Kings of Mercia Burgred 852-874AD Silver Penny, London

Kings of Mercia Burgred 852-874AD Silver Penny Dudda, London

S940, 20mm, 1.41g

Wonderful metal and detail with attractive tone, not showing the usual porosity for the Lunnettes type this is an exceptional specimen of it’s type.

Ex J Cross collection.

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).