King Stephen medieval penny hoard found near Wymondham

A lost purse of "rare" King Stephen silver pennies has been found during a metal detecting rally.

Nine medieval coins were discovered, with two dating to the reigns of Henry II and III, near Wymondham, Norfolk.

Numismatist Adrian Marsden said "a penny was a lot of money then", with a labourer earning between one and two pennies a day.

Stephen usurped the English throne in 1135, but his rule was contested by his cousin Matilda, the official heir.

The find is made up of two pennies, three cut halfpennies and two cut quarters of pennies from Stephen's reign, as well as two cut quarters of short cross pennies from Henry II and Henry III's reigns.

Dr Marsden, from the Norfolk Historic Environment Service, believes the purse contained the Stephen coins, while the others were lost separately.

"I suspect this is a purse loss because you've got chopped halves and quarters," he said.

"With a hoard, you hide the best coins you've got."

The Norman Conquest in 1066 destroyed Anglo-Saxon England's "very monetised and sophisticated economy... setting the country back at least 100 years," he said.

As a result, money was in short supply so people would chop up the "highly pure" silver pennies to make change.

The coins from Stephen's reign, between 1135 until 1154, are "sufficiently rare" to be interesting, said Dr Marsden.

Henry I's favourite nephew took over the throne, despite the late king forcing his barons to accept his only surviving legitimate child Matilda as his heir.

Matilda, who was in her 30s, spent the next 19 years trying to get her throne back in a period known later as the Anarchy.

Dr Marsden said: "While Stephen and Matilda are slogging it out, people were changing sides all the time.

"How anarchic it was depends on where you were, I don't think Norfolk had it particularly bad."

Stephen eventually accepted Matilda's eldest son as his heir and she lived to see him become the first Plantagenet king, Henry II.

The coins are the subject of a treasure inquest.

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