thrymsa

File:Gold Thrymsa (FindID 544418).jpg

The first thrymsas were minted in England in the 630s. These earliest coins were created at mints in Canterbury, London, and perhaps also Winchester. Charles Arnold-Baker in his Companion to British History suggests that the impetus for the creation of this coin was increased commerce following the marriage of Æthelberht of Kent and Bertha of Kent, a daughter of the Frankish king Charibert I.Arnold-Baker, p. 744 Thrymsas originally contained between 40% and 70% gold, but following continued debasement those coins minted after c. 655 contained less than 35% gold. Gold coins ceased to be minted completely by about 675, after which the silver sceat was minted instead.Skingley, pp. 84–86 The term thrymsa is used in later Anglo-Saxon texts to refer to a value of four silver pennies.Grierson and Blackburn, p. 157 Thrymsas are known to modern numismatists through their discovery in various hoards, notably the Crondall Hoard.Davies, p. 122 The ship-burial at Sutton Hoo, which dates from the early seventh-century contained 37 Merovingian tremisses but no Anglo-Saxon coins.{{#tag:ref|If the identity of the figure buried there is indeed Rædwald of East Anglia as is generally considered then that would give a date before 627 for the burial.Campbell|group="nb"}} The Crondall hoard by contrast, dated to after c. 630, contained 101 gold coins, of which 69 were Anglo-Saxon and 24 were Merovingian or Frankish.Grierson and Blackburn, p. 161, Skingley, p. 84

Early thrymsas were imitations of Merovingian (French) tremisses or earlier Roman coins. They weighed between 1 and 3 grams (0.03–0.1 troy oz), and had a diameter of approximately 13 mm ({{frac|2}} inch).Page, p. 122 Later thrymsas feature various different designs, including busts, crosses, lyre-like objects and Aquila ensigns. Inscriptions are also common features, and sometimes appear in Latin script and sometimes in Anglo-Saxon runes.

{{Portal|Money}}

• History of the English penny (c. 600 – 1066)
• Coinage in Anglo-Saxon England

Comparison of continental and English coins:

File:Trémissis de Dagobert Ier.jpg|Tremissis of a Frankish king Dagobert I (c. 603–639 AD)

File:Thrymsa Witmen type Circa 620-645.jpg|Gold Thrymsa c. 620–645 AD from the Crondall hoard in Hampshire

File:Anglo Saxon tremissis (FindID 272846).jpg|Thrymsa found in Suffolk, c. 500–675

File:Saxon coin; thrymsa (FindID 490345-371482).jpg|York thrymsa, metal-detected find

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• {{cite book |last=Arnold-Baker |first=Charles |authorlink=Charles Arnold-Baker |title=The Companion to British History |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=75ZGCgAAQBAJ&pg=PT744 |date=30 July 2015 |publisher=Taylor & Francis |isbn=978-1-317-40039-4 |ref=ArnoldBarker}}
• {{cite ODNB |url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/23265 |title=Rædwald (d. 616x27) |last=Campbell |first=J. |year=2004 |doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/23265 |accessdate=14 March 2016 |ref=Campbell}}
• {{cite book |last=Davies |first=Glyn |authorlink=Glyn Davies (economist) |title=History of Money |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cU2uBwAAQBAJ |date=1 September 2010 |publisher=University of Wales Press |isbn=978-0-7083-2379-3 |ref=Davies}}
• {{cite book |last1=Grierson |first1=Philip |authorlink1=Philip Grierson |last2=Blackburn |first2=Mark |authorlink2=Mark Blackburn (numismatist) |title=Medieval European Coinage: Volume 1, The Early Middle Ages (5th–10th Centuries) |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WpQiZ8BX2q8C |date=2 July 2007 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-03177-6 |ref=GriersonBlackburn}}
• {{cite book |last=Page |first=Raymond Ian |authorlink=R. I. Page |title=An introduction to English runes |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EGxiAAAAMAAJ |year=1973 |publisher=Methuen; distributed by Harper & Row, Barnes & Noble Export Division, New York |isbn=9780416662306 |ref=Page}}
• {{cite book |editor-last=Skingley |editor-first=Philip |title=Coins of England & the United Kingdom: Standard Catalogue of British Coins 2015 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0w8xrgEACAAJ |date=2014 |publisher=Spink & Sons Ltd |isbn=978-1-907427-43-5 |ref=Spink}}
• {{cite book |last1=Cook |first1=Barrie J. |last2=Williams |first2=Gareth |last3=Archibald |first3=Marion |authorlink3=Marion Archibald |title=Coinage And History in the North Sea World, C. AD 500–1250: Essays in Honour of Marion Archibald |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=X-qvyzsUkRsC&pg=PA216 |year=2006 |publisher=BRILL |isbn=90-04-14777-2 |ref=CWA}}

Category:Anglo-Saxon money

Category:Gold coins

{{Coins of England}}