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150 The Viking Age in Denmark

Figuro 41 Danish coins, c. 800 to 1035 A.D. (1) = ‘Hcdeby’ coins ofthe first halfof the ninth ccntury. (2) = a ‘Hcdeby’ coin of the first half of the tenth cen tury. (3) = coins of about 975 A.D. (‘cross-typcs’); (2) and especially (3) aro demi-bracteatcs. (4) = coin ofKing Sven (c. 987-1014). (5) = coins of King Knud (1018(1014)-1035) from Lund (first row), Hoskildc and (probably) Hcdeby. (Coins after Haubcrg)

from 173 sites in, especially, Denmark, Sweden and Poland holding 858 specimens. The late coins are dividcd into a number of types, of which the early oncs, dating from 900/950 to about 985, are still vaguely imitating the late eighth-century coins of Cnarlemagne. The Nordic types, howcvcr, wcrc now ofonly halfor one-third the weight of the prototypes of l.lg (Fig. 41). Another group of coins, the so-called ‘cross-typcs', from about 975 to 990, are also very light and devoid ofname ofmint and lord. The cross-types derived their motifs partly from the common west European coins with a cross, and partly from the Byzantine series with Christ sitting on a throne. Moreover some of the crosses have specific parallels among the eastern coins. The cross-types are minted during the reign of King Harald, ‘wdio madę the Danes Christian’, and the symbolism is chosen accordingly. It is intcrcsting that these types are absent in the southernmost part of Jylland, including Hedeby, which suggests the establishment of a second mint in Denmark.¹⁷ The cross-types are unknown from towns, but occur, for instance, at Trcllcborg, which was perhaps the mint. Furthermore, these series havc been mass-produced, sińce we have at least 392 specimens from 75 localities. The contemporary ‘Hcdeby’ types, of the same weight, dating from about 975 to 985, are also struck in larger numbers; we have 348 coins from 41 sites, while the types of the first two-thirds of the tenth century occur in 48 localities, but only in 98 specimens.

Apart from Denmark, and especially Gotland, with many hoards, the tenth-century types, especially the cross-series, have also madę their way to the early Polish State, the homeland of the wife of King Sven.¹⁸ The spread hither of Nordic coins witnesses the close economic contacts, reflected in Denmark in a number of imports ranging from weapons, jcwellery and pottery to the high-quality rye at the fortress ofFyrkat.¹⁹

The disappearancc of minting at Hedeby in about 980 corresponds well with the decline ofthe city, but it should be mentioned that coins resembling the Danish series were struck in mid-Sweden at the close of the tenth century.²⁰ At Birka, however, the latest Nordic coins found come from the first half of the tenth century, the town having been abandoned shortly after 950.

The latest cross-types may have been minted during the reign of King Sven, but the only certain coins of this period are modclled on English ones, bearing a cross and, on the obversc, a picture of the ruler, King Sven of Denmark, according to the inscription (Fig. 41).²¹ From now on the coins have a elear political propaganda valuc for the kings and reflect their hegemonie rule. They carry, along with the name of the lord, the name of the mint, and, as a guarantce of the quality of silver and of the weight, the name of the moneyer too. Particularly during his later years, King Knud (d. 1035), the son of Sven, expanded his minting, first of all to the east, where Lund and