1377-1399 Penny – York – Richard II

Richard II was born Bordeaux, France, on 6 January 1367, the son of Edward the Black Prince (sone of Edward III) and Joan, Countess of Kent. When the Black Prince died, Richard became heir apparent and when Edward III died on 21 June 1377, the 10-year old Richard became King. House of Plantagenets

Due to his young age there were a number of Regency councils making decisions for the King, mainly influenced by his uncles John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, and Thomas of Woodstock, Duke of Gloucester. This caused trouble and a group known as the Lords Appellant formed to restrain the power of the favoured ones.

Richard regained control by 1389 and took revenge on the Appellants. When John of Gaunt died in 1399, Richard disinherited Gaunt's son, Henry Bolingbroke who was exiled at the time. Henry retaliated and invaded England with only a small army but still found it easy to overthrow Richard and claim the monarchy himself as Henry IV on 30 September 1399. Richard II was imprisoned and was thought to have died through starvation while in captivity.
The Penny is one of the most famous British coins. The coin itself has been around since 600AD and at various times has been struck in silver, copper and bronze. Originally split into halfpennies and farthing, it is now itself the least denomination coin currently in circulation. Made from copper (actually copper plated steel).

Originally there were 12 pennies in one shilling and 240 pennies in £1; since decimalisation in 1971 there are 100 new pence in one pound.

Composition: Early pennies were Silver, then Copper, Bronze and Copper coated steel.Not all mints are located in a single place. From the Roman days through to the middle ages it was easier to have local moneyers (trusted people who were allowed to mint coins) rather than make the coins centrally and then have the security and logistics problem of distribution.

There were often dozens of mints, sometimes all making the same coin. The variations and mintmarks are exciting for numismatists, although sometimes it takes an expert to analyse them.

Most English Provincial Mints began to close after 1279 when the Royal Mint opened The Tower Mint (called so as it was housed at the Tower of London), although some continued working for much longer. The central mint gave the King and the Master of the Royal Mint much more control over the production and quality of English coinage.
The United Kingdom (UK) is the Union of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. It is often refered to as Great Britain (GBR). It has a long, rich history.

The orignal coinage was Pounds, Shillings and Pence but since decimalisation on 15 February 1971, it is £1 = 100p, that is One Pound = 100 pence. The coinage of the UK is also a long history, the Royal Mint being established as long ago as 886AD when coins were hammered. Today there is perhaps 30 billion coins in circulation, and many (numismatic) collectors coins and sets are issued frequently in gold, silver and other metals.