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Penny - Æthelred I Lunettes type
| Issuer | Kingdom of Wessex |
|---|---|
| Year | 865-871 |
| Type | Standard circulation coin |
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|---|---|
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| Reverse description | The reverse displays the moneyer's name AELFERE arranged in three lines across the field, divided by two horizontal lines creating a tripartite panel layout characteristic of the Two-Line type associated with the Lunettes series. The legend reads MON / ELBERE / ETA, representing a contracted and abbreviated form of the moneyer's name and title. The inscription is enclosed within a beaded inner border, itself surrounded by an outer beaded circle. The lettering is bold and angular, consistent with Anglo-Saxon epigraphic conventions of the period. The plain, slightly irregular flan reflects standard hammered production technique of ninth-century English coinage. |
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| Edge | Plain |
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| Additional information |
Æthelred I inherited Wessex at precisely the moment the Great Heathen Army — Ivar, Halfdan, and their brothers — was dismantling every Anglo-Saxon kingdom in its path. Northumbria fell in 866, East Anglia in 869. Æthelred fought the Danes at Ashdown in 871 alongside his younger brother Alfred, one of the few engagements the West Saxons actually won that year. He died shortly after, likely from wounds sustained at the Battle of Merton, leaving the kingdom to that same brother before his coinage had time to accumulate much wear.