Kings of Mercia Burgred AD 852-874 Silver Penny

Kings of Mercia Burgred AD 852-874 Silver Penny

Bust right / HEAWULF

S942D, 19mm; 1.31g

Comes with previous handwritten label

Burgred (852-874): Beginning his reign in a decade where Scandinavian raiding parties were starting to overwinter in England and become extremely bold in their choice of targets, one of Burgred’s first acts as King of Mercia was to engage in a marriage alliance with the Kings of Wessex. Despite this consolidation of power and some mutual successes against the rebellious Welsh – the arrival of the ‘Great Heathen Army’ in 865 would effectively turn the domestic situation upside down. Initially paying off the invaders, Burgred was forced to flee in 874 after Tamworth and Repton were both sacked – he would travel to Rome and spend the rest of his life in exile, effectively a retiree. His coins are the most common of all the Mercian kings, apparently struck in large numbers with a complex administration encompassing over fifty different moneyers. Despite this, his coinage is fairly simple – mainly consisting variants of one main type (the so-called ‘lunettes’ issue).