The Icelandic Canadian - 01.12.1959, Blaðsíða 39

THE ICELANDIC CANADIAN
37
The Silver Hoard From Gaulverjabaer
(Continued from page 11)
blaze, but they remind us of the long
distant period when our ancestors first
met cultured peoples and gained from
these encounters both fame and wealth.
And is it not fascinating for those who
have read the Arabian Nights to reflect
that in this country the earth has
yielded to the spade silver coins from
Bagdad itself, bearing the insignia of
the caliphs of the dynasty of Haroun al
Raschid?
Let us now in turn consider the Ger-
man coins. They number 162, of whom
11 are fragments and one of Bohemian
origin. They were all minted during
the regnal years of the Saxon emper-
ors and carry the names of Otto I,
the Great, Otto II (i.e. the Otto of the
Heimskringla), Otto III and of his
grandmother and regent, Adelaide,
and of St. Henry II, together with the
names of a few contemporary magnates
and prelates such as Duke Bernhard
I of Saxony and Bishop Arnulf of Hal-
berstadt. The earliest date which can
be assigned to any of these coins is
936, when Otto I ascended the royal
throne, and the latest is 1014 when
Henry II became Holy Roman
Emperor. They all fall, therefore,
within the period 936—1014. The Bo-
hemian coin, which has joined its
German fellows, was minted in Prague
for the doughty Boleslav II who ruled
from 967 to 999 and was at odds with
the German rulers.
It is noteworthy that all the German
coins are much worn through handling.
This indicates (and indeed is histor-
ically proven) that both these and the
great quantities of other German coins,
which have been found in Scandinavia,
were brought thither through trade.
During the ninth century the progress
of Christian missionaries northward
was slow but steady and in their foot-
steps merchants followed. The cultural
influences, which actuated these men,
finally reachd Scandinavia and from
about the middle of the tenth century
a lively trade sprang up between it
and Germany. Here as elsewhere the
great rivers were the main arteries of
commerce, and on their banks flour-
ishing towns arose, whose names may
be read on the coins from this period.
On those from Gaulverjabaer may,
for example, be read the names of such
cities as Emmerich, Cologne, Strass-
burg, Worms, all on the Rhine, Magde-
burg on the Elbe, Regensburg on the
Donau, and from the western bound-
aries Verdun and Huy. All of these
cities are great trading centres and
there is no reason to believe that our
forefathers obtained these silver coins
by any other means than by trade. Just
as the Arabian coins, they were carried
north by peaceful and even honour-
able merchants.
Quite the contrary is the case of the
Anglo-Saxon coins which form the bulk
of the hoard found at Gaulverjabaer.
They number 180 shining English
coins, beautifully minted and in the
great majority of instances very little
worn. Technically and aesthetically
they are vastly superior to the German
coins, and, indeed, English coins were
much copied by various peoples who
began to mint coins in the tenth
and eleventh centuries. The oldest
English coin in our hoard was minted
for Edgar, king of the Anglo-Saxons