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Hajar | all galleries >> Galleries >> Anglo Saxons > Early Anglian gold shilling, 7th century, Kilham, East Yorkshire.
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Early Anglian gold shilling, 7th century, Kilham, East Yorkshire.

One of 6 examples of a Ciii York Group shilling,

The first 5 letters of the inscription, read anticlockwise from the top and reversing the first letter, can be read as PAOLI (L and I ligate). Then comes an unusual character with three verticals, probably an M (I just noticed the Ms written like this on the York Anglian helmet), followed by an E, so giving us PAOLIME. There then seems to be another ligate LI (reversed N), giving PAOLIMELI. The Initial part of the inscription led Abramson (2019) to suggest that the coins are inscribed for Bishop Paulinus of York, from 627 to 632 when he fled south following King Edwin's defeat by Penda and Cadwallon at the Battle of Hatfield in the autumn of 632 or 633.

Paulinus was a member of the Gregorian mission sent in 601 by Pope Gregory I to Christianize the Anglo-Saxons. Abramson argued that the inscriptional Type C shillings were contemporary with Paulinus's time as Bishop of York, but I wonder if a later date could also be plausible given that Paulinus was canonized as a saint following his death in 644. Could his canonisation (during the reign of Oswiu) could have led to the change in inscription from the "SANCTE" type of the B and Ci shillings to the "PAOLINUS' type of Cii and Ciii shillings? I don't know. Probably not.

Abramson, A. 2019. ENGLAND’S EARLIEST COINAGE WITH PARTICULAR REFERENCE TO THE YORK GROUP OF GOLD SHILLINGS. British Numismatic Journal volume 89, 2019, 1-18.


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