Aethelred II Penny, small CRVX type, trident sceptre, Cambridge Mint, Eadmund

Aethelred II (978-1016),silver Penny, small CRVX type (c.991-997), with trident sceptre and two extra pellets on reverse, Cambridge Mint, Moneyer Eadmund, draped bust left with trident style sceptre which penetrates drapery, linear circle and legend surrounding, commences at top, +ÆÐELRED REX ANGLOX rev.voided cross within linear circle, CRVX letters in consecutive angles, extra pellet next before C and after X, +EADMVND M-O GRAT, weight 1.05g (BMC III, p.199; BEH 606; cf. SCBI 1:641 Fitzwilliam; N.770; S.1149).Toned and free of any pecks, slight bend in flan, almost extremely fine and an extremely rare variant.

This coin is highly unusual to have pellets added before and after CRVX as well as an obverse with this "trident" headed sceptre. North lists 73 named mints in operation during the reign of Aethelred II with a further 14 unallocated. According to North Cambridge operates with 19 moneyers in all types except first small cross, second and Benediction hand.

Though Aethelred enjoyed such a long reign he was known as "The Unready" literally meaning ill-counselled from a history of bad advice and decision making. Born circa 967 Aethelred was supported by his mother and partisans that were led by Earl Aelfhere of Mercia; ascending the throne at no more than 12 years of age after the murder of his Half-Brother Edward at Corfe. The influential Aelfhere having died in 983 meant Aethelred became more vulnerable, and the Vikings began to start their raids once again. Aethelred chose to pay off the raiders rather than resist, becoming known for giving such ransoms payments willingly. This meant many hundreds of thousands of coins ended up being taken to Scandanavia where they were hoarded and why much of the coinage that survives today often exhibits "peck marks" where the Viking bankers have inserted a knife point to make sure the metal quality was good. The harrying continued until Swein Forkebeard held a great swathe of England by 1013, and Aethelred was under threat in London retreating to the Isle of Wight. England submitted to Swein but he died suddenly on the 2^nd February 1014 at Gainsborough giving Aethelred the advantage and driving the Vikings out. Canute the second son of Swein, returned to attack in 1015 and by early 1016 was marching on Mercia, Aethelred however passed away on 23^rd April 1016 in London at around the age of 52 just as his second son Edmund was moving south to link up with the army. Edmund was elected King, but the army was his priority, and after winning a few battles suffered a defeat at Ashingdon on 18^th October 1016. He retreated possibly wounded to West Mercia and negotiated a treaty giving him rule of Wessex. However, Edmund died in Oxford on the 30^th November 1016 giving control to Canute.

Cambridge was built beside a ford on the River Cam which was formerly known as the River Grante a tributary of the Ouse. On the coins of the Anglo-Saxon period the mint name is Grantebrycge. The Danes wintered here in 875 and burnt the town in 1010. King William I built the castle here in 1068 as a base against Hereward the Wake. In 1143 during the anarchy, the town was burnt by Geoffrey de Mandeville.

The legends translate as "Aethelred King of the English" on obverse and "Edmund of Cambridge" on the reverse, the letters around the central cross mean "cross"

Provenance:

Ex Millennium Hoard, Suffolk, Dix Noonan and Webb, Auction 165, 4^th December 2019, lot 8.

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