Home
|
Scottish Coins - Malcolm IV (1153-1165)
The demise of Prince Henry of Northumberland in 1152 left his son, Malcolm as the heir to the throne of Scotland at the tender age of 11 years old. Malcolm was thrust into the role of heir designate of David I and was taken on a quick tour of Scotland to appreciate the realm which he would one day rule as King. That day was not long in coming as the following year his grandfather died and the Kingdom of Scotland was again ruled by a child. Much of the early part of his reign was taken up with dealing with Henry II(1154-1189) of England whom Malcolm recognised as his feudal overlord in the Earldom of Huntington. Many native Scots regarded Malcolm IV as a vassal of the English King, and in response several costly rebellions were launched. In retrospect it was the beginning of the violent conflict betwixt Gaelic Scotland and the Anglo-Norman English. Native Scots saw the Anglo-Norman Barons whom Malcolm associated himself with as attempting to takeover Scotland and her unique culture. Despite these rebellions, Malcolm IV seemed to stem the tide for the time being. He succumbed to a brief illness in 1165 and was succeeded by his younger brother, William. Numismatically this reign produced very few coins, and in the early part of the reign it appears as though David I's coinage was continued posthumously. At a later point during this reign, probably when the earlier dies were no longer viable for striking coins, new dies were made and this coinage was released. As with all British hammered coins of this era, the designs were quite crude, and the legends either blundered or meaningless. The only denomination coined during this reign was the penny, it is possible as with all reigns until after that of Alexander III(1249-1286) that pennies from this time were officially cut at the mint after the initial striking to make smaller change. All coins from this reign are remarkably rare, some are unique, the reasoning could have been that coins bearing the name of Malcolm IV were only released shortly before his death. |
Page last updated on 5th August 2011 Года All pages and images copyright © David Parrish 1999 - 2011 Года
