulf did allow Wulfred back on the demand of Pope Paschal as long as he did not assert any authority.

It was whilst preparing for a second raid of Wales in 821 that Coenwulf died, his son Coenhelm having been recently murdered in the Clent Hills in some sort of family feud. Coenwulf was the last great King of Mercia as his overlord-ship of southern England subsequently collapsed within two years of his passing.

The obverse legend translates as "Coenwulf King of Mercia" and the reverse with moneyer name "Swefherd Moneyer"

Provenance:

Found as part of the Dorset Hoard, Blandford Forum area, before 1915, inventory number 125.

Ex Richard Cyril Lockett, English part I, 6^th June 1955, lot 373, sold for £44.

Ex Commander R. P. Mack, collection sold privately to Spink 1956.

Ex Mrs E. M. H. Norweb, English Collection part I, Spink Coin Auction 45, 13^th June 1985, lot 24.

Ex Spink Australia, Auction 27, 2^nd March 1989, lot 1240

Ex Allan Williams Collection, part I, Spink Coin Auction, 27^th March 2018, lot 28.

Ex Collection of an English Doctor, part one, Sovereign Rarities, London, March 2022.