Ireland, John Halfpenny, second coinage, Waterford Mint, moneyer Marcus

Ireland, John as Lord (1171-99),silver Halfpenny, second coinage (c.1194-1198), Waterford Mint, moneyer Marcus, facing Wodan style head, beaded circles and legend surrounding, IOHANNES DOmI, rev. double cross potent within beaded circle, annulet in each angle, legend surrounding, +MARCVS ON WA, weight 0.65g (DF 39; Withers 2/a; S.6210).Lightly toned with some legend weakness and porosity, otherwise about very fine and 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 Lord" on the obverse and "Marcus of Waterford" 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 Vikings first settled near to Waterford in 853 but were eventually driven out by the native Irish by 902. However, the Vikings returned in in 914 and re-established the settlement which became Ireland's first city with Ivar of Waterford being one of the most prominent of the Norse leaders from 969 to c.1000. Later in 1167 the deposed King of Leinster Diarmait Mac Murchada attempted to take over the city unsuccessfully, returning to take Waterford in 1170 with the help of Cambro-Norman mercenaries under "Strongbow" Richard de Clare the second Earl of Pembroke. In 1171 King Henry II landed at Waterford and declared the city Royal as well as Dublin which then became the Capital of Ireland.

Provenance:

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