Aethelred
II is now known incorrectly as Aethelred the Unready. He was originally
known as
Æthelred the Unræd and ruled from 978 until 1016.
æðele
= Well/good/noble.
ræd
= Council/advised.
Æþelræd
= Old English for good council/well advised.
Unræd
= Old English for bad council/poorly advised.
It
was tradition to name sons of royalty with such names as Aethelwulf
which means 'Noble Wolf' or Aethelric which means 'Good Ruler'. So a
12th Century monk thought it would be most amusing to give Aethelred
the epithet Unræd as a pure contradiction in its rawest sense.
Aethelred was known for his poor choice in advisers as many became
traitors whilst the rest seemed to pass away shortly after becoming
appointed which is suspicious to say the least.
This
issue was minted from 1003 until 1009.
The
legend on the obverse starts at about 8 O'clock and reads "
+EDELRÆDREXANGL." which essentially means Aethelred King of
England. Aethelred is depicted as facing left in full armour and a
radiate helmet, hence this is known as the Helmet Type.
The
reverse legend starts just after 12 O'clock and reads "BRI HTNA DMO
EOFR". This essentially means that the moneyer Brihtnoth (BRIHTNAD)
minted this coin at York mint (EOFR).
The
portrait is implicitly striking in terms of martial culture, one has to
remember that this was not the time where diplomats would freely roam
across international borders. This was a time when England was paying
Danegeld to the Vikings and blood seemed to be the most widely spent
currency in Northern Europe. The Anglo-Saxons are notorious for
integrating elements of Roman coins into their own designs and this
type is of no exception. In fact, it has one of the strongest examples
of such a case.
This
is where the Anglo-Saxon die makers went wrong. They perceived the
shield on his left shoulder as his shoulder of armour. This makes poor
Aethelred look like he has a hugely rounded pair of shoulders and just
makes him look absurd. This goes to show that, although Anglo-Saxon die
engravers were vastly superior to nearly all of their contemporaries
around the world they were no match for the sheer skill that the Romans
held.
On
the left you can clearly see the chainmail armour around his shoulder
but on the right it is clearly a shield. Bearing in mind the
Anglo-Saxons would not have had much to go on I think they did
remarkably well to still give their monarch an aura of power and
military might, even if the perspective is a little out.
As
you can see on either side of the Aethelred II penny, there are plenty
of "peck marks". These were caused when people tested the purity of the
silver, either by using a knife or biting it. It was usually the
Vikings that carried out these peck marks as they were not willing to
accept the bust of an English king as guarantee of the coin's purity
and so tested it for themselves.
To
put an Anglo-Saxon penny into perspective of purchasing power, you
would need at least twenty silver pence to purchase a cow. Cows are by
no means cheap!!
Unfortunately,
Aethelred II was the last Anglo-Saxon monarch to mint coins for a while
as we see the Vikings Cnut, Harold I and Harthacnut rule until Edward
the Confessor becomes king in 1042, seeing England under Viking rule
for 26 years.
