Swetmann 9

Swetmann ‘Moneyer of Oxford’ (Oxfordshire), fl. c. 1050 - c. 1092
Male
DWP
4 of 5

Name

Swetmann
Swetmann 10

Summary

Swetmann 9 was a moneyer at Oxford and Northampton both TRE and TRW and under four successive kings; in 1086 he was also a burgess of Oxford with one house rendering 40d.

Distribution map of property and lordships associated with this name in DB

List of property and lordships associated with this name in DB

Subtenant in 1086

Shire Phil. ref. Vill DB Spelling Holder 1066 Lord 1066 Tenant-in-Chief 1086 1086 Subtenant Fiscal Value 1066 Value 1086 Value Conf. Show on Map
Oxfordshire B10 Oxford Suetman - - William, king Swetmann the moneyer 0.00 0.00 0.17 - Map
Totals

Profile

The identification of Swetmann 9, a moneyer active at Oxford during part or all of the period 1050-1062, with Swetmann ‘the moneyer’ (monetarius) recorded at Oxford in 1086 by DB is by no means certain. Furthermore, although the name Swetmann was rare in pre-Conquest England it occurs four times in the list of Oxford burgesses in 1086 and it is difficult to determine if these occurrences represent two, three or even four different men of that name. Nevertheless, the combination of the rare name Swetman with the role of moneyer requires that such an identification be considered.

There seem to have been two moneyers called Swetmann active during Edward the Confessor’s reign. One, Swetmann 5, was active at London and Southwark under Edward (Freeman 1985: 142, 152, 186-7, 189, 191-3) and continued under Harold 3, as Swetmann 6; he may also be the same as Swetmann 4, who had minted coins at London during the last years of Cnut 3’s reign. The other moneyer was Swetmann 9, who as a moneyer at Oxford is known from four consecutive issues of coins between 1050x1053 and 1059x1062 (Freeman 1985: 452-4; Coins: 1009.0852-3, 1009.0883, 1036.0865, 1009.0921, 1009.0978-9). He apparently moved to Northampton, as Swetmann 7, for the remainder of Edward’s reign, continuing there under Harold, as Swetmann 8, and during the early years of William’s reign (Freeman 1985: 290-1, 293, 455; Coins: 1009.1068, 1021.1083-91, 1996.0262, 1002.1203, 1021.1163). There is then a gap in the sequence before a moneyer called Swetmann is again at Oxford and minting coins during the later years of William 1 and for the first years of King William 8 (Coins: 1011.0610, 1012.0142-6, 1016.0265, 1018.1335, 1024.0801, 1027.1783, 1042.1836, 1200.0636, 1011.0758). 

This latter moneyer must be the same as the Suetman monetarius recorded at Oxford in 1086 by DB, but is this necessarily the same man as Swetmann 9? Against the suggestion is the gap of at least a dozen years between the latest known coin of Swetmann 9 at Northampton (Coins: 1021.1163) and the first of the second sequence at Oxford (Coins: 1011.0610), although that is within the limit of fifteen years that Freeman (1985: 25-6) used as his distinction between lack of evidence on the one hand and genuine discontinuity on the other. Another potential problem could be Swetmann 9’s suggested longevity, with a career stretching some forty years, although this too would be unusual rather than exceptional and careers of forty years or more are known for other contemporary moneyers (Freeman 1985: 38-9). In support of the suggested identification, however, and despite the presence of at least two men called Swetmann in Oxford in 1086, are the facts that the name Swetmann was rare and the coincidence of moneyer and mint even more so. On balance, therefore, it is more likely that Swetmann 9 enjoyed a long career at Oxford and Northampton under four successive kings than that a second moneyer of that same rare name should appear in Oxford at the end of William 1’s reign and yet produce no known coins after 1089-92 issue at the beginning of William 8’s reign. It may be that Swetmann 9 died during or soon after this last issue.

As noted above, the DB account of the borough of Oxford in 1086 includes four entries relating to burgesses called Swetmann but it is unclear if these refer to two, three or four people. The second entry explicitly identifies ‘Swetmann the moneyer’ and the fourth entry refers to ‘another Swetmann’ (alter Suetman), identified here as Swetmann 14. However, the properties recorded in the first and third entries cannot be assigned to either man with any confidence, and because of this uncertainty they are here assigned to Swetmann 15 and Swetmann 16 respectively. Nevertheless, it remains more likely than not that Swetmann 15 and Swetmann 16 are each to be identified with either Swetmann 9 or Swetmann 14.

In the entry that can certainly be assigned to Swetmann 9, it seems likely that his ‘free house’ (domus liber) was one of those whose holders were required to repair the city wall – on pain of forfeiture or a 40s fine if this obligation was not met – but was perhaps free of some or all the other customary dues (cf. Munby 2010: 140-1). That having been said, it is notable that the 40d rendered by his house was apparently the largest amount paid for a single property among those held by the English burgesses of Oxford, although whether this was because it was larger than the others or because of some impost upon his role as moneyer is unknown.

Apart from the possibilities discussed above, it is conceivable (if highly unlikely) that Swetmann 9 was the same man as Swetman 13 but there appears no reason to consider him in connection with any other person or place.

Bibliography


Coins: Corpus of Early Medieval Coin Finds and Sylloge of Coins of the British Isles, hosted online by the Fitzwilliam Museum at http://www.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/coins/emc/

Freeman 1985: A. Freeman, The Moneyer and the Mint in the Reign of Edward the Confessor 1042-1066, British Archaeological Reports, British series 145 (Oxford, 1985)

Munby 2010: J. Munby, ‘The Domesday boroughs revisited’, Anglo-Norman Studies 33 (2010), 127-49