The earliest coinage of Britain consisted of small, cast pieces of speculum, a brittle bronze alloy with 20 percent tin. These coins copied the bronze of Massilia (Marseille) of the 2nd century bce and circulated, mainly in southeastern Britain, early in the 1st century bce their relationship with contemporary iron currency bars is uncertain. At the same time, uninscribed gold coins of the Gaulish Bellovaci, a tribe located near Beauvais, imitated from the famous gold stater of Philip II of Macedon, were being introduced, probably by trade. The first Belgic invasion, about 75 bce, brought variants of these, from which arose a complex family of uninscribed imitations. The study of distribution in Britain has ascribed them to fairly well-defined tribal areas in the south and east; some are crude, but the best illustrate the peak of Celtic art in Britain. The gold was of variable purity. After the second Belgic invasion (following Caesar’s raid in 55 bce) the coinage entered a historical phase through the addition (in Latin, and with Roman titles, etc.) of the names of kings. Roman influence under Augustus prompted the introduction of silver and copper to reinforce the gold and the Romanization of previously “Celtic” types. Claudius’ conquest in 43 ce ended native coinage except for crudely cast billion pieces long continued in the Hampshire and Dorset area; the gold of the tribe of the Brigantes in what is now Yorkshire was the last to disappear.

Unofficial copies of Claudian bronze were produced in Britain to alleviate the shortage of official Roman coinage after the conquest. Thereafter, no coinage was produced until the reign of the usurper Carausius (286–293 ce), who coined profusely in orthodox Roman fashion at Londinium (London) and elsewhere in gold, silver, and copper; the same was done briefly by Allectus, his murderer (293–296 ce). Diocletian’s London mint was continued under Constantine until 324 ce; thereafter, except under Magnus Maximus (383–388 ce), whose usurpation was legitimized by the Eastern emperor Theodosius I, Britain lacked an official mint, being supplied with coinage mainly from Gaul. Imitative bronze pieces, however, appeared in the 3rd century and continued to be made in the 4th.

Infiltration of Merovingian gold from France in the 6th century prompted the issue of Anglo-Saxon gold “thirds” in the 7th; solidi were only very rarely struck, because of their high intrinsic value. Output, never great, was confined chiefly to the London–Kent area. The London mint, almost certainly episcopal, signed its coins with the name LONDVNIV; Kentish coinage was mainly regal. In addition, there were a perhaps small Mercian series and another from York. A further series, copied from late 4th-century Roman prototypes, was struck about 650, when the gold content was fast diminishing. Gold coinage soon gave way to that of small thick silver sceats (meaning “a portion”; about 1.29 grams, or 20 grains) of essentially different style. Some had Runic legends, including the name Peada, supposedly a reference to the king (flourished 656) of Mercia; most, however, were nonregal, and their legends are Latinized. Types were varied, and some almost certainly originated in Frisia, where sceats are found in large quantities, denoting the trading connection that called for their use; these show animal and floral design. In the south the sceats lasted until about 800. Small silver sceats were developed in the mid-8th century in Northumbria, where they quickly gave way to copper, which lasted until about 850.

English coinage proper began with the silver penny of Offa, king of Mercia (757–796). It was first struck at around the weight of the sceat, from about 790, and its weight increased to about 22 1 2 grains (equal to 240 to the Tower pound; the standard pound used by the Royal Mint until its replacement in 1526 by the troy pound, whose name derives from the French city of Troyes, site of a major medieval fair). The new pennies showed Carolingian influence in their broad, flat forms. Their designs, however, insofar as they were not influenced by late Roman coin portraiture, displayed a brilliant originality (both in Anglo-Saxon portraiture and also in pattern design and decorative lettering), which had no equal for some centuries. Offa’s coinage, though minted expressly for him as Rex Merciorum, was mainly current in the southeast and was probably struck at Canterbury. Evidence for this lies in the fact that the moneyers of Offa were also those of the kings of Kent, and the coins of archbishops of Canterbury, including Jaenbeorht (died 792), bore the names of Offa and his successor Cenwulf: under Ceolwulf (821–823) the mint name of Canterbury appeared on the coins. Offa struck pennies with the portrait and name of his wife, Cynethryth, as Regina M(erciorum) and also issued gold pieces copying a 774 dinar of the caliph al-Manṣūr but with the addition of OFFA REX. Ceremonial gold coins, like Offa’s, all now represented by unique examples, were minted, perhaps partly to pay the Romescot (an annual tax to the papal see), by Archbishop Wigmund of York (837–854?), Edward the Elder (899–924), Ethelred II (978–1016), and Edward the Confessor (1042–66).

