SILVER PENNY OF ÆTHELBERHT II FOUND BY METAL DETECTORIST

A metal detectorist has unearthed a unique Anglo-Saxon silver penny which sheds light on the murder of a king 1,200 years ago.

The 48-year-old contacted the Early Medieval Corpus of Coin Finds at the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge and was told that the silver penny was the only one of its kind ever discovered.

Three others have been found from the reign of Æthelberht II, the late eighth century ruler of East Anglia, but this is the first to bear the title REX (“king”) on the same side as his name.

Æthelberht was king from 779 until 794 when Offa, the much more powerful king of neighbouring Mercia, invited him to his villa at Sutton Walls in Herefordshire to marry his daughter.

Offa had Æthelberht seized, bound and beheaded.

Until now there was no clue to his motive.

A spokesman for international coin and medal specialists Dix Noonan Webb said: “This find changes our knowledge of Anglo Saxon coinage. Saxon coins weren’t just used for day-to-day transactions, they were a way for rulers to project their image.

“If Offa thought Æthelberht was getting too big for his boots, that might be why he was so brutally murdered.”

According to legend, Æthelberht’s severed head later fell off a cart and rolled into a ditch.

After it was found it was said to have restored a blind man’s sight, resulting in the dead king being declared a saint.

The coin will be auctioned on June 11 at Dix Noonan Webb in London, when it is expected to fetch between £15,000 and £20,000.

To read the complete article, see: Eastbourne man unearths Anglo-Saxon coin (www.theargus.co.uk/news/11223559.1_200_year_old_coin
_sheds_light_on_a_king_s_murder/)

Wayne Homren, Editor

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