Now the 44 coins at the centre of Durham court case can be added. There were about 300 coins in the hoard, of which 29 were recovered. For that they were given lengthy jail terms in 2019. They did not declare the hoard as treasure, instead selling the coins to dealers. The 44 coins at the centre of the Durham case all come from a hoard discovered by two metal detectorists in a farm field at Leominster, Herefordshire, in 2015.

“The coins literally enable us to rewrite history,” he said. The two men probably had no idea what they had, but the importance, in Williams’s eyes, cannot be overestimated. A judge warned they face jail sentences which would be “years” in length and remanded them in custody until sentencing. Pilling and Best were found guilty of conspiring to sell the coins and separate charges of illegally possessing them. It is a murky story that had parallels, Williams said, with “Stalin airbrushing Trotsky out of the history of the Soviet Union”. Alfred becomes king of Mercia and he and his descendants gradually create a single, unified kingdom of England. One particular coin in the hoard suggests that the alliance between the two kings was a prolonged one, lasting a number of years.Īt some point Ceowulf “mysteriously” disappears. “These coins are the only direct contemporary evidence that we’ve got of the relationship between these two men,” said Williams. The fact the coins are good-quality silver, as opposed to the terrible quality previously used, suggests a reform carried out together. Photograph: Durham policeĬoins in the hoard show Alfred and Ceolwulf in an alliance. The reason for this is that the history of the time was spin doctored by the court of Alfred.Ī ‘two emperors’ coin found in the case. “The impression we get in historical sources is that this is a nobody who had no right to be king and who cooperated with the Vikings for his own advantage,” said Williams.

Until now, accounts have suggested he was foolish, a minor noble rather than a king, and little more than a puppet of the Vikings. The significance lies in what they show about the relationship between Alfred, king of Wessex, and his contemporary, Ceolwulf II, king of Mercia.Ĭeolwulf was king of lands which stretched from the Thames to the Humber yet he is barely or never mentioned in history books. He was a good guy.īut perhaps not completely good or great, the coins suggest. He is the only English ruler to be known as “the Great”. He is the king who, stories say, let the cakes burn as he lost himself in plotting defeat of the Vikings. Photograph: Durham policeĪlfred the Great remains probably the only Anglo-Saxon king that many members of the public have heard of.

Asser king alfred