SILVER ECONOMY IN THE VIKING AGE PUBLICATIONS OF THE INSTITUTE OF ARCHAEOLOGY, UNIVERSITYCOLLEGE LONDON Director of the Institute: Stephen Shennan Publications Series Editor: Peter J. Ucko The Institute of Archaeology of University College London is one of the oldest, largest and most prestigious archaeology research facilities in the world. Its extensive publications programme includes the best theory, research, pedagogy and reference materials in archaeology and cognate disciplines, through publishing exemplary work of scholars worldwide. Through its publications, the Institute brings together key areas of theoretical and substantive knowledge, improves archaeological practice and brings archaeological findings to the general public, researchers and practitioners. It also publishes staff research projects, site and survey reports, and conference proceedings. 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Archaeology and Women(2007) SILVER ECONOMY IN THE VIKING AGE James Graham-Campbell Gareth Williams Editors Walnut Creek, California LEFTCOASTPRESS, INC. 1630 North Main Street, #400 Walnut Creek, CA 94596 http://www.LCoastPress.com Copyright ©2007 by Left Coast Press, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher. ISBN 978-1-59874-222-0 hardcover Libraryof Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Silver economy in the Viking age / James Graham-Campbell, Gareth Williams, editors. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN-13: 978-1-59874-222-0 (hardcover : alk. paper) ISBN-10: 1-59874-222-1 (hardcover : alk. paper) 1. Coins, Scandinavian. 2. Coins, Medieval. 3. Silver coins—Europe—History. 4. Coinage—Europe—History. 5. Money—Europe—History. 6. Numismatics—Europe—History.7. Viking antiquities. 8. Coin hoards—Europe. 9. Europe—Antiquities. 10. Europe—Economic conditions—To1492. I. Graham-Campbell, James. II. Williams, Gareth. CJ3094.S57 2007 737.49363—dc22 2006035671 Printed in the United States of America Typeset in Times by Newgen Imaging Systems (P) Ltd., Chennai, India. Additional Production: Penna Design, Abbotsford, British Columbia The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI/NISO Z39.48–1992. Cover Image: Part of the silver hard from Cuerdale, Lancashire, deposited c 905. Reproduced by permission of the Trustees of the British Museum. 070809 10 11 5 4 3 2 1 Contents List of Illustrations vii Notes on Contributors xi Preface xiii List of Abbreviations xv 1 REGIONS AROUND THE NORTH SEAWITH AMONETISED ECONOMYIN THE PRE-VIKING AND VIKING AGES 1 DMMetcalf 2 SOUTH SCANDINAVIAN COINAGE IN THE NINTH CENTURY 13 Brita Malmer 3 HEDEBYAND ITS HINTERLAND: ALOCALNUMISMATIC REGION 29 Ralf Wiechmann 4 THE EVIDENCE OF PECKING ON COINS FROM THE CUERDALE HOARD: SUMMARYVERSION 49 Marion M Archibald 5 GOLD IN ENGLAND DURING THE ‘AGE OF SILVER’ (EIGHTH–ELEVENTH CENTURIES) 55 Mark Blackburn 6 ASURVEYOF COIN PRODUCTION AND CURRENCY IN NORMANDY, 864–945 99 Jens Christian Moesgaard 7 VIKING ECONOMIES: EVIDENCE FROM THE SILVER HOARDS 123 Märit Gaimster 8 ORIENTAL-SCANDINAVIAN CONTACTS ON THE VOLGA, AS MANIFESTED BYSILVER RINGS AND WEIGHTSYSTEMS 135 Birgitta Hårdh 9 THE FORM AND STRUCTURE OF VIKING-AGE SILVER HOARDS: THE EVIDENCE FROM IRELAND 149 John Sheehan 10 TRADE AND EXCHANGE ACROSS FRONTIERS 163 Susan E Kruse 11 KINGSHIP, CHRISTIANITYAND COINAGE: MONETARY AND POLITICALPERSPECTIVES ON SILVER ECONOMYIN THE VIKING AGE 177 Gareth Williams 12 REFLECTIONS ON ‘SILVER ECONOMYIN THE VIKING AGE’ 215 James Graham-Campbell INDEX 225 List of Illustrations 1.1 Distribution map of thrymsas and sceattas from England 4 2.1 (i–iv) Selected coins, scale c 3/2 (©Gabriel Hildebrand, Royal Coin Cabinet, Stockholm). (i) Wodan/Monster sceatta, Frisia, from c 715; (ii) Charles the Great silver denier, Dorestad, from 771–93/94; (iii) KG 5, from the period of Louis the Pious, probably the 820s; (iv) KG 3, from the period of Louis the Pious, probably the 820s 14 2.2 Diagram of Combination-Groups (KG) 1–6, percentages (after Malmer 1966, plate 42) 16 2.3 Combination-Groups (KG) 3–6, scale c 1/1 (©B Malmer) 17 2.4 Weights of Carolingian obols and of KG 3–6 (©B Malmer) 19 2.5 Finds of KG 1–6, with geographical division into Areas I–VI: Area II= Schleswig-Holstein; Area IIIa= Jutland, including Ribe (after Malmer 1966, plate 55) 21 2.6 Scale c 1/1: (1) KG 8, Area II (‘Hedeby’), from c 950; (2) KG 9b, Area II (‘Hedeby’), from c 975; (3) KG 10a, Area III (Denmark), from c 975/80 and (4) KG 11, Area III (Denmark), from c 975/80 (©B Malmer) 23 2.7 KG 3 reverses showing fish symbol (©BMalmer): 1–3, with ship; 4, with enlargements of fishes with ships; and 5–7, with the Dorestad axe 25 3.1 