Another Newbie Arrives Into The Fold.

I'm so happy that I'm actually making some progress on this set. I honestly though this monarch run would really stump me, (i have no doubt that it will yet). Nine monarchs to get in total for the full set. I've just crossed another one off, so I only have seven more to purchase! Yipppeeee!

Here's a silver penny of Edward the Elder King of the English kingdom of Wessex 899-924 (The Kings of Wessex later became the kings of the whole of England). Edward was the son of Alfred the Great and on the latters death in 899 he succeded. Alfred had managed to turn around the fortunes of the kingdom during a time of heightened Viking activity. During the 870s Alfred had lost almost everything except for one small fort in the South of England. He managed to win a great battle against the Vikings at Eddington. Thus Alfred was able to slowly recapture his kingdom and gain territory from other kingdoms.

With Alfred's death, Edward and his sister Æthelflæd of Mercia managed to prevent the viking forces from encroaching into the Midlands. Edward's reign was successful. But perhaps his greatest achievement was to send his son Æthelstan to be educated and brought up at the Mercian court. With Edward's death Æthelstan would be readily accepted by both the kingdoms of Mercia and Wessex and thus the dream of a united England was becoming more and more of a reality. Edward and Alfred laid the foundations that Æthelstan and later king Eadgar would build England upon.




Obv; + EADVVEARD REX (King Edward)
Rev; BONVS HOMOMO (who was the moneyer that struck the coin) and it literally translates as 'Good Man'


Only about half a dozen coins are known of this moneyer.