Money Monday - King John Short Cross Penny (c.1180-1247)

Obverse: HENRICUS REX [King Henry]

Reverse: ARNAVD ON CANT [Arnaud in Canterbury]

Since it’s Magna Carta’s 800th birthday, we thought we’d focus on this King John penny today. Don’t be fooled by the Henricus Rex on the obverse though. Both King John and Richard used their father’s name on coins in a tradition known as ‘immobilised coinage’, something more common in Henry’s native France than England.

King John of course is most infamous as the villain king in Robin Hood stories, and for attempting to take the English throne while his brother Richard I was away on the Third Crusade. (Incidentally, he didn’t actually do that much on crusade and then got himself kidnapped in Germany. He was known as the ‘Lionheart.’)

John was proclaimed King on Richard’s death in 1199 and then spent the next decade or so losing wars in France, getting excommunicated by the Pope and provoking rebellions among his barons. One of these crises resulted in ‘The Great Charter’, better known as Magna Carta.

Magna Carta did not prevent war, and nearly a third of its contents was deleted or rewritten over the next ten years. What it did do, however, was enshrine the principle that everyone is subject to the law, even the king, and that all free men have the right to justice and a fair trial. The most famous remaining clause is this:

No free man shall be seized or imprisoned, or stripped of his rights or possessions, or outlawed or exiled, or deprived of his standing in any other way, nor will we proceed with force against him, or send others to do so, except by the lawful judgement of his equals or by the law of the land.

To no one will we sell, to no one deny or delay right or justice.

I think we can all get behind that.

John died of dysentery in 1216 by the way. You can find out much more about the Magna Carta on the British Library website, including a fantastic video featuring Terry Jones.

Image credit: Magna Carta, British Library.

Coins featured in Money Monday are a part of the University of Reading’s Stenton Coin Collection. For more information or to view the collection, please contact us: specialcollections@reading.ac.uk

