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Money and coinage in the French lands of Henry Plantagenet c.1150-1189

Abstract of the PhD of Eleanor Stinson, Money and coinage in the French lands of Henry Plantagenet c.1150-1189, defended 27 November 2024 at the University of East Anglia (supervisors Prof. Nicholas Vincent, Dr Barrie Cook, Prof. David Bates)

Henry Plantagenet, Duke of the Normans, Aquitanians and Count of the Angevins is more often remembered as Henry II, King of England, and celebrated for his English monetary reforms. By contrast, Henry’s French coinage is generally overlooked, especially by English historians, and characterised as chaotic and unregulated. This thesis provides a new inter-disciplinary approach to the study of the ‘Angevin Empire’ by examining Henry’s French coinage, challenging the Anglocentric focus which dominates the literature. This thesis provides an overview of the coin types circulating within the French Plantagenet lands during Henry’s rule, and the differences between the ‘Angevin’ and ‘Aquitanian’ coinages. It also explores the use of money and coin, placing the French Plantagenet lands within their wider European context by looking at attitudes towards money and coin in the twelfth century. The evidence strongly suggests that money, whether as a monetary unit or a coin, played a part in the lives of most members of society in Henry’s French lands, thus making it a vital source for providing a new perspective on how the “Angevin Empire” was governed. By examining money and coinage this thesis has revealed a new aspect to how Plantagenet authority was imposed, and the effect it had on those living within the different regions of Plantagenet France.

This thesis will show that by looking at the numismatic evidence alongside the written sources it is possible to establish a distinct difference between the circulation patterns of the ‘Angevin’ and ‘Aquitanian’ coinages. The dividing line between the ‘Angevin’ and ‘Aquitanian’ monetary zones was the Loire river, the historical boundary between the duchies of Normandy and Aquitaine. There is no evidence that Henry Plantagenet ever attempted to bridge the divide between the two monetary zones and introduce a single uniform coinage, despite incorporating the English Sterling into the ‘Angevin’ monetary zone in 1180. It appears, therefore, that the areas in which the ‘Angevin’ coinages circulated (the duchy of Normandy and county of Anjou) were those which were staunchly Plantagenet and the inheritance of Henry’s eldest son Young Henry. The ‘Aquitanian’ coinages, by contrast, are found only within the duchy of Aquitaine, the inheritance of Henry’s second son Richard the Lionheart.

Hoards containing ‘Angevin’ coinages c.1150-c.1200
Hoards containing the dominant Southern deniers

By taking a broad approach to the study of money and coinage, and considering the French Plantagenet lands as a whole, it has been possible to establish a link between the areas in which the Angevin coinages circulated and Henry Plantagenet’s authority in these same regions. The areas in which the Angevin coinages are found, in both the coin hoards and in the charters, were those with which Henry had the closest links, and where he spent the most time, namely the duchy of Normandy and the county of Anjou.  The duchy of Aquitaine was not visited regularly by Henry, who usually went there only when there was unrest in the region or if carrying out a particular military campaign. His only claim to the title of Duke of Aquitaine came by right of his wife, Eleanor of Aquitaine, who arguably held more authority in her homelands than her husband.  Despite technically being united under the rule of one individual, the southern regions remained staunchly independent of Plantagenet influence and few links appear to have been established with the duchy of Normandy: a disjunction reflected in the coinage. The lack of uniformity to the coinage of the French Plantagenet lands is also reflected in the different administrative and cultural practices found in these various regions. Whilst each region had slight variations in administrative practice and its attitude towards Plantagenet authority, the most significant divide was that between the duchy of Normandy and the duchy of Aquitaine.

