Peter Fogelberg, exchange student in Archaeology at University of York, volunteer at the numismatic collection at Yorkshire Museum, discusses the personal cult of Archbishop Scrope and the coins found in his tomb.

In the 19th century the tomb of Archbishop Scrope (c. 1350 – 1405) in York Minster was opened and within they found upwards of a hundred coins. These coins were taken care of by curator Charles Wellbeloved at the Yorkshire Museum.

The coins have since then never been fully explored, something I have been looking at with the help of curator Andrew Woods. Most of the nearly one hundred coins mentioned have since then ended up elsewhere and left only fourteen to be found in the collection.

In 1405 Richard Scrope found himself as one of the leaders of an army during a northern uprising against King Henry IV. The uprising failed, the leaders were executed and their heads were displayed at Bootham and Micklegate Bar. Except for Scrope who was beheaded separately at Clementhorpe, just outside the city walls and was allowed burial in the Minster. Shortly thereafter his tomb became a place of worship and coin offerings were common.

Henry IV forbade access to the tomb and a log barricade was constructed over it since it had quickly become a symbol for the northern opposition of the king. This did not last because already by the next year the prohibition was eased. By c. 1419 the shrine collected £150, far more than any English shrine except for that of St Thomas Becket in Canterbury Cathedral.

Scrope continued to be used as a political figure. Henry V opened up access to build bridges during the conflict. The Yorkists used Scrope as a propaganda tool for their cause against the Lancastrians during the latter part of the 15th century. During Henry VIII’s reign the shrine had been dismantled and no more offerings were made.

There have been a lot of coins circulating in and around the tomb. It is mainly pennies that were used for offerings at the shrines, and 150 pounds in pennies would be 36.000 coins in only one year. This means that it is difficult to make any conclusive arguments based on the one hundred coins mentioned at the opening and the fourteen coins in the collection. But even with this small source material some tendencies can be seen and arguments made.

Thirteen of the coins in the collection are made before or around the death of Scrope. These coins, from Edward I (1279-1289) to Robert III of Scotland (1403-1406) would have been in circulation at the time. Two coins can be dated to the early reign of Henry VI (1422-1438) based on a description done by Wellbeloved in the 19th century.

A later coin from Henry VII (dated c.1485-1500) was found in the collection, which is the only evidence of a longer relevance for offerings. This shows a heavy focus on the earlier coins, which, assuming that these coins are representative, would mean that most of the coins put into the tomb of Archbishop Scrope was made relatively shortly after his burial. The lack of coins from long periods of the 15th century hints at the same.

Comparing the wear on the coins gives another clue as to when they were deposited. Two hoards have been found in North Yorkshire from this period. The Skipton Bridge hoard, dated to c. 1400-1412, and the Ryther hoard dated to c. 1487 both include coins from the same periods but the coins show different patterns of wear.

Out of the two, the wear of the Skipton Bridge hoard is a lot closer to the wear on the coins found in Scrope’s tomb. While this is not an exact science it gives a hint at a mainly early 15th century deposition, rather than a later one.

His tomb is still present in the Minster, located in the Scrope Chapel which today houses the “let there be light” exhibition on the creation of church windows. The tomb itself is however behind construction walls and barely visible at all. But I don’t think it is to hinder pilgrims this time.