9. Help! The Scots are Coming

Autumn 1322.  Standing on the outskirts of their town, the inhabitants of Hull gazed across the flat, empty landscape right to the horizon.  Squinting, they could make out flickering orange light coming from High Hunsley, 10 miles to the north-west.  This light came from bonfires belonging to a Scottish army who just a few weeks before had sent the English king fleeing for his life at the Battle of Byland.  Now, buoyant from their victory, they gathered around the fires grilling oatcakes, reminiscing about haggis hunts, and planning future raids on English settlements.

The war between England and Scotland had been carrying on intermittently ever since Edward I had invaded his northern neighbour in 1296.  Initially both sides were evenly matched and each enjoyed their share of victories and defeats.  By 1306 though Edward I was ailing and Robert the Bruce felt strong enough crown himself King of Scotland.  At Bannockburn in 1314 the Bruce’s army won a resounding victory over an English army of twice its size.

Proudly leading the English in their defeat at Bannockburn was the rather ineffectual new king Edward II.  Edward was far to busy arguing with his barons to do much to halt the Scottish advance and by 1318 Robert had captured the key border town of Berwick.  Bands of Scottish troops regularly undertook raids into England, burning and attacking whatever lay in their path be it village, town or even monastery.  They completely devastated the countryside north of York and Carlisle before then raising their aspirations and venturing as far south as Lancashire and the West Riding. 

With the English army busy trying to regain the strategically important Berwick, other towns in danger were left to fend for themselves.  Hull made plans for a new defensive wall to encircle the town.  There was already a ditch but while that provided sterling protection against wandering animals, it would be of little use against marauding Scots.  Although the king did give his permission for Hull to construct a crenelated ‘wall of stone and lime’, he didn’t provide any money to do so.  The citizens of Hull were expected to pay for it themselves.

In the event, despite the fact they were so close, the Scottish troops left Hull alone in 1322.  Maybe Hull was seen as too strong to attack.  Maybe for once the tendency of people to view Hull as a ‘bit too much out of the way to bother visiting’ worked in its favour.  Many nearby towns though were not so lucky and Bridlington, Beverley and Driffield were forced to pay for the privilege of not being destroyed.

Picture: Beginning of Letters Patent of 1321 from Edward II giving Hull permission to build a fortified wall.  Text taken from Boyle, J R (ed.) Charters and letters patent granted to Kingston upon Hull.

8. Pennies from Hull

After buying Hull from Meaux Abbey, Edward I set about some home improvements.  Building began on houses for royal officials and a much needed additional quay.  Plans were made for improved roads into the town.  The existing chapel was deemed insufficiently impressive so Edward brought in his own architect to design a replacement and work started on what now forms the east end of Holy Trinity church.  Finally in 1300 a mint was opened.

Edward I needed to produce extra coins to pay for his war with Scotland.  So he set up temporary mints in towns across the country including Hull, Newcastle and York.  These were in addition to his two permanent mints in London and Canterbury.  When merchants from overseas bought goods in Hull with foreign coins, these were normally sent down south to be melted down and reminted.

The highest value coin in circulation was the penny.  Pennies were made of silver and about the size of a current 5p coin.  The familiar ideas of shillings and pounds did exist, but were used only as terms in accounting.  Coins for these larger amounts were not actually minted, which was rather inconvenient.  Wealthy lords travelling between their estates had to carry the money they needed in large barrels full of thousands of pennies.  Presumably thieves just had to skulk by the wayside listening out for any barrels loudly jangling along on the rough medieval roads.

Common folk didn’t find the penny practical either, as it was really quite valuable.  A labourer earned a single penny for a full day’s work.   If you had a spare two pennies you could buy a sheep.  Not unsurprisingly most ordinary people still used barter to acquire everyday goods.  They did however also clip pennies into halves and quarters, or ‘fourthings’, which could then be used to buy cheaper items.  The tiny pieces of silver thus created must have been so easy to lose though whilst moving around Hull’s dusty streets, dimly lit buildings and bustling dockside.  Thanks to this public demand for more useful coins, actual halfpennies and farthings began to be minted in 1270.

Since Hull’s mint was just temporary, the only coin it produced was the penny.  Pennies minted in Hull had on one side the king’s head and the inscription, naturally in Latin, ‘EDW R ANGL DNS HYB’ (Edwardus Rex Angliae Dominus Hiberniae - Edward, King of England, Lord of Ireland).  On the reverse was the inscription ‘VILL KYN GES TON’ (Villa Kingston – Place, Kingston).  During the year it was open Hull’s mint produced around 1 million penny coins in total.

Photo: Silver penny of Edward I, minted at Kingston Upon Hull. From: The Portable Antiquities Scheme/ The Trustees of the British Museum (https://finds.org.uk/database/artefacts/record/id/221992).