Posted on 12/12/2015 5:43:43 PM PST by SunkenCiv
A hoard of Viking coins could change our understanding of English history, after showing how Alfred the Great 'airbrushed' out a rival king
A Viking hoard discovered by an amateur metal detectorist could prompt the re-writing of English history, after experts claimed it shows how Alfred the Great "airbrushed" a rival king from history.
Ceolwulf II of Mercia is barely mentioned in contemporary records and largely forgotten by history, only briefly described in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle as an "unwise King's thane".
But as of today, his reputation might be rescued after a haul of coins dug up after more than 1,000 years suggested he in fact had a powerful alliance with Alfred, ruling their kingdoms as equals.
The hoard, made up of 186 coins, seven items of jewellery and 15 ingots, was found by amateur metal detectorist James Mather on his 60th birthday, after he uncovered it in a muddy field.
A selection of the coins show two emperor-like figures, believed to represent Alfred and Ceolwulf, and are now known to have been produced extensively in both kingdoms...
The coins date from the late 870s; the only example of a Viking hoard from the era.
Only one example of the double figured coin from each kingdom has been found previously, with archaeologists left unsure as to whether it was a "one-off" mint.
The new discovery reveals how the coins were produced in both Ceolwulf and Alfred's names, far more extensively than previously thought and in a number of different mints.
"It sheds new light on a very poorly understood period in English history," said Dr Williams.
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
I love the name of that place, “Sutton Hooooo?”
the Vikings charged into the kingdom's capital, Repton, some 60 miles southwest along the Trent. There, they sacked a monastery, sent the king, Burghred, fleeing to Paris, and replaced him with a figurehead named Ceolwulf...The Viking Great Army: A tale of conflict and adaptation played out in northern England [2018]
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