From football to armed conflict, history shows that Anglo-Franco rivalries run deep.
But on its way to becoming a powerful global empire, England got by with a little help from its near neighbor.
According to archaeologists, England depended on silver imported from France to make its own coins about 1,300 years ago.
Imported silver could have taken the form of French bowls, plates or spoons before being melted down and transformed into coins.
Experts also discovered that even the oldest English coins used silver from the eastern Mediterranean, in the Byzantine Empire.
According to archaeologists, England depended on silver imported from France to make its own coins about 1,300 years ago. Even the oldest English coins used silver from the eastern Mediterranean, in the Byzantine Empire.
Despite their initial rivalry, England depended on silver from France to produce its own coins. This image shows six ancient coins on both sides. The coins that are English are in the top row (left and center) and in the bottom row, on the left. That is a coin of Offa, king of Mercia, a kingdom in Anglo-Saxon England.
The study is a collaboration between researchers from the universities of Oxford, Cambridge and Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
Lead author Dr Jane Kershaw of the University of Oxford said England imported silver from France between 750 and 820 AD. C. at a time when relationships were “up and down.”
“Relationships were sometimes bitter, but they were not at war,” he told MailOnline.
For the study, archaeologists analyzed the chemical composition of 49 silver coins minted between 660 and 820 AD in England, the Netherlands, Belgium and northern France, all now housed in the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge.
This period saw an increase in the use of silver coins in northwestern Europe, but it was not known where most of the silver came from.
The results showed that the silver came from two different sources, corresponding to the time the coins were minted.
Later coins, dating from 750 to 820 AD, used freshly mined silver from Melle, in Aquitaine, western France.
When England received the silver from France, it appears to have been initially refined with English lead, the team says.
Archaeologists analyzed the chemical composition of 49 silver coins minted between 660 and 820 AD. C. in England, the Netherlands, Belgium and northern France.
The silver used for later coins, dating from 750 to 820 AD, came from metal freshly mined from Melle in Aquitaine in western France.
“They would have simply melted down the silver (it melts at 960 degrees C), molded little blanks and then struck them with dies to create coins,” Dr Kershaw said.
Silver was imported during the reign of Charlemagne, who was king of the Franks from 768 AD. C. until his death in the year 814.
Also known as Charles the Great, he was emperor of the great Carolingian Empire, which stretched from what is now France, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, and even northern Italy and Spain.
In the year 793 AD. C., Charlemagne introduced a monetary reform that resulted in a “significant and widespread growth” in the use of Melle silver, according to researchers.
At the time, there was much “communication and tension” between Charlemagne and Offa, king of Mercia, a kingdom in Anglo-Saxon England.
“Charlemagne, the much more powerful ruler, was enraged when Offa suggested his son marry Charlemagne’s daughter and prevented English ships from reaching his ports,” Dr Kershaw told MailOnline.
“Some years later, relations were more cordial: letters show that both were concerned about preventing merchants from posing as pilgrims to avoid paying tolls.”
Charlemagne, king of the Franks from 768 AD until his death in 814, was emperor of the great Carolingian Empire.
When England imported silver from France to make coins, England was divided into kingdoms, including Mercia, ruled by King Offa. This map shows the kingdom of Mercia (thick line) and the extent of the kingdom during the Mercian Supremacy (green shading)
Meanwhile, earlier coins, dating from 660 to 750 AD. C., were made with silver extracted in the eastern Mediterranean, in the Byzantine Empire.
This vast and powerful civilization, which lasted more than 1,100 years, from 330 to 1453 AD. C., was based in Constantinople (modern Istanbul).
At its greatest extent it stretched across the land surrounding the Mediterranean Sea, including what is now Italy, Greece and Turkey, along with parts of North Africa and the Middle East.
This Byzantine silver was probably cast from valuable plate-shaped silver objects, such as the bowls found at Sutton Hoo in Suffolk.
A delicate silver bowl found at the Sutton Hoo site, believed to have been made in workshops in the eastern Mediterranean. It is believed that bowls like this were also melted down for English coins.
“It’s fair to say we were surprised by this result,” Dr. Kershaw said.
‘We know of some remains of Byzantine silver from Anglo-Saxon England, notably from Sutton Hoo, but originally there must have been much larger quantities of Byzantine silver in Anglo-Saxon warehouses.
“The connections between Byzantium and Anglo-Saxon England were closer than most people think.”
Ultimately, the study shows that England switched from sourcing silver for its coins in the Mediterranean before turning to silver further west, from France.
Researchers are not sure how silver circulated between these three areas in the 7th and 8th centuries, but this could be addressed in future research.
Their results are published in the journal. Antiquity.