Elementary arithmetic, with brief notices of its history... by Robert Potts.

MONEY.

13

reign he appears to have made no alteration in the standard of the
coins.1
Henry I., 1100-1135, usurped the throne in the absence of
Robert his elder brother, the lawful heir to the crown. He ordained
many wise and politic laws for the benefit of his subjects, and resisted
the encroaching policy of the court of Rome. He inflicted penalties
for debasing the coinage, and in 1125 the severest sentence of the
law was executed on 94 delinquents of the moneyers.
After this severity, he had recourse to a new coinage which became
a new evil, as one of the old chroniclers writes, " by thus changing
the money, all things became most dear, whereof a right sore famine
ensued." The types of his coins are various, as also the inscriptions.
On the obverse of some are his name and title as king of the English,
on others, H.R., or Henricus. On the reverse are the names of the
I-oneyer and the mint. When Henry died, he is reported to have
left 100,000 pounds weight of silver in his treasury.
Stephen, 1135-1154, usurped the government, to the exclusion
of Maude, the surviving daughter of Henry, and dissipated on his
armies the immense treasures left by his predecessor. Henry, the
son of Maude, Duke of Normandy, invaded England with a large
army, and after a contest with Stephen, concluded a treaty which
provided for his succession after the death of Stephen. His coins were
reduced to a wretched state by his necessities and the powers his
subjects had usurped. His pressing wants led him to sanction the
debasement of the money of which he understood not the power.
Henry II., 1154 —1189, succeeded as the lawful heir. After his
coronation he took means to remedy the disorders which had arisen
during the usurpation. He resumed the grants Stephen had made,
and destroyed the castles illegally erected, whence had issued the
greater part of the base coin which had brought great distress on the
people. About the year 1156, he issued a new coinage,2 as the money
issued by his predecessor and by the numerous mints he allowed, was
so debased in value that commerce was obstructed. He appreciated
the power of money, and at his death was found in his coffers 900000
pounds weight of silver and gold, besides plate and jewels.
Richard I. 1189-1199, succeeded his father on the throne of
England, and his martial disposition was unfavourable to the interests
of his people, who were impoverished by the expenses of his armies,
and the heavy ransom which was extorted for his release from unjust
captivity. In the year before his death, his army defeated the French
at Gisors. His parole for the day of the victory was -Dieu et non droit,
which is still retained as the motto of the Royal Arms of England.
It is uncertain how far he may have issued coins from English mints.
There are specimens of the coins of his Gallic mints extant, which
bear his name as king of England, though they were struck by him
as Earl of Poitou or Duke of Aquitaine.
John, 1199-1216. John was born in 1166, and at a very early
1 In the year 1703-4, in digging the foundation for a new building in the
Upper Ousegate, York, after a fire, which had happened there, a small oak box
was discovered containing 250 pennies of William I and William II. And in
833, at Beaworth, in Hampshire, a very large collection of coins of these reigns
was discovered, amounting to about 6,500 pieces.
2 A large quantity of the coins of Henry II. was found at Royston 1721, and
subsequently a larger hoard of more than 5700 at Tealby, in Lincolnshire in 1807.