Eadred AD 946-955 Silver Penny Crowned bust right Rare

Eadred AD 946-955, Silver Penny, mint uncertain.

Crowned bust right

Moneyer WILFERTH

S1115, 20mm, 1.45g

A wonderful example, well struck on a full flan in good metal with no weakness to strike, so often encountered with mid Saxon portrait coins. This coin comes with a previous printed label.

Eadred (946-955): On taking the throne, Eadred faced exactly the same issue as his brother had some seven years before – Northumbria yet again separating from England. Keen to stamp the problem out for good, Eadred seems to have engaged in a ‘scorched earth’ policy – destroying the region’s infrastructure and incentivising its inhabitants to support him over their usual Norse allies. This eventually worked, as in 954 the last ‘Viking’ King of York was exiled and promptly murdered by one of his own dissatisfied nobles. This is certainly Eadred’s best known achievement, though he also was keenly involved in the promotion of Benedictine monasticism – which flourished in England during his reign. He seems to have been badly affected by some sort of digestive disease that prevented him being properly nourished by food, and died childless in 955.