Crondall Hoard

{{Short description|Anglo-Saxon gold coins found in England}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} {{Use British English|date=February 2023}} The '''Crondall Hoard''' is a [[hoard]] of coins and other articles that was found in the village of [[Crondall]] in the English county of [[Hampshire]]. The hoard was discovered in 1828 and is believed to date to the seventh century. It was the largest hoard of [[Anglo-Saxon]] gold coins found prior to the 21st century.<ref>{{cite news|title=Largest Anglo-Saxon gold coin hoard found in Norfolk|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-norfolk-59151380|work=[[BBC News]]|date=2021-11-03|accessdate=2021-11-06}}</ref> The coins are now in the collection of the [[Ashmolean Museum]] at [[Oxford]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.hants.gov.uk/hampshiretreasures/vol03/page007.html |title=''Hampshire Treasures'' Volume 3 (Hart and Rushmoor) Page 7 – Crondall |access-date=21 October 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080517075611/http://www.hants.gov.uk/hampshiretreasures/vol03/page007.html |archive-date=17 May 2008 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name=cwch>{{cite news|url=https://coinweek.com/ancient-coins/the-crondall-hoard-of-anglo-saxon-gold-coins/ |title=The Crondall Hoard of Anglo-Saxon Gold Coins |first=Michael |last=Shutterly |date=27 October 2020 |access-date=26 January 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201128184958/https://coinweek.com/ancient-coins/the-crondall-hoard-of-anglo-saxon-gold-coins/ |archive-date=28 November 2020 |url-status=live |work=Coin Week}}</ref><ref name=amch>{{cite web |title=Crondall Hoard |publisher=Ashmoleam Museum |url=https://britisharchaeology.ashmus.ox.ac.uk/coins/crondall-hoard.html |access-date=26 January 2021 |archive-date=26 January 2021 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210126193931/https://britisharchaeology.ashmus.ox.ac.uk/coins/crondall-hoard.html}}</ref> The hoard was accidentally discovered by Charles Lefroy on his family's estate in 1828. As discovered it comprised 97 gold coins, together with three unstruck gold [[planchet]]s and one gold-plated object that could have been a coin forgery. There were also a pair of jewelled ornaments, together with small chains that Lefroy thought may have been the remains of a pouch that had once held the coins and jewellery. Of the 97 coins, 73 were Anglo-Saxon [[thrymsa]] and 24 were [[Merovingian]] or [[Franks|Frankish]] [[tremissis]]. The consensus amongst historians is that hoard dates from between 635 AD and about 650 AD.<ref name=cwch/><ref name=pjmb>{{cite book|last1=Grierson|first1=Philip|last2=Blackburn|first2=Mark |author-link2=Mark Blackburn (numismatist) |title=Medieval European Coinage: Volume 1, The Early Middle Ages (5th–10th Centuries)|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WpQiZ8BX2q8C|date=2 July 2007|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-03177-6|ref=GriersonBlackburn}}, p. 161</ref><ref name=ceuk>{{cite book|editor-last=Skingley|editor-first=Philip|title=Coins of England & the United Kingdom: Standard Catalogue of British Coins 2015|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0w8xrgEACAAJ|date=2014|publisher=Spink & Sons Ltd|isbn=978-1-907427-43-5|ref=Spink}}, p. 84</ref>

It is not possible to know if the coins were hidden or lost by accident. It has been suggested by the [[numismatist]] and historian [[Philip Grierson]] that the hoard may be a [[wergild]], compensation paid to the family of someone killed by the killer. Grierson noted that under the laws of the [[Kingdom of Kent]] the wergild for killing a free Anglo-Saxon was 100 gold shillings and this matched the amount of gold in the hoard. However, there is no certainty that the 100 coins and blanks recovered by Lefroy was the whole of the hoard, and the place where the hoard was found was actually in the [[Kingdom of Wessex]], where the wergild tariffs were different.<ref name=cwch/><ref name=pjmb/>

After discovery, the hoard remained in the Lefroy family until 1895 when it was sold to the [[John Norton, 5th Baron Grantley|5th Lord Grantley]]. The fate of the three gold blanks, the possible forgery and the jewellery items is unknown, but all the coins were sold after Grantley's death in 1943 to the numismatic firm [[A H Baldwin & Sons]]. They in turn passed them on, at cost price, to the Ashmolean Museum, where they are on display. The hoard is of considerable historical significance, as it is the only large hoard of Anglo-Saxon thrymsa ever found, and a great deal of current knowledge of Anglo-Saxon gold coinage is the result of studying this hoard.<ref name=cwch/><ref name=amch/>

== References == {{reflist}}

== External links == * [https://britisharchaeology.ashmus.ox.ac.uk/coins/crondall-hoard.html Description of the Crondall Hoard, with photographs, from the Ashmolean Museum]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cronall Hoard}} [[Category:Collection of the Ashmolean Museum]] [[Category:History of Hampshire]] [[Category:Treasure troves in England]] [[Category:Treasure troves of Medieval Europe]] [[Category:1828 archaeological discoveries]] [[Category:7th-century artifacts]] [[Category:Hoards from Anglo-Saxon Britain]]