The Crondall Hoard is a

hoard A hoard or "wealth deposit" is an archaeological term for a collection of valuable objects or artifacts, sometimes purposely buried in the ground, in which case it is sometimes also known as a cache. This would usually be with the intention of ...

of coins and other articles that was found in the village of Crondall in the English county of

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties of England, county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English citi ...

. The hoard was discovered in 1828 and is believed to date to the seventh century. It was the largest hoard of

Anglo-Saxon The Anglo-Saxons were a Cultural identity, cultural group who inhabited England in the Early Middle Ages. They traced their origins to settlers who came to Britain from mainland Europe in the 5th century. However, the ethnogenesis of the Anglo- ...

gold coins found prior to the 21st century. The coins are now in the collection of the Ashmolean Museum at

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the Un ...

. 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 A planchet is a round metal disk that is ready to be struck as a coin. An older word for planchet is flan. They are also referred to as blanks. History The preparation of the flan or planchet has varied over the years. In ancient times, the f ...

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 The Merovingian dynasty () was the ruling family of the Franks from the middle of the 5th century until 751. They first appear as "Kings of the Franks" in the Roman army of northern Gaul. By 509 they had united all the Franks and northern Gauli ...

or Frankish tremissis. The consensus amongst historians is that hoard dates from between 635 AD and about 650 AD., p. 161, p. 84 It is not possible to know if the coins were hidden or lost by accident. It has been suggested by the

numismatist A numismatist is a specialist in numismatics ("of coins"; from Late Latin ''numismatis'', genitive of ''numisma''). Numismatists include collectors, specialist dealers, and scholars who use coins and other currency in object-based research. Altho ...

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 la, Regnum Cantuariorum , conventional_long_name = Kingdom of the Kentish , common_name = Kent , era = Heptarchy , status = vassal , status_text = , government_type = Monarchy ...

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. After discovery, the hoard remained in the Lefroy family until 1895 when it was sold to the 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 A, or a, is the first letter and the first vowel of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''a'' (pronounced ), plural ''aes'' ...

. 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.

References

External links

Description of the Crondall Hoard, with photographs, from the Ashmolean Museum
Collection of the Ashmolean Museum History of Hampshire Treasure troves in England Treasure troves of Medieval Europe 1828 archaeological discoveries 7th-century artifacts Hoards from Anglo-Saxon Britain {{England-hist-stub