Jeremy Piercy | University of Houston Clear Lake (original) (raw)

Lectures and Papers by Jeremy Piercy

Research paper thumbnail of The Mints and Moneyers of Late Anglo-Saxon England

A review of moneyer appointments and replacements at each of the minting locations between Edgar’... more A review of moneyer appointments and replacements at each of the minting locations between Edgar’s reform of c. 973 and the Domesday survey (1086) reveals certain patterns that outline potential pre-craft guild structures in place within England at least a century before the Norman Conquest. Through an analysis of each of the minting locations in operation over this 113-year period, these patterns of an indigenous population establishing its own internal structures, which withstood both the Danish and Norman Conquests, are apparent. This analysis incorporates a detailed assessment of over 3600 individual minters from ninety-eight locations, derived from nearly 30,000 coin records. This paper outlines the overall argument in favour of these structures being established within England earlier than previously thought and provide specific case studies in which these patterns are evident.

Conference Presentations by Jeremy Piercy

Research paper thumbnail of Craft Guilds before 1066? The evidence from Quatrefoil, Pointed Helmet, and Short Cross: The Coinages of Cnut

Research paper thumbnail of Hammered Lives: The London mints in context with Lincoln, Winchester, and York

Research paper thumbnail of Studies from a New Database of Anglo-Saxon Moneyers: What, How, and Why?

Representing 18.1% of the total coinage record, and 12.1% of the total number of moneyers recorde... more Representing 18.1% of the total coinage record, and 12.1% of the total number of moneyers recorded from 973 to 1086, London provides the best single site example of the entire minting construct in Anglo-Saxon England and illustrates patterns that are evident in nearly all of the other ninety-eight minting locations from this period. By outlining how the name sequences in place illustrated continuity over nearly the entire range of this study, London encapsulates the idea of an indigenous population working within a skilled craft with seemingly minimum outside interference in its internal hierarchy.

This could explain why certain names appear quite often in the coinage record but with individually seeming incongruous action. When placed within this formula, that seemingly sporadic activity is provided context in the larger mechanism. This explains, generally, why there could be an Ælfwine operating in London from 979 to 985, from 997 to 1003, and from 1017 to 1038. Obviously, this pattern recognition is not necessarily designed to address individual moneyers, as each of these Ælfwines could have been a separate and distinct individual. But the placement of each within one of the groupings of moneyers that was installed, replaced, and then potentially reinstalled is striking.

If there were a system in place within the ranks of the moneyers to shift either authority or responsibility between different groups of themselves over various coinage issues then this could point to a protectionist practice that would have rivaled the guild structures of the continent, and indeed predated them. If this was commonplace between the most predominant groups of minters, who controlled over two-thirds of the moneyer positions within London, then it was very likely to have filtered to the smaller groups and other mints across England as well.

Ultimately, London represented, even at this stage, the predominant merchant facility within England. Building upon a tradition of minting that had already been established for centuries, the moneyers seem to have incorporated their own rules and regulations, in compliance with royal charters and writs, for the internal structures of their mints. By illustrating that there was a continuous progression of moneyers with likely links over events like the Danish and Norman Conquests, it is apparent that there were some pre-craft guild structures in place within England that are traditionally considered to have developed significantly later. Linkages between individuals acting within specific minting locations heavily imply that some mechanism was in place to maintain the craft through successive generations. A guild-like structure of master and apprentice moneyers may not be too strong an explanation. At the very least, it seems likely that there was some sort of pre-guild framework in place before the idea of organised artisans arrived on the British Isles.

Research paper thumbnail of A New Database of the Moneyers from Late Anglo-Saxon and Early Anglo-Norman England

Research paper thumbnail of Predispositions in the Role of Moneyer: How Naming Patterns May Have Indicated Occupation in Late Anglo-Saxon Mints

Research paper thumbnail of Casting Aristocrats: The Creation of a Wealth Aristocracy

Publications by Jeremy Piercy

Research paper thumbnail of The Moneyers of England Database, 973–1086: Case Studies from the London and Southwark Mints

Research paper thumbnail of Hammered Lives: Studies from a New Database of the Late Anglo-Saxon Moneyers

Proceedings of the XVth Sexennial International Numismatic Congress, Taormina 2015, 2017

Book Reviews by Jeremy Piercy

Research paper thumbnail of Review of Rory Naismith, Money and Power in Anglo–Saxon England: The Southern English Kingdoms 757–865

Books by Jeremy Piercy

Research paper thumbnail of The Moneyers of England, 973–1086: Labour organisation in the Late Anglo-Saxon and Early Anglo-Norman English mints

BAR Publishing, 2019

The book examines the moneyers, those men responsible for minting the king’s coinage, within deve... more The book examines the moneyers, those men responsible for minting the king’s coinage, within developing urban society in England during the tenth and eleventh centuries to address both their status and whether the internal workplace organisation of the mints might reflect the complexity of an Anglo-Saxon ‘state’. In reviewing the minting operation of late Anglo-Saxon England, and the men in charge of those mints, a better picture of the social history of pre-Conquest England is realised. These men were likely part of the thegnly or burgess class and how they organised themselves might reflect broader trends in how those outside of the aristocracy acted in response to royal directives. The book outlines a new and innovative method of analysing the organisation of labour in Medieval England. These new techniques and methodologies provide support for a previously unknown level of complexity in English minting.
Accompanying the book are several digital downloads, including the Moneyers of England Database, 973-1086, consisting of information on 3,646 periods of moneyer activity derived from 28,576 individual coins produced at ninety-nine geographic locations.

