Decades after the Sutton Hoo burial, beginning around 660 AD, the sudden increase in the number of silver coins in circulation in England has long puzzled archaeologists and historians.
The new rush of silver coins stimulated trade and encouraged the development of new towns that were springing up at the time. But where did it come from? Were Anglo-Saxon kings recycling old Roman scrap metal, or did they find a lucrative resource in European mines?
Metallurgical analysis of early medieval coins reveals the answer. In a type of early medieval quantitative easing, power brokers melted Byzantine silver hoards, revitalized England's economy, and established a lasting monetary system. Millennium.
Chemical analysis of coins from the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge reveals two distinct stages of the silver rush. For almost a century, starting in the 660s, coins were minted from silver bullion, which originated in the Byzantine Empire in the Eastern Mediterranean. Then, after the stocks of those treasures began to be depleted around 750, silver from the mines of western France became dominant throughout Europe during the reign of Charlemagne.
“This was a very exciting discovery,” said Rory Naismith, professor of early medieval English history at the University of Cambridge and one of the academics involved in the study. “We now have archaeological confirmation for the first time that Byzantine silver was the main source behind the great surge in minting and trade around the North Sea in his seventh century.”
The coins minted were silver pennies, probably worth between 20 and 30 pounds each today, and formed the “backbone of the British economy” until at least the 16th century, Naismith said.
Interestingly, the isotopic signature of Byzantine silver indicates that it is already several decades old, and was probably prized as a means to display the power and wealth of its owner. . The ruler honored at Sutton Hoo, thought to be the Reidwald of East Anglia, was buried with a collection of Byzantine silver bowls and other items, which would have been worth 10,000 pennies if melted. The authors state that it is possible that
Dr Jane Kershaw, associate professor at Oxford University's School of Archeology and lead author of the study, said: “To say we were surprised by this result would be an understatement.” “We know that some Byzantine silver from Anglo-Saxon England remains, the most famous from Sutton Hoo, but we know that much larger amounts of Byzantine silver originally came from Anglo-Saxon shops. It must have been kept there.”
Furthermore, she added: “This was quantitative easing. Elites were converting silver stored in valuables into cash, using that silver to create coins, and circulating them widely.” It had a huge impact on people's lives. It would have been. Far more people would be using money and thinking in terms of monetary value than before. ”
In addition to rulers, powerful monasteries also minted their own coins, Naismith said. “At this stage there was no Bank of England. If you wanted coins, you would mint coins. You just had to be rich enough to do it.”
However, by the mid-eighth century, silver pennies became lighter and used less silver as Byzantine bullion stocks became smaller. Around this time, researchers discovered that silver was increasingly being replaced by silver mined at the Mer mine in western France.
Naismith said the new research “shows how important connections near and far are to the economy.” [of this period]. This shows that if the people of Britain want to have a complex monetary economy, they cannot rely solely on domestic resources, but need to trade with people in the Mediterranean, France, and everywhere else. I am.
“This shows interdependence and how connections and networks have been the basis of economic success for hundreds of years.”
The study is published in the journal Antiquity.