Rory Naismith
My research focuses on early medieval history, particularly in Britain. Money and its role in economic and political processes have been a prominent part of my work. I also teach and study other aspects of the society and culture of the period, including Latin and Old English literature.
I studied as an undergraduate and graduate at Trinity College, Cambridge, between 2002 and 2009. In the latter year I completed a doctoral dissertation on 'Coinage and History in Southumbrian England c. 750-865'. It has since been published by Cambridge University Press and the British Numismatic Society.
In October 2009 I took up a position as a Junior Research Fellow at Clare College, Cambridge. From October 2012 until September 2014 I was a Leverhulme Early Career Research Fellow, also in the University of Cambridge. The principal project of this fellowship was a volume in the 'Medieval European Coinage' series. This catalogues the Fitzwilliam Museum's holdings of Anglo-Saxon coins and includes a thorough new assessment of the whole monetary and numismatic history of England from the end of Roman rule until 1066. Other current projects include studies on links between Anglo-Saxon England and Rome, land sales in early medieval England and its neighbours, the social and economic role of the currency, and the transformation of gold coinage in the post-Roman West.
In October 2014 I took up a position as a Mellon Research Associate, based jointly in the Faculty of History, Department of Anglo-Saxon, Norse and Celtic, Division of Archaeology and the Fitzwilliam Museum.
Since September 2015 I have been a lecturer in early medieval British history at King's College London.
I studied as an undergraduate and graduate at Trinity College, Cambridge, between 2002 and 2009. In the latter year I completed a doctoral dissertation on 'Coinage and History in Southumbrian England c. 750-865'. It has since been published by Cambridge University Press and the British Numismatic Society.
In October 2009 I took up a position as a Junior Research Fellow at Clare College, Cambridge. From October 2012 until September 2014 I was a Leverhulme Early Career Research Fellow, also in the University of Cambridge. The principal project of this fellowship was a volume in the 'Medieval European Coinage' series. This catalogues the Fitzwilliam Museum's holdings of Anglo-Saxon coins and includes a thorough new assessment of the whole monetary and numismatic history of England from the end of Roman rule until 1066. Other current projects include studies on links between Anglo-Saxon England and Rome, land sales in early medieval England and its neighbours, the social and economic role of the currency, and the transformation of gold coinage in the post-Roman West.
In October 2014 I took up a position as a Mellon Research Associate, based jointly in the Faculty of History, Department of Anglo-Saxon, Norse and Celtic, Division of Archaeology and the Fitzwilliam Museum.
Since September 2015 I have been a lecturer in early medieval British history at King's College London.
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Books by Rory Naismith
Naismith examines structural issues, including the mining and circulation of metal and the use of bullion and other commodities as money, and then offers a chronological account of monetary development, discussing the post-Roman period of gold coinage, the rise of the silver penny in the seventh century and the reconfiguration of elite power in relation to coinage in the tenth and eleventh centuries. In the process, he counters the conventional view of early medieval currency as the domain only of elite gift-givers and intrepid long-distance traders. Even when there were few coins in circulation, Naismith argues, the ways they were used—to give gifts, to pay rents, to spend at markets—have much to tell us.
The entire book is Open Access: https://brill.com/view/title/38646
such as Offa of Mercia and Alfred the Great. As a window onto the culture and ideology of Anglo-Saxon England at a time of impressive
cultural achievement and increasing political complexity, the beautiful coins of this period are an indispensable resource for those interested in the art, history and archaeology of the eighth and ninth centuries.
Containing more than 1,400 coins, the British Museum’s holdings represent the single richest collection for the period, and stands out for its holdings of both famous rarities and large representative runs of numerous coin-types. This is the first catalogue of this collection to be
published since the nineteenth century, since which time it has expanded dramatically in size. All coins are illustrated and described in full, and set into context with an introduction surveying their numismatic and historical background, including a history of the collection itself.
Papers by Rory Naismith
The law-code known as ‘IV Æthelred’ has been identified since the mid-nineteenth century as a text concerned with tolls, trading and currency in London, dated to around the year 1000. This contribution argues that ‘IV Æthelred’ may have had little if anything to do with Æthelred II (978–1016). By re-evaluating the law-code’s transmission, contents and date, it is proposed that the text consists of two distinct segments, probably put together around 1100 and surviving only in Latin translation. One part is a series of tenth-century decrees on currency crimes, which represents the most detailed statement on this topic to survive from Anglo-Saxon England. The other relates more specifically to London, laying out the tolls incurred by merchants coming to the city from across northern Europe. Frequent use of French terminology marks this portion of the text out, and suggests a date in the aftermath of the Norman Conquest.
Naismith examines structural issues, including the mining and circulation of metal and the use of bullion and other commodities as money, and then offers a chronological account of monetary development, discussing the post-Roman period of gold coinage, the rise of the silver penny in the seventh century and the reconfiguration of elite power in relation to coinage in the tenth and eleventh centuries. In the process, he counters the conventional view of early medieval currency as the domain only of elite gift-givers and intrepid long-distance traders. Even when there were few coins in circulation, Naismith argues, the ways they were used—to give gifts, to pay rents, to spend at markets—have much to tell us.
The entire book is Open Access: https://brill.com/view/title/38646
such as Offa of Mercia and Alfred the Great. As a window onto the culture and ideology of Anglo-Saxon England at a time of impressive
cultural achievement and increasing political complexity, the beautiful coins of this period are an indispensable resource for those interested in the art, history and archaeology of the eighth and ninth centuries.
Containing more than 1,400 coins, the British Museum’s holdings represent the single richest collection for the period, and stands out for its holdings of both famous rarities and large representative runs of numerous coin-types. This is the first catalogue of this collection to be
published since the nineteenth century, since which time it has expanded dramatically in size. All coins are illustrated and described in full, and set into context with an introduction surveying their numismatic and historical background, including a history of the collection itself.
The law-code known as ‘IV Æthelred’ has been identified since the mid-nineteenth century as a text concerned with tolls, trading and currency in London, dated to around the year 1000. This contribution argues that ‘IV Æthelred’ may have had little if anything to do with Æthelred II (978–1016). By re-evaluating the law-code’s transmission, contents and date, it is proposed that the text consists of two distinct segments, probably put together around 1100 and surviving only in Latin translation. One part is a series of tenth-century decrees on currency crimes, which represents the most detailed statement on this topic to survive from Anglo-Saxon England. The other relates more specifically to London, laying out the tolls incurred by merchants coming to the city from across northern Europe. Frequent use of French terminology marks this portion of the text out, and suggests a date in the aftermath of the Norman Conquest.
Results and discussion of electron-pulse microanalysis of the fineness and trace elements of 24 silver coins, minted in the names of the popes between the late eighth and late tenth centuries. The research behind this project was funded by the British Academy, based on coins now held in the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge.
In: Numismatic Chronicle 2014 [forthcoming]