Research paper thumbnail of The Mints and Moneyers of Late Anglo-Saxon England

A review of moneyer appointments and replacements at each of the minting locations between Edgar’... more A review of moneyer appointments and replacements at each of the minting locations between Edgar’s reform of c. 973 and the Domesday survey (1086) reveals certain patterns that outline potential pre-craft guild structures in place within England at least a century before the Norman Conquest. Through an analysis of each of the minting locations in operation over this 113-year period, these patterns of an indigenous population establishing its own internal structures, which withstood both the Danish and Norman Conquests, are apparent. This analysis incorporates a detailed assessment of over 3600 individual minters from ninety-eight locations, derived from nearly 30,000 coin records. This paper outlines the overall argument in favour of these structures being established within England earlier than previously thought and provide specific case studies in which these patterns are evident.

Research paper thumbnail of Craft Guilds before 1066? The evidence from Quatrefoil, Pointed Helmet, and Short Cross: The Coinages of Cnut

Research paper thumbnail of Hammered Lives: The London mints in context with Lincoln, Winchester, and York

Research paper thumbnail of Studies from a New Database of Anglo-Saxon Moneyers: What, How, and Why?

Representing 18.1% of the total coinage record, and 12.1% of the total number of moneyers recorde... more Representing 18.1% of the total coinage record, and 12.1% of the total number of moneyers recorded from 973 to 1086, London provides the best single site example of the entire minting construct in Anglo-Saxon England and illustrates patterns that are evident in nearly all of the other ninety-eight minting locations from this period. By outlining how the name sequences in place illustrated continuity over nearly the entire range of this study, London encapsulates the idea of an indigenous population working within a skilled craft with seemingly minimum outside interference in its internal hierarchy.

This could explain why certain names appear quite often in the coinage record but with individually seeming incongruous action. When placed within this formula, that seemingly sporadic activity is provided context in the larger mechanism. This explains, generally, why there could be an Ælfwine operating in London from 979 to 985, from 997 to 1003, and from 1017 to 1038. Obviously, this pattern recognition is not necessarily designed to address individual moneyers, as each of these Ælfwines could have been a separate and distinct individual. But the placement of each within one of the groupings of moneyers that was installed, replaced, and then potentially reinstalled is striking.

If there were a system in place within the ranks of the moneyers to shift either authority or responsibility between different groups of themselves over various coinage issues then this could point to a protectionist practice that would have rivaled the guild structures of the continent, and indeed predated them. If this was commonplace between the most predominant groups of minters, who controlled over two-thirds of the moneyer positions within London, then it was very likely to have filtered to the smaller groups and other mints across England as well.

Ultimately, London represented, even at this stage, the predominant merchant facility within England. Building upon a tradition of minting that had already been established for centuries, the moneyers seem to have incorporated their own rules and regulations, in compliance with royal charters and writs, for the internal structures of their mints. By illustrating that there was a continuous progression of moneyers with likely links over events like the Danish and Norman Conquests, it is apparent that there were some pre-craft guild structures in place within England that are traditionally considered to have developed significantly later. Linkages between individuals acting within specific minting locations heavily imply that some mechanism was in place to maintain the craft through successive generations. A guild-like structure of master and apprentice moneyers may not be too strong an explanation. At the very least, it seems likely that there was some sort of pre-guild framework in place before the idea of organised artisans arrived on the British Isles.

Research paper thumbnail of A New Database of the Moneyers from Late Anglo-Saxon and Early Anglo-Norman England

Research paper thumbnail of Predispositions in the Role of Moneyer: How Naming Patterns May Have Indicated Occupation in Late Anglo-Saxon Mints

Research paper thumbnail of Casting Aristocrats: The Creation of a Wealth Aristocracy

Research paper thumbnail of The Moneyers of England Database, 973–1086: Case Studies from the London and Southwark Mints

Research paper thumbnail of Hammered Lives: Studies from a New Database of the Late Anglo-Saxon Moneyers

Proceedings of the XVth Sexennial International Numismatic Congress, Taormina 2015, 2017

Research paper thumbnail of The Moneyers of England, 973–1086: Labour organisation in the Late Anglo-Saxon and Early Anglo-Norman English mints

BAR Publishing, 2019

The book examines the moneyers, those men responsible for minting the king’s coinage, within deve... more The book examines the moneyers, those men responsible for minting the king’s coinage, within developing urban society in England during the tenth and eleventh centuries to address both their status and whether the internal workplace organisation of the mints might reflect the complexity of an Anglo-Saxon ‘state’. In reviewing the minting operation of late Anglo-Saxon England, and the men in charge of those mints, a better picture of the social history of pre-Conquest England is realised. These men were likely part of the thegnly or burgess class and how they organised themselves might reflect broader trends in how those outside of the aristocracy acted in response to royal directives. The book outlines a new and innovative method of analysing the organisation of labour in Medieval England. These new techniques and methodologies provide support for a previously unknown level of complexity in English minting.
Accompanying the book are several digital downloads, including the Moneyers of England Database, 973-1086, consisting of information on 3,646 periods of moneyer activity derived from 28,576 individual coins produced at ninety-nine geographic locations.