David I (1124-1153), Sterling, Carlisle, Erembald, castle of two storeys with battlements and crenellations, dav-[id?]-rex-[––], rev, erebald on ca[–––], cross moline, lis in angles, 1.17g/11h (SCBI –; Burns –; S –). Slight chip on one edge, good fine, UNIQUE and unpublished
£15,000-£20,000

Found 2016

see EMC 2020.0374 for a stylistically similar reverse die.

The original medieval fortress at Carlisle was constructed in 1092, after the capture of the city from the Scots by William Rufus. Some thirty years later, Henry I decreed it be rebuilt in stone and ‘fortified with a castle and towers’. This is probably the medieval keep that can be seen today, albeit much altered in the interim.

The death of Henry in France on 1 December 1135 altered his kingdom forever and initiated the Anarchy, a period of unrest played out around the disputed succession to throne between Henry’s daughter Matilda and her cousin Stephen of Blois. Although the barons of the land had agreed to recognise Matilda, Stephen, on hearing of Henry’s death, was quicker to return to England to stake his claim and was crowned in Westminster Abbey on 22 December.

Within a matter of days, David I of Scotland began an invasion of the north of England, ostensibly in support of Matilda who was his niece but more likely seeing an unexpected and unrivalled opportunity to regain territory in the disputed borderlands between the kingdoms.

Carlisle fell to the Scots before the end of January 1136 and possession was ratified by the first Treaty of Durham a few months later. David was quick to continue the fortification of the castle begun by Henry a decade earlier. According to Oram, Carlisle was one of David’s favourite residences and he spent a great deal of time there. He died in his bedchamber in the tower of the castle in late May 1153.

The discovery of silver deposits near Carlisle in the 1120s led to the swift establishment of a mint where coins were struck of Henry I types XIV and XV. In the new reign, production of type I coinage continued, in Stephen’s name, after the capture of the city by the Scots. This issue would have begun soon after Stephen’s accession at Christmas 1135 and is generally considered to run until c. 1141-2. The moneyers were Erembald, Udard and Wilealme. Some pennies were produced in the name of David while retaining the familiar portrait style and reverse type. Erembald was again one of the moneyers - some of his coins also bearing an Edinburgh mint signature. It is during this period that the present coin would have been struck.

The exact occasion of its striking however can only be surmised. It was a tumultuous period of alliances, battles and treaties changing with the ebb and flow of the political and military struggle. In view of the obverse type, it may be to commemorate David’s fortification of his new power base in Cumbria - an issue unparalleled in British medieval numismatics.