Money Monday - Edward IV Gold Rose Noble

Obverse: EDWARD DI GRA REX ANGL Z FRANC DNS IB [Edward by the grace of God King of England and France, Lord of Ireland]

Reverse: IHC AVT TRANSIENS PER MEDIVM ILLORVM IBAT [ But Jesus passing through their midst went His way]

This is a Golden Rose Noble of Edward IV, King of England from 1461-1470, and again from 1471-1483.

Edward was the victor of one installment of the War of the Roses, a recurring conflict over the throne of England between the houses of York and Lancaster, two branches of the House of Plantegenet. The wars only finished with the defeat of Richard III in 1485, whose body was recently found under a car park in Leicester.

This coin is from Edward’s first reign. He was briefly replaced by Henry VI on the throne of England due to a conspiracy, which was somewhat down to how Edward married a low-born widow of a Lancastrian soldier against the advice of the Earl of Warwick (’the Kingmaker’).

What I most love about this coin though is the iconography. Every time you look at it you can see another detail: the white rose on his ship, the combined English & French coat of arms, the ‘E’ on the flag and, on the reverse, the white rose within a sun - so chosen because of how three suns were said to have appeared before Edward’s first battle in 1460.

Image credit:

King Edward IV, unknown artist, c.1540, the National Portrait Gallery.

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

