Coin find by Sandur

The coin find of Sandur , on the island of Sandoy , which belongs to the Faroe Islands , dates from 1863 and consists of 98 silver coins , which were probably buried between 1070 and 1080. It is the oldest coin deposit found in the archipelago .

The coin find in Sandur is not only interesting because of the age of the coins, but also because of their origin , as it shows which countries the Faroese traded with as early as the 11th century. It is generally assumed that the Viking Age ended in the Faroe Islands in 1035. Subsequently, the Faroe Islands came increasingly under the influence of Norway , which then introduced the actual money system of the Faroe Islands in the Middle Ages .

The coins are now in the History Museum of the Faroe Islands in Tórshavn and are one of the main attractions there.

Location and owner

The find in 1863 was a pure accident. Grave diggers were digging a grave in the Sandur cemetery, and since the two dead had died of the plague , the grave was to be particularly deep.

It was found at a place where the altar of the first church in Sandur once stood (the second church in the Faroe Islands). Historians today suspect that this church was the private church of a wealthy farmer because a Viking farm was excavated in its immediate vicinity. So it may be that this treasure belonged to the large farmer (and not the church).

If it was a large farmer, the discovery of a large number of coins from Germany suggests that he exported the Faroese wool there. Or he sold them to middlemen who in turn paid with these coins.

Directory of coins

• The following coins came from England :
  • 3 by Aethelred II. (978-1013 and 1014-1016)
  • 9 by Canute the Great (1016-1035), one of which was wrong
  • 3 by Harald I. Hasenfuß (1035 - 1040)
  • 8 by Edward the Confessor (1042 - 1066)
  • 1 unidentified forgery
• A coin from Ireland could not be precisely dated but is estimated to be around 1050
• From Denmark comes
  • 2 by Knut III. Hardiknut (1035 - 1042)
  • 1 from the period between 1050 and 1095
  • 2 counterfeit coins
• There are 17 coins of Norwegian origin:
  • 1 from the dual rule of Magnus the Good and Harald the Hard (1046 - 1047)
  • 2 from the time of Harald the Hard (1047 - 1066)
  • 4 from the dual rule of Magnus Haraldsson and Olav the Quiet (1066 - 1069)
  • 10 coins not exactly dated, either from the above dual rule or from the time of Olav the Silent from 1069 to 1093
• A total of 50 coins come from Germany :
  • 1 from the time of Konrad II. (1024-1039)
  • 2 by Bruno III. (Braunschweig) (1038 - 1057)
  • 1 from Teoderik of Lorraine ( 959-1032 )
  • 1 by Bishop Eberhard I (Augsburg) (1029 - 1047) with the portrait of Emperor Conrad II
  • 1 by Bishop Bernold of Utrecht (1027 - 1054)
  • 1 coin of uncertain origin but of the same type as the one mentioned above from Utrecht (now the Netherlands )
  • 1 coin, probably from Breisach dates
  • 1 from Celle
  • 1 from Deventer (now the Netherlands)
  • 1 from Duisburg
  • 1 from Goslar
  • 1 from Huy (now Belgium)
  • 1 from Magdeburg
  • 1 from Remagen
  • 1 from Speyer
  • 1 from Tiel (now the Netherlands)
  • 1 from Würzburg
  • 29 more that could not be assigned (as of 1979)
• A coin also came here from Hungary , from the time of Stephen I (997 - 1038)

literature

• George Vaughan Chichester Young: From the Vikings to the Reformation. A Chronicle of the Faroe Islands up to 1538 . Shearwater Press, Douglas - Isle of Man 1979, ISBN 0-904980-20-0 .
• the same: Færøerne. Fra vikingetiden til reformations . Rosenkilde og Bakker, Copenhagen 1982, ISBN 87-423-0371-0 , (Danish translation, basis of this article).

Web links

• Natmus.fo Historical Museum of the Faroe Islands (only in Faroese, no pictures of the coins)

Coordinates: 61 ° 50 ′ 32.6 "  N , 6 ° 48 ′ 27.9"  W.