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GM24330

John Penny, short cross type, class 5c, Canterbury Mint, moneyer Iohan M

John (1199-1216),silver short cross Penny, class 5c (1207-c.1210), in the name of his Father, Canterbury Mint, moneyer Iohan M, facing crowned head with linear collar, oval eyes, hand holding sceptre at left, Latin legend and beaded borders surrounding both sides, commences upper left with round top Rs, hENRICVS. R EX,with rippled smaller X, rev.short voided cross pommée, small cross pommée in each angle, +IOHAN. M. ON. CA, weight 1.39g (Mass 1675; N 971; S 1352).Struck with some weakness in parts of legend, otherwise toned, very fine and a rare issue.

All of the English coins dating to the reign of King John by class, are depicted in the name of his Father King Henry II as are those of Richard I who preceded him. The legend therefore reads "Henry King" on the obverse and "Johan M. of Canterbury" on the reverse.

"Iohan M" issues concurrently with "Iohan B" in classes Vb and Vc at Canterbury only, when seemingly for a short time two Iohans were working at the Canterbury Mint. We note that the Mass Collection S.C.B.I. 56 in the sylloge series contains only six examples in total of Iohan M, three of each class, one of each are pierced. Therefore, we conclude this is a particularly hard issuer to find in decent state of preservation.

The younger brother of Richard the Lionheart and at time estranged, John was pronounced heir to England on 11th March 1194, he being the youngest son of Henry II born on 24th 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 19th 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 cathedral City of Canterbury lies on the River Stour in Kent some sixty miles from London and sixteen miles north west of the port of Dover. Early Anglo-Saxon gold Thrymsa coins are known bearing its name and became one of the most important mints in Southern England in the 8th and 9th Centuries. The Danes were bought off for £3,000 in 809, but later took the city in 839 and again in 851, also circa 981 and finally in 1011. The first Archbishop was St Augustine who arrived in 597 on a mission from Pope Gregory and accepted by King Aethelberht in 598 on his conversion to Christianity. The Archbishop later had the right to two moneyers which increased to three in 1189. The abbot of St Augustine had the privilege to one die in eight at Canterbury until 1161 although the coins do not seem to bear any specific mark. The only issue which could be demarked as for the abbot being the Henry I type XIV issue with an annulet on the shoulder for moneyers Algar and Willem, and it is known that his moneyer in the Tealby coinage was Alferg.

Provenance:

Ex Alan Cherry, Bournemouth, October 2020.

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

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