Sigtuna coinage

The aim of this paper is to discuss the monetary use and function of the Anglo-Scandinavian coinages, especially the Sigtuna coinage. In the early days of numismatic research their status among other Viking-age and early medieval coinages was not clearly understood, nor was it clear how they should be classified. Today, their status as Scandinavian imitations of English coins – minted in Viking towns such as Sigtuna and Lund – has been recognized. Their numismatic classification has recently been accomplished by meticulous die-studies, but the question of how they were used as means of payment remains unresolved.

It is suggested that the coinages did not necessarily have a nominal value, but an officially sanctioned exchange-value, which could only be reckoned and valued by weight and not by number. In such a monetary system, which had both elements of a coin-based and a bullion-based economy, weighing was probably the only way in which to settle the exchange-value. The archaeological evidence from the Sigtuna mint seems to suggest that the Sigtuna coins were weighed with oblate spheroid weights. These weights follow the Islamic mitqal standard.

It is also argued that at some stage in the bullion economy, coined silver was preferred to hack-silver in transactions. Because of that there might have existed a similar situation in the transactional sphere in the Viking Age, as later during the Middle Ages, whereby different qualities of silver were recognized and valued according to different exchange-rates. This change in the transactional sphere had probably been prompted by the arrival of Western European silver coins to Scandinavia at the turn of the first millennium AD.Finally, the Anglo-Scandinavian coinages probably did not have any monetary value outside the strongholds in which they were minted. They were intended for use only by people visiting the town and using its market.

The original aim of the research project "11th century glass-working and silverprocessing in the Sigtuna mint" (2012–2019) was to re-examine all the fired clay from the 1990–91 Urmakaren excavation ("the Sigtuna mint") with fresh eyes in order to trace possible fragments of glass crucibles and furnace lining. In addition, an examination of slag from the excavation was made to secure possible traces of silver processing – melting and refining – that could be expected in a mint. The project grew a lot from the original goals over time, into a survey of several crafts performed at the site from c. 980 to c.1230 AD – noble metals, minting, weight manufacture, glass bead making, iron smithing, stone masonry, antler work and walrus ivory, writing, painting, pottery and textile crafts. The project came to highlight the activities on a site that probably belonged to the Royal Crown from the 990's and up into the 13th century. The report is written in Swedish.

Artikeln redovisar kortfattat kontexterna till de analyserade degelskärvor från ”Kung Olofs myntaretomt” som Wallace redovisar i sin artikel på annan plats i denna utgåva av Situne Dei (http://arkiv.sigtunamuseum.se/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/situne-dei-2021_Wallace.pdf). Analysresultaten ställs mot andra analyser av liknande degelmaterial från Prag, Västflandern och Novgorod, och värdena från de olika analyserna korresponderar väl med varandra. Denna sorts deglar, skärvlar, tolkas idag tämligen samstämmigt som deglar använda vid testning eller småskalig raffinering av silverprover. De hör på så vis både funktionellt och kontextuellt samman med myntning i Sigtuna, troligtvis både under Olof Skötkonung vid 1000-talets början och under Knut Eriksson vid 1100-talets slut. Fynden korresponderar kronologiskt väl med dessa perioder. Att en anknytning till guldsmide även funnits kan dock inte uteslutas. Myntning, gravering av myntstampar och guldsmide hänger samman.

The site, and particularly house A 79 from the period 1000-1025 commonly called “King Olof's Mint”, gave finds of beads, tesserae and glass rods. SEM-EDS analyses may indicate that a furnace in the house partly was used as a glass furnace and partly for silver processing. The project is now facing its end, and a report will be written during the winter.

The aim of this paper is to discuss the monetary use and function of the Anglo-Scandinavian coinages, especially the Sigtuna coinage. In the early days of numismatic research their status among other Viking-age and early medieval coinages was not clearly understood, nor was it clear how they should be classified. Today, their status as Scandinavian imitations of English coins – minted in Viking towns such as Sigtuna and Lund – has been recognized. Their numismatic classification has recently been accomplished by meticulous die-studies, but the question of how they were used as means of payment remains unresolved. It is suggested that the coinages did not necessarily have a nominal value, but an officially sanctioned exchange-value, which could only be reckoned and valued by weight and not by number. In such a monetary system, which had both elements of a coin-based and a bullion-based economy, weighing was probably the only way in which to settle the exchange-value. The archaeological evidence from the Sigtuna mint seems to suggest that the Sigtuna coins were weighed with oblate spheroid weights. These weights follow the Islamic mitqal standard. It is also argued that at some stage in the bullion economy, coined silver was preferred to hack-silver in transactions. Because of that there might have existed a similar situation in the transactional sphere in the Viking Age, as later during the Middle Ages, whereby different qualities of silver were recognized and valued according to different exchange-rates. This change in the transactional sphere had probably been prompted by the arrival of Western European silver coins to Scandinavia at the turn of the first millennium AD.Finally, the Anglo-Scandinavian coinages probably did not have any monetary value outside the strongholds in which they were minted. They were intended for use only by people visiting the town and using its market.

Sigtuna Museum (Sigtuna Fornhem) was founded in 1916 by the historian Olof Palme (1884-1918). The archaeological research on the early town was then as now on of the museum´s principal tasks. Between 1942 and 1952, Sigtuna Fornhem published a yearbook entitled Situne Dei. The yearbook, edited by the archaeologists Holger Arbman (1904-1968), contained articles on different topics concerning the medieval town. The book got its title from an inscription on one of the early coins made for King Olof Eriksson Skötkonung at the beginning of the 11th century: +OLFAF ON SIDEI. When the yearbook was published, SIDEI was interpreted as an abbreviation of Situne Dei (God's Sigtuna). Brita Malmer  (1925-2013) has however in 1996 convincingly argued that SIDEI is just on of many ways of writing the of the town - Sigtuna. On the other hand, extensive archaeological excavations in Sigtuna during last decades have revealed that Sigtuna can in fact can be interpreted as God's Sigtuna. It was a Christian town even at the time it was founded in c. 980. In the beginning of the 12th century, Sigtuna was most likely perceived as a  sacred townscape as well as a symbolic representation of the heavenly Jerusalem. So when Sigtuna Museum celebrated its 90th anniversary (2006) by again publishing the yearbook Situne Dei, we still think it is a good a meaningful title. We hope that that the new Situne will be as interesting as the old one and that the papers will reflect the current research on the oldest town in the kingdom of Sweden.