Ireland, John as King, Halfpenny, 3rd coinage, Dublin Mint, moneyer Roberd

Ireland, John as King (1199-1216), silver Halfpenny, third coinage (1209-11), Dublin Mint, moneyer Roberd, facing crowned head in triangle with star inside each apex, legend surrounding, .IOh AN REX, rev. cross over crescent in triangle with star inside each apex, legend surrounding, ROB ERD ON D, weight 0.70g (DF 51; Withers 5/a; S.6231). Toned, a little off-centre, some porosity both sides, otherwise almost very fine for issue, reverse stronger, rare.

The Irish coins are the only ones to feature John by name whether he was Lord of Ireland or later King. The legend reads "John King" on the obverse and "Robert of Dublin" on the reverse.

The younger brother of Richard the Lionheart and at time estranged, John was pronounced heir to England on 11^th March 1194, he being the youngest son of Henry II born on 24^th December 1166 and at first nicknamed Lackland on the assumption he would never inherit much land. In contrast to this name and as Henry II's favourite son, John had been appointed Lord of Ireland in 1177 by the age of ten and given lands in England and on the Continent and later proclaimed King on Richard's death in 1199. John married twice but had multiple mistresses and illegitimate children. First he married Isabella Countess of Gloucester from 1189-99 ending in annulment, then Isabella Countess of Angouleme who was no older than 15 upon their marriage in 1200 who bore home five children from 1207-1215.

John called a conference of moneyers in 1205 which reformed the administration of the coinage and class 5 short cross pennies are thought to coincide with the results from this meeting, though the coins continue to be still in the name of his Father Henry.

Otherwise during this reign, King Philip II of France agreed to recognise John's possession of Angevin lands at the peace Treaty of Le Goulet in 1200. War again broke out with France in 1202 and though John achieved early victories but later due to shortages of supplies and because of his treatment of his Nobles in that area the empire in northern France collapsed by 1204. He tried to regain these lands for the next decade, was excommunicated after an argument by Pope Innocent III in 1209 not resolved until 1213, and eventually suffered defeat by Philip at the Battle of Bouvines in 1214. Upon return to England he faced rebellion from multiple nobles and barons leading to the Magna Carta peace treaty of 1215, from which neither side really complied leaving to more civil unrest and a stalemate. John died of dysentery in 1216 after campaigning in the east of England and famously losing much of his baggage train and treasure in the flooding marshes and quick sands of the Wash in East Anglia, he died within a week or two of this happening by the 19^th October 1216 with his body carried south for interment at Worcester Cathedral. In the aftermath his nine year old son was proclaimed King Henry III under the protector-ship of William Marshall who resuscitated the terms of the Magna Carta in edited form from 1217 as the basis for government in the future.

The Hiberno Norse settlement of Dublin was founded by the Vikings on the banks of the RiverLiffey around 841 with the name literally meaning "the Black Pool" and was an early fortification with ditch, earth rampart and palisade. Stone walls were later constructed in the 11^th Century and a man made hill on which to have important political meetings. The Danes slowly converted to Christianity and the first Bishop of Dublin was appointed in 1028 and Christchurch Cathedral began construction. The town was sacked several times over the years in battles between the Irish and Viking Danes but the settlement grew to be the biggest and most important in Ireland and trade links were strong with Chester and Bristol. The wooden Norman style fort was replaced by a stone castle in the early 13^th Century and gained its first mayor in 1229. The four so-called "obedient shires" at this time were the Eastern counties of Meath, Louth, Kildare and Dublin and a boundary line known as the pale, marked the land as the King's perimeter and the people within received a degree of protection from the crown; whereas those beyond it were subject to more savage laws of the Irish and perhaps harsher living standards, through time evolving the colloquial phrase "beyond the pale". Dublin continues as a strong capital city to this day.

Provenance:

Ex Mike Vosper, June London Coin Fair 2019.

Ex Collection of an English Doctor part III, Sovereign Rarities fixed price list online September 2022.