Coinage, Landscape and Society in the borderlands: economy, politics and identity in Scotland and northern England, 1136-1603

In 1136 David I seized the city of Carlisle and control of the mint and surrounding silver mines and began to mint the first native Scottish coins. This had a profound effect on the economies and society in the borderlands and began a long and complicated monetary relationship between Scotland and England that lasted until the union of the crowns in 1603 and beyond.

This project is a CPD between the University of York and National Museums Scotland and will investigate single coin finds dating from 1136-1603 found in the Anglo-Scottish borders and will utilize a range of methodologies such as GIS and LiDAR in order to explore the inter and intra regional dimensions of coin loss in relation to settlements, political and economic centres and communication routes.

The key research questions this project will address will include the deposition patterns of coins in the borders and how they compare to both regional and national patterns, the role of urban and rural settlements in facilitating trade and exchange in the borderlands, the effect ecclesiastical institutions had on the use and exchange of coinage, the effect of national political and monetary policies on the monetary relationship between Scotland and England and how theories of border cultures can be used to explore the social dimensions of coinage and its role in creating personal, ethnic, regional and national identities.

This is the first project to utilize numismatic data on both sides of the Anglo-Scottish border as previous studies and research have only focused on national or regional areas. This is also the first numismatic project to utilize LiDAR data in its methodology and it's also the first study of coin use and loss in the Anglo-Scottish borders and its aim is to increase the economic, numismatic and social dimensions in a region of connections and a region of divisions.