England, Harold I "Hare's Foot," Fleur-de-Lis penny, 1038–1040, minted in London by Brungar.
Obv. ✠HAR˙-OLDREX; bust of the king wearing a diadem, facing left, with a scepter in front of him.
Rev. ✠BRVNGAR ON LVN; a two-bar cross on a narrow band, with lilies in the corners.
Silver, 1.12 g, 18.1 mm. North 803; SCBC 1165. On the obverse and reverse, period incisions, so-called pecks.
Condition II, struck with slightly worn dies, but fully legible and very well preserved
Harold I, Harold Harefoot (Harefoot) or Hare-foot (b. c. 1012, d. March 17, 1040) – King of England 1037–1040, the illegitimate son of Canute the Great, from his relationship with Elgifu of Northampton, and the half-brother of the King of England and Denmark, Hardecanut. He earned the nickname “Harefoot” due to his hunting skills. He ascended the English throne after the death of Canute the Great. He died on March 17, 1040, as a fleet led by Hardecanut sailed toward England; Hardecanut had decided to claim his inheritance. Harold’s body was buried in Westminster Abbey. When Hardecanut ascended the throne, he ordered in June 1040 that his rival’s body be exhumed, his head cut off, and his body thrown into the Thames. Harefoot’s supporters fished his body out of the river and buried it in secret in the small church of St. Clement Danes.