Offa’s coinage influenced design under the kings of Kent and East Anglia, as can be seen in the coinage of the Wessex kingdom, which was produced first at Winchester, then, after the Battle of Ellendun in 825, at Canterbury, still the only permanent mint south of the Humber. Under Aethelwulf (839–858) a uniform type of coinage was achieved for all of southern England except East Anglia. The Viking invaders, from about 870, left an important mark on English coinage, with new designs of northern European derivation. York and Lincoln were their principal mints, from which numerous memorial coins of Saints Peter and Martin were issued. Meanwhile, Alfred (871–899) greatly extended the Wessex kingdom, as shown by his operation of mints: Canterbury (still much the largest), Gloucester, Exeter, Winchester, London, and possibly Oxford. His coins were of careful workmanship and showed Viking influence. In the 10th century the power of English kings spread quickly northward. Under Athelstan (924–939) there were nearly 30 mints at work, mainly southern and central but reaching to Chester; under Edgar (959–975) there was much more uniformity of type. The Council of Grateley under Athelstan had enacted that each permitted mint was to have but one moneyer, with specified exceptions; London, for example, had eight. By the time of Ethelred II more than 70 mints were at work; London, Winchester, Lincoln, and York were the largest and most profuse. From about this time the types were generally standardized: obverse, king’s portrait, and, reverse, some cruciform design.

The Norman Conquest of 1066 made little change in the mint system or in the coinage (though the facing portrait acquired great popularity); the pre-Conquest moneyers stayed in office and struck coins for William I. After his reign the number of mints tended to decline. The pennies of William II have nothing in their legend to distinguish them from his father’s issues, but it is possible to allot eight types to William I and five to his son. Forgery gave Henry I much trouble, and one step he took to prevent it was to issue his later coins with a snick in the edge to show that the silver was good. He also coined round halfpence; previously, silver pennies had to be halved or quartered to produce a smaller denomination. The civil wars of Stephen’s reign produced many interesting coins, such as those struck in the claimant Matilda’s name as Imperatrix and the pennies of Eustace Fitzjohn and other barons, very much on the pattern of feudal issues in France.

Henry II ceased the regular change of types customary since William I’s reign and struck one type until 1180. As a result the work of the English mints reached its lowest level. His short-cross penny, so called from its reverse design, first issued in 1180, remained unchanged—including the name Henricus—not only by Henry II but also by Richard and John and Henry III until 1247, when Henry III coined the long-cross penny with the arms of the cross extended to the edge of the coin to discourage clipping. He also reduced considerably the number of mints. Edward I subordinated all mints to the authority of the master worker in London, William de Turnemire. In 1279 he introduced a new type of penny, with, obverse, bust of the king and, reverse, long cross with three pellets in each angle, a type that was much imitated abroad and persisted on silver until Henry VII. The moneyers’ names disappeared from the reverse legends, and their place was taken by the name of the mint (e.g., CIVITAS LONDON). Edward I also struck halfpennies and farthings to replace the cut pennies that had hitherto done duty for small change. He also introduced a groat, or fourpenny piece, but this larger coin did not establish itself until Edward III’s reign. The coins of Edward I, II, and III can be distinguished only by a minute study of detail. Privileged ecclesiastical mints still continued active.