A smooshed piece of history

Showmetheway

Oof hello y'all,

went M.I.A. for a while from here due to life circumstances, but I'm back (for now...)! Recently acquired a decently-priced star-marked issue (1335-1343) halfpenny of Edward III and got some time to deep-dive into it's creation and historical context given the pandemic we're all in.

Being the king of England from 1312 to 1377, Edward was instrumental in the war against France during the Hundred Year's War, part of the more devastating era dubbed the Crisis of the Late Middle Ages. During the early stages of this conflict, a series of sea and land conquests seesawed between the two kingdoms. In this mix of manmade disaster also aroused dangers from nature itself. The Black Plague struck both nations sometime between 1348-1349, resulting is significant changes to society and economics. Wages changed, as did population shifts and the relations between upper- and lower-classes slowly began to equilibrate.

I can't help but think of what beautiful & ugly moments supposedly 'worthless' coins like this might've played a part in. Maybe it was war booty for French and Genovese invaders during a raid at Southampton. Or maybe lost by a child in some ploughing field while running around for fun. Lord knows it could've been scraped up by a lone survivor of some plague-ridden household, running from their village with what meager earning were left around. Or snatched from a poor soldier's corpse after a battle had occurred. Yes, the coin is torn. It's been embrittled. AND cleaned. But I love it nonetheless