17 - Finds of English medieval coins in Schleswig-Holstein

Summary

The study of coin finds has been a recurrent theme of Philip Grierson's work: he has demonstrated their overall importance for numismatics, put forward a system for their classification, and warned of the ways in which they can be misinterpreted. His interest in the problem is the justification of the following notes, which on the evidence of one small sample seek to trace the pattern to foreign finds of medieval English coins.

Schleswig-Holstein, the most northerly Land of the German Federal Republic, is bounded by Denmark in the north, the North Sea in the west, the Elbe in the south, and Mecklenburg and the Baltic in the east. In the Middle Ages it did not form a single political unit. Schleswig, the northern half of the Land, was Danish, while Holstein in the south formed part of the German kingdom. For a short period at the beginning of the thirteenth century Danish control extended over the whole area, though in the later Middle Ages it was the counts of Holstein who added Schleswig to their feudal territories. Well into the twelfth century the Wagrien district in eastern Holstein was in Slav hands and, in the west, Dithmarschen, before becoming a free peasants' republic, was subject to the archbishops of Bremen. Lübeck was made an imperial city in 1226 and Hamburg from the thirteenth century sought independence from the rulers of Holstein, both towns eventually playing a leading role in the Hanseatic League.