words DEI GRATIA appear now for the first time on English coins. They were inscribed on his earliest gold coins, and afterwards on his groats, but not on his smaller pieces of silver. It is remarkable, that these emphatic words should not have obtained a place on the coins at an earlier period, as they are found on all the great seals after the reign of William I. They were used as early as the latter end of the seventh century by Ina, king of the West Saxons, in the introduction to his laws.

The 40th year of this reign is remarkable by an order of the king, that Peter-pence should be no more gathered in England and paid to the Bishop of Rome.

Richard II., 1377-1399, at the age of twelve years ascended the throne of his grandfather. The troubles of his reign did not prevent attention to the state of the money and coinage. In the second year of his reign the Commons petitioned the king, against the clipping of the coins and the exportation of the good money. In the Parliament of 1381, the Commons again represented the distressed state of the country arising from the gold aud silver being carried out of the kingdom; and what was left was very much clipped; they renewed their petition at the end of the Session, and prayed that good and wise counsel might be taken after inquiry and a remedy applied. The remedies proposed were various. One of the chief was, that no clerk nor provisor should be suffered to take away silver or gold, or to make any exchange for payments to the court of Rome. On these informations, a statute was enacted, which, among other things, provided that only "lords and other great men of the realm, and merchants and soldiers," might carry money in gold and silver out of the kingdom. A few years afterwards, an occasion arose for the enactment of a statute to protect the supremacy of the Crown, commonly called the statute of præmunire.2

1 In the year 1376, the court of Rome had become so oppressive in its exactions that the Commons were forced to prefer a petition to the Parliament in which they stated,-" So tost come le pape voet avoir monoie pur meintenir ses guerres de Lumbardie, ou aillours, pur despendre, ou pur raunson' ascuns de ses amys prisoners Fraunceys pryses par Engleys, il voet avoir subside de clergie d' Engleterre. Et tontost ce luy est grantez par les prelatz, a cause que les evesqes n' osent luy contrestore, et est leve del clergie sanz lour assent eut avoir devant. Et les seculers seigneurs n'y preignent garde, ne ne font force coment le clergie est destruit, et la monoye du roialme malement emporte."

The King in his answer replied, that he had already provided against such offences by divers statutes and other means; and that he was then proceeding against the Holy Father, the Pope, in that very business, and that he was ready to do, from time to time, whatever might be effectual. It also appeared that the chief part of the money was conveyed out of the realm by the Pope's collector, and by the Cardinal's procurator, who likewise discovered the secrets of the state. The remedy proposed was, that Parliament should ordain, and that it should be proclaimed throughout the realm, that no one should in future, upon pain of life or limb, act as procurator for the Pope, the Cardinals, or any other residing at the Court of Rome.

In the following year, they further complain to the King "that the Pope's collector here held a receipt equal to a prince or a duke, and sent annually to Rome from the clergy for procuration of abbeys, priories, first-fruits, &c., twenty thousand marks, some years more, some less; and to cardinals and other clerks, holding benefices in England, was sent as much, besides what was conveyed to English clerks remaining there to solicit the affairs of the nation; upon which they desire his majesty, that no collector of the Pope may reside in England." 2 The Commons of the Realm made the following noble declaration against the assumptions and aggressions of the Bishop of Rome:

"The Crown of England hath been so free at all times, that it hath been

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The coinage of Richard II. does not differ from that of his predecessors. His name is inscribed RICARD. or RICARDUS, with the title REX ANGLIE ET FRANCIE ET DOMINUS HIBERNIE et AQUITANIE. The last appears only on his gold coins.

Henry IV., 1399-1413. The system of favouritism of the irresolute Richard at length brought on his deposition, and his death by violence. He had been compelled to resign his crown from his incapacity to govern, and Henry, Duke of Lancaster, claimed the crown by hereditary right.

In the Parliament at Westminster, 20 Jan. 1400, the Commons petitioned the king, and the king's answer is contained in the statute of 5 Rich. II., which provided that gold and silver should not be sent out of the kingdom without the king's licence.

In the year 1402, the Commons complained that the statute 14 Rich. II., c. 2, respecting the exchanges made by merchants to the court of Rome had not been enforced.

In 1404, the statute 6 Hen. IV. c. 1, was intended to prevent the payment to the Church of Rome of more for first-fruits than had been accustomed, by which large sums had been carried out of the realm. Another statute was made in this year to prevent the increasing evil of carrying money out of the realm to the Court of Rome.

