Introduction to the Irish Coinage of
Edward IV
As can be seen by the
preceding sections the Irish economy had been subject to
significant export of silver as a result of the English
crown striking Irish silver into coins which could
circulate freely in England. In 1459 in return for
support for his campaign to gain the English crown
Richard Duke of York granted the Irish authorities
permission to strike coins to a lower 'Irish standard'
and to introduce a base metal coinage.
The economic benefits
were clear - the overseas landowners were more likley to
invest their rental income in Ireland and generate local
economic activity if the money could only be exported at
below par.
Richard won the crown but
lost his life! (Hence : Richard Of York Gave Battle In
Vain) so his eldest son Edward became Edward IV in 1460.
The following 23 years
until Edward's death in 1483 were witness to a continual
struggle between the local Irish authorities striving to
maintain a lower Irish standard, the King trying to
exercise control over coinage struck in his name which
sometime circulated in England (to the great annoyance of
the English merchant class because of the lower standard)
and the unscrupulous activities of a series of Irish
mintmasters.
For numismatists this
struggle led to a wonderful series of coins being
produced with a variety of designs, mints, and standards
which are still today being untangled. My forthcoming
paper on this reign will move the confusion to a higher
level!
In short there are six distinct designs. Two of which
have more than one weight standard. There are factions
between Eastern and Southern mints. There are base metal
and billon issues and there are lots of mints (some of
which were illegal, and some of which are still
unrepresented by a surviving coin).
This page is quite long
and is divided into sections corresponding to the main
issues of the period. To jump directly to a point on this
page select one of the topics below.
First 'Anonymous' Issue
(1460-1462)
In 1459 the 'Irish'
standard was set to 45 grains of silver to the groat -
which was 3/4 of the then English standard of 60 grains
of good silver to the English groat. So an Irish groat
carried to England would be worth only three English
pence - with the distinctive design this was clearly an
incentive to keep Irish silver in Ireland, which was
exactly the result that Irish nobility wanted.
The first coins issued
under this authority were anonymous silver groats and
pennies and half farthings in copper.
This groat was the first
issue of a groat in Ireland, the previous coinage being
limited to pennies, halfpennies and farthings. The lack
of an obverse legend gave the engravers a larger than
normal workspace and the resulting coin features a very
finely executed crown. The penny is identical in design
but smaller (and 1/4 the weight). The coins are signed
from Dublin, with one exception of a fragmentary penny
which clearly has a W (Waterford) at the begining of the
mint signature.
The copper half farthing
was an further departure from 'English' practice as there
had been no base metal coinage issued in the English
series for many generations (since the Middle Anglo Saxon
stycas of circa 850 AD). The copper coins are usualy
difficult to decypher and just carry the single legend
PATRICUS.
Titled Crown Issue (1463-64)
In 1463 Edward appointed
Germyn Lynch as mintmaster in Ireland and authorised a
new coinage. The new coinage was described in some detail
in the coinage act of 1463. Most significantly the coins
carry Edward's name and the reverse design reverts to the
normal 'English' type. However the coinage is distinctly
Irish in several respects; the crown design is retained
instead of reverting to the 'English' style of protrait
and the standard is still retained at a margin below the
English standard for the groat.
Edward IV Titled Crown Groat, 1463 - Waterford
The English
standard groat was lowered to 48 grains in 1464 - which
given that the Irish groats should weigh 45 grains seems
to dissipate much of the weight distinction and therefore
to allow for easier export of Irish coins. However most
of the Irish coins of this period appear to have been
struck to a standard of about 41 grains.
The
explanation for the different weight standards appears to
be that Germyn Lynch was wise to an opportunity and he
appears to have found favour amongst the Irish nobility
for redefining the Irish coinage in terms of the Tower
Ounce of 450 grains instead of the Troy ounce of 480
grains. This gave the local nobility some further
differentiation in weight vis-a-vis the English currency
and presumably gave Germyn Lynch a tidy profit on his
activities.
Heavy portrait Isssue (1465-66)
In 1465 Edward again
changed the design of the Irish coinage and authorised
the striking of coins of a purely English type. As the
weight difference was retained this was an economically
disasterous move for Ireland and the local nobility.
The production of
official Irish coins which were very difficult to
distinguish from English ones, but which were struck at
41 grains to the groat instead of the English standard of
48 grains, meant that Irish coins began to circulate at
par in England despite their low weight. This gave rise
to many English merchant's petitions to the English king
asking him to either restore the weight standard or make
the light Irish coins more distinctive.
Hoverer the consequences
in Ireland were more severe - the latent pressure on
money to move out of Ireland to England hade been held
back by the differences in coinage introduced in 1460,
but these new coins issued in 1465 were ideal for export.
So much so that there is suspicion that Lynch was in the
business of producuing these coins for export.
The net effect was a very
quick drain of silver from Ireland and a period of
significant economic hardship began in 1466/7.
'Doubles' Issue
(1467)
In 1467
Edward appointed Sir John Tiptoft as his justiciar in
Ireland. One of Toptoft's early actions was a co0mplete
overhaul of the coinage.
He
modified the design to an Irish type - in this
case retaining the portrait thet Edward had
eventually restored two years earlier, but he
introduced a significantly modified and
specifically Irish type reverse. This features a
full blown rose superimposed on large sun of 24
rays.
He
drastically revalued the coinage so that an Irish
groat was only 22 1/2 grains (compared with 41
grains in the 1465 issue). However he introduce a
'groat sized' coin which he valued at 8 pence an
called a double grout and which weighed 45
grains. These double groats are again very
spectacular coins because of the single legend on
the reverse and the larger area for the 'Irish'
rose on sun design.
He
made the use of all previous coin issued illegal.
This single step which required peopel to turn in
their old con for reminting into new coin ensured
that the struggling economy would grind to a
complete halt. As much of the remaining silver
coin that was of an acceptable standard was
exported as exchanging it would result in
effectively givving 40% or so of the silver
weight to the mint.
This coinage
is, unsurprisingly, rare - and its introduction explains
why the previous Irish style coinages of Edward are also
rare and why so many of the surviving examples were found
in England rather than in Ireland. The exception is the
1465 issue which while scarce is not nearly as rare - the
explanation appears to be simply that these coins were so
similar to the 'English' local currency that they were
less easy to identify readily and remained circulating
and being horarded etc along with the normal English
coins whereas the distinctive Irish types were less
attactive to hoarders and quickly fond their way to the
melting pot.
In 1470
Edward briefly lost the throne to Henry VI (who preceeded
him in 1460). Henry died several months later and Edward
IVregained the throne in 1471.
There are no
Irish coins currently attributable to Henry VI - there is
a penny with a rose reverse which is currently attributed
to Henry VII (and is most likley a very early 1485 issue)
- but which could be attributed to this 1470-1471 period.
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