A gold coin struck more than 1,000 years ago as an imitation of a more famous coin may be a relic of the “Great Heathen Army” that invaded England in 865 – an invasion that led to Viking the kingdom there known as the Dane law.
In accordance Portable antique arrangementsrun by the British Museum and Amgueddfa Cymru – Museum Wales, a metal detector discovered the coin in 2024 in a field near Elsing, a village in Norfolk on England’s east coast, which was among the areas first invaded by the Viking army.
More importantly, the coin was a solid-gold imitation of earlier “solidus” coins struck by the Carolingian emperor Louis the Pious – son of Charlemagne – about 50 years earlier.
The original solidi were awarded to high-ranking Carolingian nobles, but the later copies – probably made in Frisia, an area now covered by the northern Netherlands and the western edge of Germany – were used as “portable wealth” throughout Scandinavia, he said.
It is likely that this was worn as an amulet by one of the Viking invaders. “The Norfolk find is a particularly fine specimen compared to most,” Coupland said.
Gold pendant
The object is now undergoing an official investigation to determine whether it is “treasure” that needs to be given or sold to a museum, and Norfolk’s Norwich Castle Museum have expressed interest.
According to the entry on the Portable Antiquities Scheme’s website, the gold coin is pierced twice above the head of the Emperor Louis it depicts, suggesting that the “head side” was intended to face forward when worn as a medallion.
The other side of the coin has a Christian cross, which was probably not preferred by the Viking invader who carried it. (The Vikings and other Norse, who began in the central Danish kingdom, did not begin to convert to Christianity before end of the 10th century.)
The Viking force, which the Christian English called “The Great Pagan Army”, began its invasion in 865 under the Danish chieftains Ivar the Benløse (it is unclear what his name means), Halfdan and Ubba. All three chieftains claimed to be sons of the legendary Viking hero and king Ragnar Lothbrok, who appeared in Norse sagas.
Experts debate whether the army included as few as 1,000 Viking warriors or more than 5,000, but as the fighting continued, they were reinforced from Scandinavia in 871, and in 878 Viking leaders negotiated the Dane Law with the English king Alfred the Great.
The agreement kept the invaders out of Alfred’s land and established a Viking kingdom – with unique laws – over large parts of eastern and northern England for more than 50 years. In the following decades, Alfred’s successors once again merged the Viking territories into the English Empire, which fell Norman Conquest in 1066.
