Anglo-Saxon coins reveal life in medieval Rome’s English quarter
Archaeologists found Anglo-Saxon coins and craft traces near the Vatican, offering physical evidence for the medieval English quarter known as Schola Saxonum. The coins were minted across several tenth-century reigns and add material detail to an area previously described largely in texts. The discovery informs how residents traded and worked there, while the finds alone cannot reconstruct every aspect of the community.
Science··Evening
Coins place people in the English quarter
Archaeologists have found Anglo-Saxon coins and craft traces near the Vatican in an area associated with Rome’s medieval English quarter, the Schola Saxonum. New Scientist and the University of Cambridge report the same excavation and its central value: physical objects now support a community previously known largely through texts. The coins do not by themselves identify every resident, but they provide a material record of activity in the neighborhood.[1], [2]
The finds span several reigns
New Scientist reports thirty coins in total, including twenty Anglo-Saxon pennies and one halfpenny. Some English examples bear the names of Edward the Elder, Æthelstan and Eadred; several pieces are fused, so not every inscription can be read. Traces of work in leather, bone and metal came from the same excavation. The variety of coin origins and crafts gives archaeologists more to examine than a single ceremonial deposit.[1]
Circulation is an interpretation
The Cambridge account treats the coins as the first substantial physical evidence of the district. New Scientist reports the researchers’ suggestion that English money mixed with local Italian coins may have circulated in the neighborhood rather than serving only as religious donations. That is an interpretation of the assemblage, not a direct observation of each transaction. Written accounts mention special rights for English residents, but the coins alone cannot establish which legal privilege was used.[1], [2]
