Cornish currency
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| Cornish currency | |||
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| User(s) | Cornwall see also Constitutional Status of Cornwall | ||
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| Subunit | |||
| 1/100 | dynar, pound sterling | ||
| Symbol | d, £, /~ | ||
| Banknotes | 500d, £1, 5/~, 10/~, 50p | ||
One early story tells that the Cornish people raised the money by popular subscription to pay a ransom for the release of the Duke of Cornwall, Richard the Lionheart. The 15 Besants on the arms of the Duke of Cornwall are said to represent the money raised.
Another early reference to the Cornish currency, the "dynar", is found in a thirteenth century Cornish play in the line "dhodh a dela pymp cans dyner", which translates as "he was owed five hundred dyner".
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[edit] Cornish Mints
The earlist known Cornish mint was at Launceston, which operated on a minimal scale (before Cornwall received full diocesan jurisdiction in the year 994 AD) at the time of Ethelred II. Only one specimen is known to exist. The mint was reopened half-way through the Conqueror's reign. The one available early coin is heavy (1.61g) [1]
A Royalist mint was established in Truro in 1642-43 during the English civil war
[edit] Stannary money
In more recent times Cornish currency was issued by the Cornish Stannary Parliament in 1974 under the name of the ‘Cornish National Fund’. The Cornish National Fund was established with the objective of raising funds to assist with a "campaign for the restitution of Cornwall’s legal right to partially govern itself and to raise appreciation within Cornwall of the aims of the Stannary Parliament."[2]
The 1974 banknotes were issued in denominations of 5 shillings, 10 shillings, 1 pound and 5 pounds. Cornish language text on the front of the 5 shilling note can be translated as: ‘The National Fund of Cornwall promises to pay the bearer one day after sight the amount of five shillings.’ In 1985 the Cornish Stannary Parliament issued notes of two denominations – 50 pence and 1 pound and were sold at a premium as a matching pair as a fund raising exercise. In 2000 the Cornish Stannary Parliament issued new banknotes in the denomination of 500 Dynars to commemorate the 200-year anniversary of Richard Trevithick’s steam car climbing Camborne Hill on Christmas Eve 1801. On the front of the note there is a depiction of Saint Piran (Peran Sans), carrying his banner and standing before a stone cross.[3]
On 15 December 1974, it was announced that Frederick Trull, styled "clerk to the stannary", was to issue banknotes in four denominations. Following an incident on February 26, 1975 when Trull attempted to arrest the clerk and magistrate while being tried for a motoring offence at St Austell Magistrate's Court, he was found guilty of using threatening words and behaviour with intent to provoke a breach of the peace on June 2, 1975. He produced twenty-five pages of documents in an attempt to prove that the court had no jurisdiction but was fined, ordered to pay costs, and bound over to keep the peace for twelve months. He was subsequently dismissed from his post as clerk to the stannary and expelled from the organisation. The banknotes, which bore Trull's signature, were burnt.[4]
[edit] Cornish tokens
Cornish tokens sometimes called Cornish Pennies were trade tokens widely used in the 18th and 19th century in Cornwall. One dated 1811 had the words, "For the accommodation of the county," in the centre was a pilchard. On the other side were the words Cornish penny.
[edit] Reading
"Cornish Tokens" by J. A. Williams. Published in Cornwall by D. Bradford Barton Ltd - Truro and printed in Cornwall by H. E. Warne Ltd. of St. Austell.
[edit] References
- ^ An Atlas of Anglo-Saxon and Norman Coin Finds, C.973-1086: c. 973-1086 By David Michael Metcalf, Ashmolean Museum
- ^ The Cornish Stannary Parliament by Peter Symes
- ^ Cornish Dynar banknotes
- ^ Rivived Cornish Stannary Parliament Trip Atlas
[edit] External links
- Cornish national fund currency 1974 & 1985
- Private Issues – The Cornish Stannary Parliament
- Famous People of Polperro - Zephania Job
- Information about German sub-currencies
- Cornish coins and currency - article by George Care
- Kates Paper Money
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