Brief Notes on the Roman Coinage of Britain.

 

Even though it was on the edge of the known world at the time, Britain occasionally received a lot of attention from Rome . Julius Caesar landed there and accomplished nothing other than giving a description in his Commentaries . All the same Rome insisted that Britain send them tribute - which, of course, was done very little if at all.

Between the civil wars following Caesar's death in 44 B.C. and the attention of the succeeding rulers being largely taken up with the east, it was not until the reign of Claudius (A.D. 41-54) that attention was again given to the island. This time, it was plain successful conquest of much of southern Britain under the generalship of Plautius (who was named governor for his work). For Emperor Claudius, a formal triumph was in order and he was determined to hold in in the newly conquered territory. It was a difficult trip, his attempt to cross the Channel thwarted three times by weather. But cross he did on what seems to be the only expedition he undertook. In Britain , he celebrated by showing great clemency to the vanquished Britons who, in turn, paid him divine honours.

 

For the occasion, Claudius had struck gold aurii and silver denarii with the obverse legend TI. CLAVD. CAESAR AVG. P.M. TR.P. VI. IMP. XI around his head. The triumph was actually in A.D. 44 but the legend dates the coins to A.D. 46. On the reverse is DE BRITANN. (or BRITAN. Or BRITANNIS) inscribed on a triumphal arch surmounted by an equestrian statue between two trophies.

These are the first coins with reference to Britain ; they weren't struck there but rather in Rome (as were nearly all the Roman gold and silver at that time).

This first conquest was broadened over the years and there were both uprisings of the Britons and incursions by the unconquered outside the area of Roman jurisdiction. Usually successful in such wars, the Romans were quick to celebrate such victories numismatically . Hadrian (ruled A.D. 117-138), with three legions, put down a joint uprising and incursion from the north, sealing the frontier with the fortified "Hadrian's Wall" that still exists stretching across extreme northern England. Naturally, coins commemorating his British victories were struck.

We shouldn't believe that the Britons were universally anti-Roman after a century and more of occupation. Retired Roman soldiers were sometimes settled on British land grants and intermarried with the locals. In all, the Romans were in Britain roughly 350 years and as time went on, the Britons came to look upon themselves as Roman citizens (which, by law, they were). It was a distinct Romano-British society that evolved in much of England and while taxes were high, they were heavy everywhere in the Empire save in the city of Rome itself. As always, there were revolutionaries; but there were a lot of pro-Roman loyalists as well. In general, peace and a modest prosperity reigned in the land until around A.D.400 when barbarian attacks on Rome itself forced the withdrawal of the legions (who served the dual functions of being the only police and army). Within only a few years, the unprotected - largely indefensible - British population fell to barbarian incursions from without. The years approximating AD 400 to 600 are the true "Dark Ages" in Britain ; there is practically nothing known from these two centuries.

But until the legions left, there were a number of events to be commemorated. From the point of view of modern British numismatists, perhaps the most important took place during the reign of Antoninus Pius (A.D. 138-161). In A.D. 140, the Brigantes made incursions against their neighbours who, in turn were leagued with the Romans. Legions under Roman General Lollius Urbicus defeated them with great slaughter and raised another defensive wall even further north than Hadrian's. The victory was commemorated by a gold coin but, more importantly, by a number of large copper sestertii , one of which would be the inspiration of British coin design some 1500 years later.

 

The sestertius above has an obverse that reads: ANTONINVS AVG. PIVS P.P. TR. P. COS. III ("Antoninus Augustus Pius, Pater Patriae, Tribunitia Potestate, Consul Tertium"), his Third Consulship dating the coin to A.D. 140. But it is the reverse that is the most important, showing as it does a seated figure holding a standard in the right hand and leaning on a shield with the left, BRITANNIA around above. In the late 1600s, this reverse was modified to become the familiar "Britannia seated" with shield and trident on the copper coins of Britain .

So far, all these coins merely referred to British events. We're not quite sure when Roman coins were first minted in Britain; while the mintage of the Empire's gold and silver were jealously retained by the city of Rome, copper pieces were allowed to be locally minted throughout the realm. Before about A.D. 300, many did not use mintmarks so unless as S.C. appears on the reverse exergue (denoting that it, too, was minted in Rome ), we can't be certain where it was struck.

Certainly the technology was there - because counterfeiters used it. In the early 1700s, a hoard of hundreds of fine moulds were discovered at Edington, Somerset, U.K. that had obviously been used to cast fake coins - silver as well as copper. There was no one type but rather a range of the most common from the reigns of Septimius Severus (193-211) to Maximus (235-8), leading us to believe that the operation dated from the latter reign or shortly thereafter. British scholars were amazed to find that even after being buried all these centuries, the fine-grain fired moulds were capable of still giving casts with very fine detail. Not only that, they were designed to be stacked, a whole series of coins capable of being cast at one melt.

When asked when the first Roman coins minted in Britain appeared, most are inclined to answer those of Carausius (287-293) and Allectus (293-6), usurpers in Britain who assumed the purple as one of the contenders for the overall Augustus of the whole Empire. Carasius minted his coins in London , Colchester and Rouen while Allectus used only the first two mints.

 

Gold Aureus of Allectus (AD 293-6) The reverse reads PAX AVG. with ML in exergue. This was a mintmark reading "M(oneta) L(ondinensis"

 

Two British mints appear on the coins of these two Emperors: London - "Londinium" to the Romans - (appearing as ML or P[ecunia] L[ondinensis]) and Colchester (Camulodunum) where the mintmark is either C or CL.

 

It was after the coinage reforms of Diocletian (284-305) that mintmarks became a regular feature on Roman coins. In future years, the designation for the London mint could be variously, L, ML, MLL, MLN, MSL ("Moneta Sacra Londinensis"), PLN, PLON.

 

Constantine I ("The Great") AD 307-337 Copper Follis London Mint ("PLN" in reverse exergue)

 

The last official Roman coin struck in Britain would appear to be small bronzes of Constantius II (337-361) with the PLON mintmark. But into the 4 th and 5 th Centuries, there was an influx of crude copper "barbarous radiates", copies of various coins of Constantine I and his family. Rarely do they sport a mintmark of any kind. Many of those found in British hoards were presumably produced locally.

Wayne Jacobs is numismatic expert. He is the award winning author of numerous articles. He is the secretary and editor of the "Mid-Island Coin Club Numismatic Journal"of Nanaimo, Vancouver Island , British Columbia. The MICC journal are hosted here: MICC webpages Copyright 2006 Wayne Jacobs. This article may be reprinted freely for non commercial purpose only if the resource box is left intact, linking back to us.