In 1411, it was ordained that the Tower pound of gold should be coined into 50 nobles, and the pound of silver into 30 shillings of sterlings, so that this gold and silver should be of the same standard as the old money. This ordinance brought down the coins, the groat to 60 grains, the half-groat to 30, the penny to 15, the half-penny to 7, and the farthing to 3 grains. It will be seen, that the

in no earthly subjection, but immediately subject to God in all things touching the regality of the same crown, and to none other, should be submitted to the Pope, and the laws and statutes of the realm by him defeated, and avoided at his will, in perpetual destruction of the King our Lord, his crown, his regality, and of all his realm, which God defend. And, moreover, the Commons aforesaid say, that the said things so attempted by the Pope be clearly against the King's crown and his regality, used and approved of the time of all his progenitors; wherefore they and all the liege Commons of the same realm, will stand with our said Lord the King, and his said crown, and his regality, in the cases aforesaid: and in all other cases attempted against him, his crown, and his regality in all points, to live and to die.' The occasion of this declaration arose from the fact, that the bishop of Rome had ordained and proposed to translate some prelates of the realm, some out of the realm, and some from one bishoprick into another, within the realm, without the King's assent and knowledge, and without the assent of the prelates so to be translated. By which translations (if they should be suffered) the statutes of the realm would be defeated and made void; and the king's liege sages of his Council, without his assent, and against his will, carried away and gotten out of his realm, and the substance and treasure of the realm carried away, and so the kingdom would be destitute as well of counsel as of substance. To remedy these evils, in the year 1392, the statute 16 Rich. II. c. 5 was enacted. This statute declared, that all persons who should purchase or pursue, or cause to be purchased or pursued, in the court of Rome, or elsewhere, any such translations, should be put out of the King's protection; their lands and tenements, goods and chattels, forfeited to the King, and their bodies to be attached, if they might be found, and brought before the King and Council, there to answer; or that process should be made against them by præmunire facias.

In 1399, in order to check the carrying of money and gold and silver out of the realm by the Pope's agents, an oath was now administered by the collector, by which he engaged not to convey any money, &c., beyond the sea, without the King's special licence.

precious metals were not only enhanced, but their relative value was again altered.

Henry V., 1413-1422. The English coins of this monarch, both of gold and silver, were of the same weight as those of his predecessor. No means are known by which they may be distinguished.

Soon after his accession he directed his attention to the coinage of his kingdom, and finding that the treasure of his realm was fraudulently exported by alien Frenchmen, who had been appointed to benefices within the kingdom, contrary to the statute of 13 Rich. II., it was enacted in his first Parliament that the ordinances against such practices should be firmly holden and kept, and duly put into execution and the alterations in the standard of coins by statute 13 Hen. IV. were established.

In 1414 no Parliaments were holden. The Commons represented the mischiefs which would ensue, whenever peace was made with France, from the sums of money which would year by year be remitted from the alien priories in England, to their chief houses abroad; and petitioned the king to take such priories into the hands of himself and his heirs for ever, with some few exceptions which they stated in their petition. To this the king gave his consent.

1420. In this year the Commons petitioned the king-that no person of what estate or condition soever should convey or carry out of the realm of England, or cause to be conveyed or carried, gold or silver for traffic, or for benefice of holy church, or for any other grace or privilege of holy church, or for any other cause whatever in the courts of holy church beyond sea, reasonable costs and expenses for their passage excepted, upon pain of forfeiture of life and limb, and of lands and tenements in fee simple, goods and chattels as in case of felony. It was not, however, thought fit to grant this petition, nor to go the length of making this offence capital. Accordingly, it was only commanded that the statutes already made should be observed and kept.

Henry VI., 1422-1461, was eight months old when his father died, and about two months after he was also proclaimed king of France on the death of Charles VI.

In 1432, the Pope's ambassador had licence to pass out of the kingdom with gold, money, and jewels, to the amount of one hundred pounds. The next year, the laws which prohibited the exportation of money were again partially suspended, and the bishop of Winchester had licence to carry out of the realm money and plate to the amount of 20,000 pounds of sterlings.

In this reign the usurpations of the Church of Rome, and the attempt of the Pope to render null and void the statute of præmunire, occasioned much trouble in the kingdom. The Commons presented an address to the king, praying that he would send an ambassador forthwith to the Pope to justify the conduct of Chicheley, Abp. of Canterbury, in refusing to consecrate a nominee of the Pope for a diocese in England. In the letter sent are the following memorable words: "Be it known to your Holiness, that while I live, by God's assistance, the authorities and usages of the Kingdom of England, shall never be diminished. But even if I were willing so to debase myself (which God forbid), my nobles, and the whole people of England, will by no means suffer it."

In the year 1444, on account of the want of small money, which

had occasioned much distress among poor people, the Commons petitioned the Parliament for relief. Their petition concludes with these words: "This for the love of God, and for the common profit of the poure liege peple, which for this meritory dede shall hertly pray to God for you." The petition was granted. And some years after, he ordered the Tower pound of gold of old standard to be coined into £22. 108. by tale, that is, to make 67 angels at 68. 8d. each, and the pound weight of silver of the old sterling into 112 groats, amounting to 37s. 6d. by tale, and the half-groats, pennies, half-pennies, and farthings in proportion.

Edward IV., 1461-1483. In the fourth year of his reign, a new coinage was issued. The gold coins were then reduced to £20. 168. 8d. by tale, that is, each pound of gold was to make 50 nobles, value by tale 8s. 4d. each. The silver was reduced to 378. 6d. the pound weight.

