Editing Edgar, King of England (section)

=== Coinage ===
[[File:SF-2E735D, Medieval coin of Edgar (FindID 799708) cropped.jpg|upright=1.5|thumb|Coin of Edgar, pre-reform, Bust Crowned, moneyer Levinc, East Anglia<ref>{{cite web |url=https://finds.org.uk/database/artefacts/record/id/799708 |series=Portable Antiquities Scheme |publisher=British Museum |title=Record SF-2E735D |access-date=20 January 2023 |archive-date=3 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230103085214/https://finds.org.uk/database/artefacts/record/id/799708 |url-status=live}}</ref>]]

The only coin in common use in late Anglo-Saxon England was the silver [[History of the English penny (c. 600 – 1066)|penny]],{{sfn|Naismith|2021|p=386}} but a few halfpennies were also produced and nine are known for Edgar.{{sfn|Naismith|2017|p=182}} Edgar's coinage is divided into two phases, pre-reform which broadly carried on the diverse coinage design of his immediate predecessors, and the major reform near the end of his reign.{{sfn|Naismith|2017|p=260}}

There had been an increase in regional variation in coinage in the reigns of Edmund and Eadred, especially in Northumbria, which switched back and forth between English and Viking control, and the permanent restoration of control over the north after 954 allowed a gradual return to the greater unity of Æthelstan's coinage.{{sfn|Naismith|2017|p=180}} Edgar's pre-reform coin designs included Horizontal types, which continued from Eadwig's reign. The Circumscription Cross type was introduced under Æthelstan and was rare for the next twenty years, before becoming common under Edgar. The Bust Crowned type (see image) also became much more common in Edgar's reign.{{sfn|Blunt|Stewart|Lyon|1989|pp=157, 171, 195}}{{efn|Horizontal coin types have the [[moneyer]]'s name horizontally on the [[Obverse and reverse|reverse]] in two lines. Commen horizontal types in Edgar's reign were HT (with [[Trefoil]]s top and bottom) and HR (with Rosettes instead of trefoils). The Circumscription Cross type has a cross in the middle on both sides of the coin, surrounded by the name of the king on the obverse and the moneyer on the reverse. The Bust Crowned type has the head of the crowned king on the obverse, often crudely drawn.{{sfn|Blunt|Stewart|Lyon|1989|pp=10–19}} }} Edgar's early coinage is described by Naismith as "an important step towards the fundamental change" of the reformed coinage. Æthelstan's reign and Edgar's pre-reform coinage are the only pre-reform periods when the mint place was commonly shown, and even in these periods many coins did not show the information. Thirty mint-places are named on Edgar's pre-reform coins, and another six are inferred by [[numismatists]] for coins which do not show the town.{{sfn|Naismith|2017|pp=189, 207, 210}} There was a gradual decline in the standard of coinage from the reigns of Alfred and Edward the Elder until Edgar's reform.{{sfn|Naismith|2017|p=195}} In most of the first half of the tenth century the fineness of the coinage was maintained at a high level, with over 90% silver. A few less fine coins were produced in the 950s, and the number increased significantly in Edgar's pre-reform coinage.{{sfn|Naismith|2017|p=15}} The average weight of coins had gradually declined since the reign of Edward the Elder, and this continued into Edgar's time.{{sfn|Blunt|Stewart|Lyon|1989|pp=236–237}}

Edgar's reformed coinage brought in standardised designs over the whole country.{{sfn|Naismith|2017|p=260}} It was modelled on Æthelstan's coinage and had been partly prefigured in the previous fifteen years.{{sfn|Naismith|2017|p=181}} It was of a high and uniform [[fineness]] (proportion of silver), compared both with the preceding period and with most other contemporary European coinages, with about 96% silver.{{sfn|Naismith|2017|p=252}} The weight increased, but there were still regional variations.{{sfn|Naismith|2017|p=260}} All mints used the same design, with the king's bust facing left on the obverse in an inner circle with his name around the outside as +EADGAR REX ANGLOR[UM]. On the reverse was a small cross in the middle, surrounded by the moneyer's name and the mint location. The design was not original: it was very similar to Æthelstan's Bust Crowned coinage, but uniformity over the whole kingdom was completely new. The reform of the coinage is not recorded in documentary sources until the thirteenth century, when [[Roger of Wendover]] was the only chronicler to mention it. It is not known exactly when the reform was introduced, but it was towards the end of his reign.{{sfnm|1a1=Naismith|1y=2017|1pp=260, 728–729 (coins 1764–1770)|2a1=Giles|2y=1849|2p=264}} The fineness of coins became more geographically uneven after his death.{{sfn|Naismith|2017|p=252}}

Edgar's standardization of the coinage reflects his concern with uniformity,{{sfn|Keynes|1999|p=481}} and his ability to impose the change shows the strength of his control.{{sfn|Molyneaux|2015|pp=116–117}} It was part of his determined effort towards the end of his reign to increase the secular and spiritual cohesion of his kingdom. For the first time, all of the approximately forty mints were producing a uniform design of coin.{{sfn|Naismith|2014b|pp=80, 82}} Edgar's coinage reform is described by the historian [[Levi Roach]] as "one of the crowning achievements of late Anglo-Saxon kingship".{{sfn|Roach|2016|p=28}} It lasted for more than one hundred and fifty years.{{sfn|Naismith|2014b|p=40}}