William I (1066-87), silver Penny, two stars type (1074-77), Oxford Mint, Moneyer Wulfwi, facing crowned bust with star either side, all within linear circle, legend commences at top with outer beaded circle surrounding both sides, +PILLEM REX ANII, rev. annulet at centre of cross bottonnée, over quadrilateral with incurved sides, +PVLFPI ON OXSNEF, 1.32g (cf. Aelfwi SCBI 12:85 Ashmolean Museum, cf. Aelfwi SCBI 21:1205 Yorkshire; BMC type V; N.845; S.1254). Brightly toned, well-centred with attractive portrait style, good very fine and scarce; William I, silver cut Halfpenny, bonnet type (1068-70), London Mint, Moneyer Godric, top half of facing crowned and diademed bust visible, legend and beaded circles surrounding both sides, [+P]ILLEMVS [REX], rev. half voided cross visible and terminals of pellet with crescents either side, pellet topped piles in angles, legend and beaded border surrounding, +GODRIC O[N] [...], 0.63g (SCBI 21:1153 Ashmolean Museum; BMC type II; N.842; S.1251). Lightly toned with a visibly well-centred strike, wear in legends to both sides but fine style seen in both portrait and half voided cross, almost very fine and scarce.The two stars Penny legend translates as William, King of the English on obverse and Wulfwi on Oxford on the reverse. The bonnet cut Halfpenny legend translates as William, King of the English on obverse and Godric on London on the reverse.Despite the transition from the Anglo-Saxon to the Norman period, numismatically the three-year change of coin types continued. The two stars type of William I is the fifth of the seven types attributed to his reign. According to North, the London Mint had up to 38 moneyers active throughout the reigns of William the Conqueror and William Rufus as the principal mint.The first Norman King of England, William the Conqueror, born around 1028, was the son of Robert I of Normandy and Herleya. A descendant of Rollo, William became Duke of Normandy in 1035, subsequently marrying Matilda of Flanders in the 1050s, ensuring a powerful ally in that neighbouring region. After a protracted struggle and after quashing several rebellions, his hold over Normandy was secure by 1060 and with appointment of supporting abbots and bishops in the Norman church, he subsequently secured the region of Maine in 1062. William's first cousin once-removed was the childless Edward the Confessor of England; considering this family connection and the fact that Edward had previously told him he would succeed, he assumed a claim to the throne of England over Harold Godwinson, whom Edward had named as his successor on his deathbed in January 1066. William also claimed that Harold previously had promised the throne to him in the event of succession, Harold having sworn over holy relics in William's presence to support his claim as depicted in the Bayeux tapestry. William therefore built up a powerful invasion force to cross the channel and fight for the right to rule England as of September 1066. He landed at Pevensey Bay and after setting up camp with a basic fort at Hastings he marched north to meet Harold at Senlac Hill at Battle, East Sussex on the 14th October. A fight raged for most of the day, with at one point a rumour spread that William was slain resulting in him having to remove his helmet to reveal he was alive and fighting, boosting the morale of the Normans for the final onslaught in which Harold perished, either from an arrow in the eye, cut down by a horseman or surrounded by a band of warriors. William then went on a military tour to put down local uprisings leading to his crowning in Westminster Abbey on Christmas Day. He made arrangements in London for governance for whenever he would be in Normandy, and by 1075 his hold on England was almost complete with many forts and castles constructed, as was the Norman style. His later years involved quelling other uprisings in Europe and difficulty with his eldest son Robert Curthose, but his most famous achievement in England was the preparation of the Domesday Book in 1086; a survey of the land, land-owners and nobles within it, listing pre-conquest and current holders at that time. William died in September 1087 leading a campaign in northern France and was buried at Caen. Normandy was given to eldest son Robert, with England given to his next surviving son William Rufus.Following Roman occupation, the capital city was London upon the River Thames, which minted some of the earliest Saxon coins with gold Thrymsas and silver denarii with a Londuniu signature. Mercian Kings onwards from Offa minted coins there, but the first coin to actually say City of London upon it is the unique Ludica portrait Penny found in 2016, followed by subsequent coins of Ecgberht. In 871 the Danes wintered in London for the first time, but it was King Alfred of Wessex who settled and fortified the capital circa 880 to resist further invasions. Edward the Elder incorporated the City into Wessex's domains in 911 and it resisted a major attack in the reign of Aethelred II in 1009. London submitted to the Danish Swein Forkbeard in 1013, but three years later the citizens accepted Eadmund Ironside as King and resisted a siege by Canute. Later, unsettled times came in the anarchy period of the reign of King Stephen, with the city remaining loyal to the King except for a few months in 1141 when Empress Matilda was admitted but expelled shortly after. Coinage activity here has been fairly constant throughout history from the Romans until the reign of our current King and only moved away with the Royal Mint's expansion to southern Wales in 1969.