In 1465 the gold coins were again altered, 45 nobles were to be made out of the pound of gold, each 10s, or 673 of the pieces impressed with angels, current for 6s. 8d. each, and consequently the pound weight of gold was coined into £22. 10s. by tale.

The silver moneys were the same as in the preceding year, at 378. 6d. the Tower pound, so that there were made of groats 112, half-groats 225, sterlings 450, half-pennies 900, and farthings 1800, all of the old standard. These new nobles were called rials, a term from the French, who gave that name to their coin, on account of the figure of the king in his royal robes (Le Blanc), but which was illapplied to coins bearing the same impression as former nobles. The change of the name was probably intended to obviate the inconvenience which might have resulted from the nobles in currency, and the nobles in account being of different values. The new species of money, called the angel, being of the value of the noble, was called the noble angel.

On the reverse of the noble was the figure of the sun, then introduced on the coins of Edward IV., surmounted by a rose, the badge of the House of York. This impress he adopted after his victory at the battle of Mortimer's Cross, in Herefordshire, where, just before the battle, the extraordinary phenomenon of three suns appeared, which shone for a time, and then were suddenly united

into one.

The inscription on the obverse of his English silver coins was "EDWARDUS DEI GRATIA REX ANGLIE ET FRANCIE," and on the reverse, "Posui Deum Adjutorem meum." On some it was Edwardus Dei Gratia Dominus Hibernie; on others, Edwardus Rex Anglie Francie, is continued on the reverse, Dominus Hibernie. On his great seal the style, which had been discontinued by Henry VI. he resumed in this form: Edwardus, Dei Gratia Rex Anglie et Francie et Dominus Hibernie. He made no alteration in the type of his coins, which are distinguished from those of his predecessors only by the name, weight, or mint-marks. He was the first English king who used a flaming sun as the royal badge on his coins.

1477. About his 17th year, the coins and bullion of the realm appear to have been debased by almost every possible method; for in a statute made in that year, the principal acts formerly passed for their preservation were recited, aud fresh provisions enacted for the protection of them, which the infringement of the laws rendered

absolutely necessary at that time. The provisions for remedy by this new enactment were to continue for seven years.

Edward V. was about twelve years old at the time of his father's death in 1483, and was murdered the same year.

Richard III, 1483-1485, the uncle of Edward V. usurped the throne, and one Parliament was held during his short reign. One of its provisions was a statute designed to stop the exportation of the coins, and another to remedy the abuses which had increased in the Irish mints during the last three years of Edward IV. The same type and legend appear on his coins as on those of Edward IV.

Henry VII., 1485-1509. The battle of Bosworth Field placed Henry, Duke of Richmond, on the throne, with the title of Henry VII. In the year 1489, the fifth year of his reign, a new gold coin was ordered of the old standard of the realm, but double of the value of the royal (rial). The Tower pound weight of gold was to be made into coins 22 pieces by tale, each to be called a sovereign, and to be of value in payment for 20 shillings sterlings. The statute of the 19th year of his reign mentions half-sovereigns likewise. This statute also ordains, "that clipped money shall not be current in payments. And to prevent the clipping of coin in future, it is directed that a circle shall be about the outer part of the new coins, and that the whole scripture shall be about every piece, without lacking of any part thereof, to the intent, that the king's subjects hereafter may have perfect knowledge by that circle or scripture when the same coins be clipped or impaired." Although this monarch made no alteration in the standard of the metal, he introduced several variations from the usual type. He first placed on the coins an arched crown with a globe and a cross on the arch. The type of his coins in the 19th year was wholly changed. His portrait was given in profile, with a crown of one arch only, a form which had not appeared on the coins since the reign of King Stephen. A single beaded line likewise took place of the double tressure upon the obverse of the groats and halfgroats; the inner circle of the reverse, which contained the name of the mint, was omitted; and the rude pellets, which had so long occupied the quarters of the cross, were superseded by an escutcheon of the royal arms surmounted by the cross. On some of these coins he added to his name Septimus or VII., a practice which had been disused ever since the reign of Henry III., on whose coins alone, of all our monarchs, from the earliest times, numerals or any other distinction of the kind had disappeared. The omission of I, II, III, upon the coins of the first three Edwards, and of IV, V, VI, on three of the Henrys, has occasioned difficulties almost insuperable in the appropriation of their respective coins to those monarchs.

The type of the usual gold money was continued nearly the same as before; but Henry's new coin, the sovereign, bore on the obverse the monarch seated in state upon his throne, from whence it derived its name, and on the reverse a double rose, in allusion to the union of the two Houses of Lancaster and York, with the royal arms in the centre.

On his silver coins he is styled HENRICUS DEI GRATIA REX ANGLIE ET FRANCIE; to which is added on his gold coins, DOMINUS HIBERNIE, as on those of his predecessors. On some of his ecclesiastical pennies, the king is represented on the throne, crowned and in royal robes, in his right hand a sceptre, and in his left a globe.