The only coined money of this period, as far as is certainly known, was the silver penny, which, as at present, was the twelfth part of a shilling; the shilling being also, as it has ever since been, the twentieth part of a pound. The pound, however, was still a full pound of silver, according to the ancient Saxon or German standard of eleven ounces and a quarter troy, or 5400 grains to the pound. The same amount of silver is now coined, as explained in the preceding chapter, into 2l. 16s. 3d. sterling; and that, therefore, was the amount of money of the present denominations in the early Norman pound. The shilling, consequently, being the twentieth part of this, was equivalent to 2s. 9¾d. of our present money; and the penny, being the twelfth part of the shilling, or the 240th part of the pound, was still of the same value as in the Saxon times, and contained an amount of silver equal to a trifle more than what might be purchased by 2¾d. of our money. But both the pound and the shilling were only money of account; there were no coins of these denominations. It is doubtful, also, if there were any coins of inferior value to the silver penny; no specimens of any such have been discovered. Both halfpence and farthings, however, are mentioned in the writings of the time; and a coinage of round halfpennies by Henry I. is expressly recorded by Florence of Worcester, Simeon of Durham, and Hoveden. It has been supposed that the people before, and also perhaps after this, used to make halfpence and farthings for themselves, by breaking the penny into halves and quarters, which, it has been said, they were more easily enabled to do from the coin having on one side of it a cross very deeply indented. Leake, however, has remarked that "the story of the cross being made double, or so deeply impressed, for the conveniency of breaking the penny into halves and quarters, is disproved by the coins now extant, whereon the crosses generally terminate at the inner circle, and, instead of being impressed, are embossed, which prevents their being broken equally."[1] It is most
- ↑ Historical Account of English Money (2nd edit.), p. 38.
