The numismatic chronicle and journal of the Royal Numismatic Society

IRISH COINAGES OF HENKY VIII AND EDWARD VI. 197
points which help us towards an explanation. The
first is the letter I, which can refer only to Jane
Seymour, who was married to the King in May or
June, 1536, and died on 24 October, 1537. Conse-
within these
quently all H I coins should be placed
two dates. The second fixed point is that no coins
with the title " King of Ireland " bear the initials of
this rules out Katherine Parr, who
any of the Queens ;
was not married to Henry until the year following his
1541-2. The
assumption of that title in January,
King's marriage with Katherine of Aragon was declared
void in May, 1533 ; therefore the initial K
cannot refer to her, if I am correct in believing that
the earliest order for an Irish currency was dated
6 March, 1535-6. Thus, by a process of exclusion,
we must, I think, attribute the K to Katherine Howard,
who was Queen-consort from 8 August, 1540, until
13 Feb., 1541-2.
Then, as to the initial A, which may possibly relate
to Anne Boleyn, who was beheaded on 19 May, 1536.
This would allow a period of about eight weeks during
which the initial would be appropriate, viz. from the
date of the order to the mint until the day of the
but it seems improbable that Anne
Queen's execution ;
Boleyn was so honoured, for her star was waning
rapidly during the last few months of her life. I
would therefore assign the A to Anne of Cleves, who
became Queen on 6 January, 1539-40.
The chronological sequence of the respective initials
would then be I, A, K, the order preferred by Dr. Aquilla
Smith in his classification, instead of the generally
accepted sequence K, I, A in the Handbook and elsewhere.
It is noteworthy that only one mint-mark,