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Tudor Coins (1485-1603)

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The Tudors (1485–1603)

Henry VII

Henry Tudor, who reigned as King Henry VII between 1485 and 1509, had a rather tenuous claim on the throne, being the Lancastrian claimant via an illegitimate descendant of Edward III when all the more senior candidates had been killed off in the Wars of the Roses. He brought the wars to a conclusion by marrying Elizabeth of York, the daughter of Edward IV. A ruthless man, he subsequently arranged for most of his rival claimants to the throne to be executed on various pretexts. The whole style of Henry's coinage marked a break with what had gone before — the king's bust becomes much more lifelike, and the shields on the reverse become much more detailed. Henry's first coinage is very like that of Henry V and VI, minted at London, Canterbury, Durham and York the inscription is one of a variety of HENRIC DI GRA REX ANG. Soon, however, Henry introduced what is known as the Sovereign coinage, so-called because the king is depicted seated on a throne, while the reverse shows the royal shield over a cross. This issue is regarded as marking the division between the coins of the Middle Ages and of the Renaissance in England. The Sovereign coinage was minted at London, Durham, and York, and inscribed with one of a variety of HENRICUS DI GRA REX ANG.

Henry VIII

Henry VIII (1509–1547) is one of England's more interesting monarchs, not just for having married six times, but numismatically too. Henry's first coinage, to 1526, resembled that of his father and still used his father's portrait. With higher bullion prices on the continent, the weight of the silver coins was reduced again. Pennies were minted at the London, Canterbury, and Durham mints. With the reformation starting in the 1530s, the principal effect as far as the coinage was concerned was the closure of the ecclesiastical mints of Canterbury, Durham and York — in future all mints would be Royal mints, under the control of the crown who would consequently get all the revenue. The second coinage, of 1526–1544 had a completely different inscription, H.D.G. ROSA SIE SPIA — Henry by the grace of God a rose without a thorn. At this time the pound standard for mintage was changed from the local Tower pound to the internationally known troy pound. The coins were minted at London, and the Canterbury, Durham and York ecclesiastical mints.

The Dissolution of the Monasteries in the 1530s and the creation of the state-controlled Church of England resulted in a huge financial bonus for the king, but by 1544 Henry was running short of money, thanks partially to his own extravagant lifestyle and expenditure. Henry's solution was to drastically lower the fineness of the third coinage (1544–47) to only one-third silver and two-thirds copper. This was understandably not popular with the people, and it resulted in Henry acquiring the nickname \"Old Coppernose\" as the silver rubbed off the high-relief part of the coin design. By this time there were two mints in London, at the Tower and in Southwark, and both of them, together with mints in Bristol, Canterbury and York produced the debased coinage which bore the inscription H.D.G. ROSA SINE SPINA.