Penny - Edward the Martyr

Edward the Martyr ruled for roughly three years before being murdered at Corfe Castle in 978, almost certainly on the orders of his stepmother Ælfthryth to clear the path for her son Æthelred. The killing was politically embarrassing enough that Edward was swiftly venerated as a martyr, his cult promoted partly to delegitimize the new regime. Coins struck in his name are accordingly scarce — three years of minting across a decentralized network of Anglo-Saxon moneyers produces limited output under any circumstances.

North 763 places this type within the Reform coinage framework established under Edgar, his father, whose 973 monetary reorganization standardized weights and enforced periodic recoinage across England's mints.