The duchy of Normandy and county of Anjou were the lands Henry inherited directly from his parents and the regions in which he had been raised and taught how to rule.  Henry, therefore, was very much a Norman, and it was Normans who he chose to make-up his court and entourage throughout his rule. Not only did Henry spend a very limited amount of his time in Aquitaine, only spending two Christmases there compared to six in Anjou, twelve in Normandy and thirteen in England, but he also failed to forge relationships with the local aristocracy by appointing them to his court.  Similarly, it was Normans and not Aquitanians that he appointed to key positions within Aquitaine. Despite claiming the title of Duke of Aquitaine, Henry did not attempt to integrate himself with the local aristocracy, either through learning their customs, or by importing Norman customs and practices to Aquitaine. At no point during the thirty-six years that Henry used the title Duke of Aquitaine was he officially invested as such. By contrast, Richard the Lionheart was invested as Duke of Aquitaine in 1171 and prior to this occasion had been proclaimed Count of Poitou, and acknowledged as the future lord of Aquitaine in assemblies at Niort and Limoges. Richard was the only Plantagenet Duke of Aquitaine who had close links to the duchy and who was raised and taught to rule there. It appears, therefore, that Henry was happy to leave the government of Aquitaine to his wife and son. The coinage certainly supports this view, as only Richard is known to have minted new Poitevin and Aquitanian coins carrying his name and title.

When looking at the coinage of Henry Plantagenet’s French lands the year 1180 is significant because it was in this year that a link between Henry’s succession plans and the coinage becomes evident. It was Henry’s intention that after his death his eldest son, Henry, would inherit the kingdom of England, duchy of Normandy and county of Anjou with his second son, Richard, inheriting the duchy of Aquitaine. In 1180 Henry reformed the English coinage, reducing the value of the English sterling so that it aligned more closely with the Angevin coinages. By decreasing the value of the English sterling, which was and continued to be the highest value silver coinage in Europe, exchange between the English and Angevin monetary systems became more straightforward, with one English sterling now equivalent to two Le Mans deniers or four deniers of the coins of Angers, Tours, or Guingamp. The 1180 reforms effectively created a single, unified monetary block comprising the kingdom of England, the duchy of Normandy and, to a certain extent, the duchy of Brittany: all the continental lands for which Henry’s eldest son, Young Henry, had rendered homage to the French King in 1169. The 1180 reforms marked a significant turning point in the monetary policy of Henry Plantagenet as they established a monetary relationship between his English realm and his French lands north of the Loire. The fact that the changes to the English coinage immediately followed the settlement of the Plantagenet succession must be more than mere coincidence. It is possible that Henry was drawing on a traditional Plantagenet policy which saw the lands intended to be inherited by the eldest son being unified monetarily. Henry’s father, Geoffrey Plantagenet, had inherited greater Anjou which included the regions of Maine and Touraine, the coinage of which had been incorporated into the Angevin monetary system from the early-twelfth century. Geoffrey added Normandy to the Plantagenet domains and, by the time Henry inherited the duchy in 1150, the Roumois deniers had disappeared from circulation and been replaced by the Angevin denier, as had the Beauvais deniers previously found in eastern Normandy. Over the course of the 1160s and 70s the Blois-Chartres coinage ceased to be produced and the neighbouring coinages of Vendôme and Châteaudun began being minted in greater numbers and to standards that aligned more closely with the Angevin coinages. The 1180s, as already discussed, saw the reform of the English coinage, bringing it into line with the Angevin coinages which by this time included the Guingamp deniers of Brittany. There was precedence, therefore, for Henry’s creation of a uniform monetary system in the lands to be inherited by his eldest son.

By looking at money and coinage only in the French Plantagenet lands during Henry’s rule it has been possible, despite severe challenges posed by the availability of evidence, to explore the association between coinage and authority in a way that has not been done before for Henry’s French lands. This thesis is the first study to focus explicitly on the coinage in the French Plantagenet lands during Henry’s rule and consequently it provides a new perspective on how Henry’s authority was exercised, experienced and in some cases resisted across the different parts of his French lands.

Elaenor Stinson, University of East Anglia


OpenEdition vous propose de citer ce billet de la manière suivante :
Rédaction (18 mars 2025). Money and coinage in the French lands of Henry Plantagenet c.1150-1189. Mondes nordiques et normands médiévaux. Consulté le 18 avril 2025 à l’adresse https://doi.org/10.58079/13huo


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