Edward I was born in June 1239 and was named so by his father, Henry III, 
after the final Anglo-Saxon king and saint, Edward the Confessor. 
At the age of 15, Edward traveled to Spain to marry a 9 year old who was known
as Eleanor of Castile. Edward’s father was seen to be a volatile character and was 
not careful with his money, Edward had intentions to be the opposite.

Edward returned to England in 1274 from the Crusaded in
Palestine in order to rule his father's kingdom. The coins of 1272-3 were a continuation 
of his father's Voided Long Cross, then there was a shake-up as St Edmundsbury 
was reopened. For the next four years coins were minted that resembled Henry III's 
Longcross coinage and therefore had hENRICUS on the obverse, still bearing the 
name of Edward's father. Therefore these pennies often get confused 
with being of Henry III's reign. For these four years, more than 30 tonnes 
of silver were pumped out of London alone in these new coins.

This crude coinage was abandoned in 1278 due to the poor conditions, 
they were put under review of the Parliament of Gloucester and much of the
clipping was unfortunately blamed upon the Jews, the majority of whom
were unfortunately hung.

On May 17th 1279 Rolandin de Puy and Gregory de Rokesley were
presented the titles "Keepers of the King's Exchange". However the issue 
of the improved Edward I Pennies was not implemented until August 4th, 
and only at London. After various experimental dies, Edward chose to 
appear without a beard even though he was a man of significant age for the
time with a large beard. One thought is that he chose not to be represented 
with his whiskers so as to differentiate from the barbaric issues of his earlier coinage.

It was soon realised that the task taken on for the new coinage was far too great 
for London and Canterbury alone so Bristol and York were reopened with 12 
furnaces at each mint. This allowed a healthy supplement to the mintage of
London and Canterbury. Lincoln was added shortly after along with Newcastle 
and the ecclesiastical mint at York, the other ecclesiastical mints that were 
open were of Durham and St Edmundsbury (Bury St Edmunds). In 1281 
Chester was also given a mint, followed by Berwick, Kingston-upon-Hull and Exeter.

This recoinage was not just of pennies, one must remember that Edward I 
also issued Farthings, Halfpennies and Groats. With the new monarch and 
recoinage undoubtedly came new legends, the major change was the prefix 
of CIVI TAS, or VILLA, this wiped out the need for moneyers’ names to be
added to the legends of the coins.

Above is an example of the transition coinage between Henry III and Edward I.
It features the 'old style' of the Voided Longcross and moneyer's name.

This particular example is Ioh on Bury St Edmunds, Class VI.







Class VI is more commonplace than its counterpart, Class VII. There is still evidence of
cutting and clipping with these early coins of Edward I,
below is an example of a scarce Class VII, Phelip on London.








Next up is a Class 3c of London, an example of the recoinage.







3d of London







3g of London








5a of London, error as reads IVCI TAS LON DON







3c of Bristol
(VILL ABR ISTO LLIE)








Blunt 4/Withers 5b of Berwick







3e of York, double-struck







9b/10a of Newcastle
(VILL NOVI CAS TRI)






3c of Lincoln






9b of the scarce mint of Chester







9b1 of scarce Exeter






9b of scarce Kingston-upon-Hull







1b of Dublin






1b of Dublin






For the first time, halfpennies become a more permanent feature alongside the pennies.

Class 3e Halfpenny of Newcastle.





Then there's the minutest of Edward's coinage, the farthings...

Class 3de Farthing, LON DON IEN SIS.







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