Hedeby (Haithabu): the topographical situation (after Elsner 1992) 30 3.2 The chronology of minting at Hedeby (after Hatz 1984, fig 131) 32 3.3 The distribution of hoards in Schleswig-Holstein 34 3.4 The distribution of hoards in Schleswig-Holstein (790–980) 35 3.5 The distribution of hoards in Schleswig-Holstein (980–1050) 36 3.6 The distribution of Hedeby coins in Schleswig-Holstein 37 3.7 The Steinfeld hoard, with Hedeby coins 38 3.8 (i)–(v) Six coins from Hedeby: (i) sceatta, settlement-find; (ii) Abbassid dirham, with a runic graffito, settlement-find; (iii) Byzantine gold solidus, grave-find; (iv) Northumbrian styca, settlement-find and (v) Norwegian penny struck by Harald Hardråde, grave-find 39 3.9 Coins of different provenances (in %) of the Hedeby finds (settlement and graves) 41 3.10 Main coin groups of different provenances (in %) of the Hedeby finds (settlement and graves) 41 3.11 Chronological distribution of the main coin groups at Hedeby (settlement and graves) 42 3.12 Distribution of Viking-Age finds in the districts of Angeln and Schwansen, eighth and ninth century (after Willroth 1992, map 69) 44 3.13 Distribution of Viking-Age finds in the districts of Angeln and Schwansen, tenth century (after Willroth 1992, map 70) 45 4.1 Aselection of Cuerdale coins to demonstrate the progressive extent of the pecking with age (©Trustees of the British Museum). 50 5.1 Distribution map of finds of gold coins in Britain, 700–1200 72 5.2 Histogram of gold coins in the British Isles, 700–1200 (Source: Appendices Aand B; fractional coins counted as fractions, base forgeries omitted) 79 5.3 British finds of gold coins: A2–A14 83 5.4 British finds of gold coins: A15–A25 84 5.5 English gold coins with meaningful inscriptions: B1–B8, with comparative material 86 5.6 Gold ingots and hack-gold from England: C1–C10 88 6.1. Charles the Bald, deniers, GDR-type, mint of Rouen. ©Yohann Deslandes. 103 6.2 Evolution at the mint of Rouen. 105 6.3 Evolution at the mint of Bayeux. 105 6.4 Evolution at the mint of Curtisasonien. 106 6.5 Degenerated GDR denier, mint of Bayeux. ©Peter Woodhead. 106 6.6 Degenerated GDR denier, mint of Rouen. ©Peter Woodhead. 107 6.7 Degenerated GDR denier, mint of Rouen. ©Yohann Deslandes. 107 6.8 Degenerated GDR denier,mint of Rouen. 107 6.9 Degenerated GDR denier, mint of Rouen. ©Peter Woodhead. 108 6.10 Degenerated Carolingian obol, possibly Clermont or Rouen. © Yohann Deslandes. 108 6.11 Temple-type imitations from the Coudres hoard. 110 6.12 Temple-type imitations from the Evreux hoard. 110 6.13 William Longsword, deniers, Rouen. ©(c) The National Museum of Denmark; (d) Yohann Deslandes; (e) F. Dugue. 112 6.14 William Longsword deniers, Rouen. 113 6.15 Modern forgery of William Longsword denier. ©Peter Woodhead. 113 6.16 Rouen, Saint-Ouen monastery,deniers. ©(a) Yohann Deslandes; (b) The National Museum of Denmark. 114 7.1 The distribution of arm/neck-rings in hoards of different complexity: (a) hoards from Öland, tenth–eleventh centuries; (b) hoards from Denmark, ninth–twelfth centuries 128 7.2 The distribution of bars and ingots in hoards of different complexity: (a) hoards from Öland, tenth–eleventh centuries; (b) hoards from Denmark, c 970–1016 129 7.3 The distribution of hack-silver hoards of different complexity: (a) hoards from Öland, tenth–eleventh centuries; (b) hoards from Denmark, c 970–1016 129 8.1 ‘Permian’rings found on Öland (©Birgitta Hårdh) 136 8.2 Distribution of complete ‘Permian’rings: (1–2) Perm/Vjatka area; (3–4) Moscow area; (5) Finland; (6) Estonia; (7) Gotland; (8) Öland and (9) Jutland 137 8.3 Weight grouping of the ‘Permian’rings in Russia, Sweden and Denmark 139 8.4 Polyhedral weights found at Uppåkra, Skåne, Sweden (©B Almgren, LUHM) 140 8.5 Some terminal knobs with graffiti (scale 1:1): upper row, Russia; lower row, Gotland (©Birgitta Hårdh) 141 8.6 Asmall striated ring (after Stenberger 1958, Textabb 18) 142 8.7 Distribution of weights of rings weighing c 200g from Perm and Vjatka 144 8.8 Part of a ring from the Perm gouvernement(State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg): note the incised star figure (©Birgitta Hårdh) 145 9.1 Distribution map of the early Viking-Age hoards from Ireland (Classes 1–5) 153 9.2 Pie-chart showing the relative proportions of hoards of Classes 1–5 amongst the Viking-Age finds from Ireland 154 9.3 Viking-Age silver hoard of Class 4, from Cloghermore cave, Co Kerry (University College Cork Audio-Visual Services) 157 9.4 Viking-Age silver hoard of Class 5 from Kilmacomma, Co Waterford (©National Museum of Ireland) 158 9.5 Viking-Age silver hoard of Class 5 from ‘Co Antrim’ (©Ulster Museum) 158