January 29th 2021.
Upcoming club
meetings:
Monday 1st February 8pm.
·
Subject - This
will be another Zoom meeting, open to all members. We will be having a talk
from John as well as bringing members up to date with any developments.
Neil has had an interesting token list sent to him concerning 18th
Century tokens which I have added as an electronic attachment to the
newsletter.
Id like to say a
special thank you to the members who sent me Xmas cards!
January Meeting
John opened the meeting by wishing Happy New Year to all thirteen
members present and thanked them for turning up when there was considerable
opposition from Boris Johnson announcing the third Lockdown on the BBC. Clearly,
Boris announcement means that we will be continuing with Zoom meetings for the
foreseeable future. John further reported that the letter due to appear in the
January issue of Coin News detailing the sterling(!) efforts of the club to
overcome the effects of the pandemic, having just missed the deadline for the
December issue, failed to turn up.
We then moved to Peters talk for the evening, a very topical subject,
given the second biggest story in the news at the moment.
The Second Brexit AD410: - Constantine III
The province of Britannia left the Roman Empire in AD
410. Or rather, the Emperor Honorius told the cities to see to their own defences,
accepting British self-governance. How did this come about?
During
the Roman period, four legions were stationed in Britain (England and Wales).
They provided some assurance from native incursions, starting with Boudicca
in AD 61 and continuing through the second and third centuries.
But
this also meant that the Island could be used as a starting point for usurpers:
Carausius and Allectus (AD 286296) The First Brexiteers.
Magnentius and Decentius (AD 350-353)
Magnus
Maximus
(Joint Emperor AD 383-388) withdrew troops from northern and western Britain,
leaving local warlords in charge.
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AND: Constantine III, who
withdrew virtually the whole of the Roman army from Britain from AD
406 onwards, to fend off the barbarians who had recently crossed the Rhine,
and to fight for control of the Western Empire. Constantine III, Solidus, Arles |
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But
where was Honorius, the Emperor of the Western Roman Empire? Over a long
period, Rome had declined as a city of importance in the administration
of the Empire. In AD 286, under Emperor Diocletian, Milan became the
capital of the Western Empire. It remained the capital until AD 402 when the
Visigoths under Alaric entered Italy. Honorius moved
his capital to the coastal city of Ravenna, which was
protected by a ring of marshes and strong fortifications.
Alaric
had been recruited into the Imperial Army as a mercenary, and leader of the
Visigoths from AD 395. He successful defended the Emperors against usurpers. He
was dropped during the anti-barbarian riots in Constantinople and Rome which
ended with the assassinations of some of the best Roman generals, such as
Stilicho the Vandal.
What Alaric really
wanted was land on which his people could settle, but the authorities in
Ravenna refused to give him any. So, he made a living by besieging and
ransoming north Italian cities. He was in charge of
the Visigoth army that besieged Rome in 408, withdrawing only after a ransom
was paid. However, he returned in AD 410 and sacked Rome to pay for his
armies.
Honorius
didnt care, he was safe in Ravenna. The AD 410
sacking was civilised compared with later ones, with Christian property being
left intact. The Vandals sacked Rome in 455 and the Ostrogoths in 546. Probably
the most devastating event was the Sack of Rome in 1527 by the troops
of Charles V. These were major shocks to the Catholic Church which remained
in Rome throughout these times as a focus for the Catholics and Western
Christian monarchs.
After
an appeal to Rome, Honorius famously said in AD 410 that cities in Britain
should see to their own defences. The external raids intensified and within a
few years Britain was a very different place with invasions
from the Scotti, Saxons, Picts and Irish.
As
for Constantine III who took the soldiers away, in AD 411 he was taken prisoner
at Arles and executed. No more Roman coins were introduced to Britain.
The
coinage in this period is still recognisably Roman. The main coins are the Gold
Solidus: Government, big business. serious wealth accumulation and the
Silver Siliqua: standard accumulation of wealth. Both these are common
in late C4th/ early C5th hoards in Britain.
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Assorted Bronze Ae 2, Ae 4 are found in their
thousands and used for market place transactions. In the C5th, clipped silver siliquae
circulated in the Sub-Roman period. (~0.7 grams silver). Magnus
Maximus (d. AD 388) > |
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In response to a question during Peters talk about his sources for the
talk, Peter says he has a book Alaric the Goth by Douglas Boin
if anyone wishes to borrow it.
Answers
to Gavins Quiz
1)
Whose portrait is this? Henry VII
2)
Which country introduced the hippopotamus to modern numismatics? Mali in 1961
3)
The first silver crown-sized silver coin in the world was struck in
1486. Who issued it? Archduke
Sigismund of Austria
4)
When were Lundy Puffins originally struck? 1929
5)
Which country issued this coin? Switzerland
6)
In which year was the first English gold sovereign struck? 1489 (Henry
VII)
7)
What do the initials IBSCC stand for? International Bureau for the Supression of Counterfeit Coins
8)
What was one of the main reasons for the introduction of the window tax
on dwelling houses? The losses incurred during the great recoinage of 1695-6
9)
A horn of plenty and a beehive appear at Britannias feet on what English
coin? 1804 Bank of England dollar
10)
What is missing from this coin? In God we Trust
11)
Of what country could one say that coin collecting is FUN? Korea. FUN
is a coin denomination
12)
What main civilisation never used coins? The Incas
13)
Whose portrait is this? Paul Kruger. President of South Africa - Boer Republic
14)
What is the name of the horse on the 1953 crown? Winston
15)
When was Pistrucci appointed Chief Engraver at
the Royal Mint? He wasnt!
16)
What derisive name was given to the reverse design of the 1953 sixpence? The garden
of weeds
17)
Whose portrait is this? Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany
18)
Which British milled coin was only issued for four years? The Double
Florin
19)
In what part of the world did tin ingots circulate as money? The Malay
Peninsula
20)
Whose portrait is this and on what coins does it appear? Dwight D. Eisenhower United States Dollar in the 1970s
Here is a
slightly off piste extra short article from Peter
Britain in
Pictures
Have
you bought my new book? asked my boss, Mike Carney, back in the early 1990s.
So (of course) I did Britain in Pictures a tribute to a wartime
publication which engaged nearly 100 leading writers in essays of precisely 48
pages, with photos, about Britishness.
Under the
sponsorship of the Ministry of Information, the driver, Hilda Matheson aka Stoker,
secured authors and (more importantly, paper) to produce high quality
attractive volumes in a series called Britain in Pictures
Some 15 years
later, I read Mikes book and in a period of illness, fascinated, I decided to
do something about it. With some ease I assembled just about every volume in
the series. Mostly, Englishness but separate volumes for Scotland,
Wales, Northern Ireland, Commonwealth and Empire, they provide an interesting
mid-wars perspective on how the British saw themselves. What is more, Rose
Macauley - Life among the English, George Orwell -The English People, Graham
Greene British Dramatists, and many others give an accessible view of what
we are fighting for. And for book collectors, the books have provided a
reasonably priced source of First Editions.
Whilst the majority of the essays were produced
in wartime, the last, British Farm Stock, written by Lord Portsmouth appeared
in 1950.
Whilst
recovering, I read about 70, and then put the books away for the next rainy day.
It looks like I shall be getting them out again
Past Events
- 10 Years ago Short talks by members
- 20 Years ago Talk by Mr W
Spencer entitled "The Public Record Office and the First World War"
- 40 Years
ago Stand-in talks by two club members due to booked speakers illness
Club Secretary.