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1 Penning - Olav Haraldsson / Imitating Cnut, 1016-1035
| Issuer | Norway |
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| Year | 1016-1030 |
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| Composition | Silver |
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| Obverse description | Crude hammered effigy of a king in profile facing left, rendered in the Anglo-Saxon pennying tradition. The bust is unadorned and stylised, with the legend encircling the portrait within a beaded inner ring. The inscription, reading + CNVTA REX ANCLO, attributes the coin to Cnut, King of England, reflecting the deliberate imitative character of this Norwegian issue. |
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| Edge | Plain |
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| Additional information |
Norwegian coinage in this period was not an indigenous development — it was copied directly from Anglo-Saxon prototypes, almost certainly by English moneyers brought to Norway under Olav Haraldsson's patronage. Olav had spent years raiding and mercenary-fighting across England and Normandy before seizing the Norwegian throne in 1015, and he returned with more than battlefield experience. The English monetary system impressed him enough that he effectively transplanted it.
The imitation of Cnut's coinage is particularly charged: Cnut and Olav were direct political rivals, and Cnut would eventually drive Olav into exile in 1028, reclaiming Norway until Olav's death at Stiklestad in 1030.