This volume is the sequel to Eaglen’s Reference Eaglen2006 publication, The Abbey and Mint of Bury St Edmunds to 1279, in which he explored the origins of the abbey and mint in the early Middle Ages. The current volume continues this project, taking the history of the abbey and mint from the time of Edward i’s re-coinage in 1279 up to its demise in the first half of the fourteenth century. It is no. 11 in the British Numismatic Society’s Special Publication series, which has made an important contribution to the study of medieval ecclesiastical mints by publishing not only Eaglen’s preceding volume, but also Martin Allen’s The Durham Mint (Reference Allen2003), both of which are former recipients of the Society’s North Book prize.

Drawing on the documentary evidence and surviving coinage, Eaglen provides a comprehensive overview of the history of the abbey and mint (including the period before 1279 for those readers unfamiliar with the first volume). The second half of the book constitutes a 150-page catalogue, listing 499 die combinations recorded for the Edwardian sterlings of Bury. This comprises almost 2,500 coins taken from the author’s own collection, other private collections, the Aberdeen and Cambridge hoards, and the numismatic departments of the major museums. Eaglen explains that, due to the profusion of extant medieval coins from Bury (steadily increasing with the addition of new finds), this is a representative selection rather than a comprehensive catalogue (Preface, p x). He describes the particular suitability of Bury for a numismatic study; whereas other ecclesiastical mints often operated alongside those of the king in shared premises, resulting in ambiguities in identification, this was not the case at Bury, allowing for certain identification of its output throughout its 300-year history (p 5).

Eaglen’s account of the abbey and mint is divided into four chapters. Summarising the period covered in the preceding volume, Chapter One recounts the development of Bury as a site of religious significance following the martyrdom of St Edmund in 869. The abbey was founded by Cnut in 1020 and was subsequently granted the privilege of a mint by Edward the Confessor, signalling the beginnings of a history of royal patronage that formed the basis of Bury’s commercial and political importance. Chapter Two sets the abbey and mint in the broader economic and political context of the late thirteenth century, in particular Edward i’s introduction of a new coinage in 1279 to replace the Long Cross coin issued under his father, and the increased financial pressure on the abbey from increases in royal taxation to fund the king’s military campaigns in Wales, Scotland and France. Chapter Three examines the abbey and mint in the early fourteenth century, and the possible reasons for its apparent continued productivity when coin production declined nationally during this period. The 1320s saw increased friction between the abbey and the town of Bury, culminating in the riots of 1327–8, which saw considerable damage to the abbey and its possessions. These disturbances, combined with rising inflation, were contributory factors in the demise of the mint c 1329. In the final chapter, the author recounts the history of the abbey from the early years of Edward iii to its dissolution in 1539. A key theme of Eaglen’s work is the complex relationship that existed between the abbey, the king and the town of Bury; while the abbey sometimes resented royal financial demands and perceived encroachment on its rights, it also relied on the king to protect its interests in periodic disputes with the town burgesses. As the overall contribution of the mint at Bury to the national coinage output was small (usually 1–2 per cent), Eaglen argues that its continued maintenance was reflective both of the royal favour enjoyed by the abbey and the economic importance of the town.

In this book, Eaglen has produced a skilful synthesis of numismatic and historical material that will be of interest both to the specialist and the more general reader. The work’s usefulness for historians is greatly enhanced by Eaglen’s decision to provide a comprehensive history of the abbey in addition to the mint, locating both within the broader economic and social context of the period. The catalogue is clearly presented and cross-referenced, following the classification set out by J J North in his Sylloge of Coins of the British Isles (Reference North1989). It is accompanied by explanatory appendices and twenty-one pages of plates (a note on the British Numismatic Society website states that due to a printing error these are incorrectly sized, and provides a link to a corrected online version). The reviewer noticed one small error — on p 15, the abbey’s moneyer Richard of Lothbury is referred to as Robert — but, other than this, the standard of presentation is very high.