The sources of bullion for the English coinage

Abstract

INTRODUCTION The state was usually not the principal supplier of the precious metals used by the mints of medieval England. In some periods bullion was supplied by mines in the northern Pennines, the Welsh borders and Devon and Cornwall, and it has been claimed that locally mined silver made a major contribution to the English currency in the twelfth century at least, but this can be disputed. Foreign coins and bullion imported in payment for English exports were much more significant sources of metal for the English coinage, although the early history of these imports before the thirteenth century is poorly documented. From the mid-fourteenth century onwards imports of gold through foreign trade were occasionally supplemented by the profits of war in France. The domestic stock of precious metals could also be a major source of bullion for the English coinage in the short term, particularly when the currency was subject to a recoinage. MINING MINING IN DOMESDAY BOOK The silver produced by English and Welsh mines in the Middle Ages was derived from argentiferous (silver-bearing) lead ores, which were smelted and then refined by cupellation to separate the silver from the lead. The only documentary evidence for silver production from English lead mines before the twelfth century is to be found in Domesday Book, which was compiled from a survey made in 1086. The five Derbyshire manors of Darley, Matlock, Wirksworth, Ashbourne and Parwich were recorded as providing an annual payment of 40 pounds of pure silver ( puri argenti ), which replaced a payment of £32 and 6½ sesters of honey customary before the death of Edward the Confessor in 1066. The resources of the manors of Matlock and Wirksworth listed in Domesday Book included lead works or mines ( plumbiariae ), which may well have been the source of the 40 pounds of silver.