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Codnor Castle, Derbyshire
First screened 6 January 2008
In this section: Codnor home
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The gold noble
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The gold noble
'For foure things our noble sheweth unto me,
King, ship, and sword and power of the sea.'
Rarely has an individual find got everyone quite so excited on a Time Team dig as the gold coin discovered by metal detectorist Jonathan Smith in the thick silt removed from the bottom of the moat at Codnor.
Still gleaming as bright as the day it was dropped into the mud, the coin's design shows a figure standing in a ship with his head poking up between the sails. He is holding a sword upright and has a shield quartered with the arms of England and France. On the reverse are various symbols of power: crowns, lions, fleurs de lys and a large cross. In the middle of cross is the initial 'H' for Henry.
The coin was sent for identification to Dr Martin Allen of the Department of Coins and Medals at the Fitzwilliam Museum. This is what he reported:
Date
The coin is a gold noble of Henry V (1413-1422), struck at the London mint, in the Tower of London. It belongs to class E (there are seven classes from A to G). The chronology of the coinage of Henry V is quite uncertain at present, but a reasonable guess at the date of class E would be between c1415 and c1420.
Gold nobles of Henry V were still available in relatively large quantities in 1464, as shown by the Fishpool, Blidworth (Notts) hoard, found in 1966 and probably buried in 1464. The Fishpool hoard included 258 Henry V gold nobles, 45 of which belonged to class E.
All gold nobles minted between the introduction of the denomination in 1344 and 1465 were effectively eliminated from circulation by the introduction of new gold coins in 1465 (the ryal and angel) and by a subsequent recoinage of the old gold coinage. Thus it is unlikely that the gold noble found at Codnor was lost later than c1470.
Rarity
There have been many substantial hoards from the 15th century containing gold coins (the Fishpool hoard was the largest, containing about £400 in gold in all), but medieval English gold coins are relatively rare as individual finds. Christopher Dyer ('Peasants and coins: the uses of money in the Middle Ages', British Numismatic Journal 67, 1997, pp30-47) analyses medieval coin finds from 33 rural settlement excavations, which yielded only one gold coin (a quarter noble).
Inscription
The inscription on the reverse of the coin is IHC AVTEM TRANSIENS PER MEDIV' ILLORV' IBAT ('But Jesus, passing through the midst of them, went on his way.'). Quoting from Sir John Evans, ('The first gold coins of England', Numismatic Chronicle, 3rd series XX 1900, pp218-51, at pp244-5): 'The text ... is based upon the Gospel of St Luke, chap iv, v 30, which in the Vulgate reads "Ipse autem transiens per medium illorum ibat." The first word is changed into Jesus in its abbreviated form IhC – in which the C seems to be a survival of the Greek C'.'
Evans (pp245-7) discusses the significance of this inscription, showing that it was widely believed to have amuletic powers in the Middle Ages, as a protection against thieves. The obverse design of the king standing in a ship, which first appeared on gold nobles in 1344, is believed to refer to the naval victory of Edward III at Sluys in 1340.
Design
A medieval English rhyme by the well known poet Anon has this to say of the design of the noble (Evans, p249): 'For foure things our noble sheweth unto me, King, ship, and sword and power of the sea.'
Value
The gold noble was worth 6 shillings 8 pence (6s 8d). According to a useful websitehttp://measuringworth.com/calculators/ppoweruk/), 6s 8d in 1450 was equivalent to £166 in 2006.
Channel 4 is not responsible for the content of third-party sites.
Still gleaming as bright as the day it was dropped into the mud, the coin's design shows a figure standing in a ship with his head poking up between the sails. He is holding a sword upright and has a shield quartered with the arms of England and France. On the reverse are various symbols of power: crowns, lions, fleurs de lys and a large cross. In the middle of cross is the initial 'H' for Henry.
The coin was sent for identification to Dr Martin Allen of the Department of Coins and Medals at the Fitzwilliam Museum. This is what he reported:
Date
The coin is a gold noble of Henry V (1413-1422), struck at the London mint, in the Tower of London. It belongs to class E (there are seven classes from A to G). The chronology of the coinage of Henry V is quite uncertain at present, but a reasonable guess at the date of class E would be between c1415 and c1420.
Gold nobles of Henry V were still available in relatively large quantities in 1464, as shown by the Fishpool, Blidworth (Notts) hoard, found in 1966 and probably buried in 1464. The Fishpool hoard included 258 Henry V gold nobles, 45 of which belonged to class E.
All gold nobles minted between the introduction of the denomination in 1344 and 1465 were effectively eliminated from circulation by the introduction of new gold coins in 1465 (the ryal and angel) and by a subsequent recoinage of the old gold coinage. Thus it is unlikely that the gold noble found at Codnor was lost later than c1470.
Rarity
There have been many substantial hoards from the 15th century containing gold coins (the Fishpool hoard was the largest, containing about £400 in gold in all), but medieval English gold coins are relatively rare as individual finds. Christopher Dyer ('Peasants and coins: the uses of money in the Middle Ages', British Numismatic Journal 67, 1997, pp30-47) analyses medieval coin finds from 33 rural settlement excavations, which yielded only one gold coin (a quarter noble).
Inscription
The inscription on the reverse of the coin is IHC AVTEM TRANSIENS PER MEDIV' ILLORV' IBAT ('But Jesus, passing through the midst of them, went on his way.'). Quoting from Sir John Evans, ('The first gold coins of England', Numismatic Chronicle, 3rd series XX 1900, pp218-51, at pp244-5): 'The text ... is based upon the Gospel of St Luke, chap iv, v 30, which in the Vulgate reads "Ipse autem transiens per medium illorum ibat." The first word is changed into Jesus in its abbreviated form IhC – in which the C seems to be a survival of the Greek C'.'
Evans (pp245-7) discusses the significance of this inscription, showing that it was widely believed to have amuletic powers in the Middle Ages, as a protection against thieves. The obverse design of the king standing in a ship, which first appeared on gold nobles in 1344, is believed to refer to the naval victory of Edward III at Sluys in 1340.
Design
A medieval English rhyme by the well known poet Anon has this to say of the design of the noble (Evans, p249): 'For foure things our noble sheweth unto me, King, ship, and sword and power of the sea.'
Value
The gold noble was worth 6 shillings 8 pence (6s 8d). According to a useful websitehttp://measuringworth.com/calculators/ppoweruk/), 6s 8d in 1450 was equivalent to £166 in 2006.
Channel 4 is not responsible for the content of third-party sites.
