In considering the wergelds of the laws belonging to this period, we shall find plenty of evidence of the confusion resulting from this remarkable experiment, made more apparent by the fact that the ratio of 1:12 was restored by one of Charlemagne’s successors. It has been necessary to trouble the reader with this brief statement of somewhat complicated facts, because it would be impossible to understand the wergelds of the various Continental tribes if they were not borne in mind. For the understanding of these wergelds the points to be considered will be:-- (1) As regards the laws, the recensions of which date from Merovingian times, it will be necessary to ask whether the solidi and tremisses were of Imperial or of Merovingian standard. (2) As regards the later laws, the recensions of which date from the conquests of Charlemagne, we shall have to consider whether the wergelds are stated in gold solidi and tremisses, or in the silver solidi and pence of the _nova moneta_ of Charlemagne. IV. THE NORMAN AND ANGLO-SAXON CURRENCY. Working back from the known to the unknown, the facts relating to the Norman and Anglo-Saxon currency, speaking generally, confirm what has already been said of the Frankish currency, and become intelligible when the two currencies are considered together. [Sidenote: The Norman and later Anglo-Saxon pound of 240 pence of 32 wheat-grains.] In the first place, the Norman and Anglo-Saxon pound at the time of the Norman conquest was the pound of 7680 wheat-grains of silver or 240 silver pence of 32 wheat-grains, like that of the _nova moneta_ of Charlemagne, and the Normans, like the Franks, divided it for monetary purposes into 20 shillings of 12 pence. At the same time the Normans recognised that the Mercians had all along reckoned in silver scillings of 4 pence, and the men of Wessex in scillings of 5 pence. [Sidenote: The earlier pound of 240 sceatts or silver tremisses of 28·8 wheat-grains.] If we examine the actual coinage of the Anglo-Saxons we find that, like that of the Franks, it may be divided into two periods. The earlier one corresponded to the Merovingian period during which the penny or sceatt of Mercia and Wessex was of 28·8 wheat-grains, like the silver tremisses or pence across the Channel.[11] The later period commenced when Offa in Mercia, followed by Alfred in Wessex, abandoned the ‘sceatt’ and issued pence like those of the _nova moneta_ of Charlemagne of 32 wheat-grains. So marked is the distinction between the silver pence of the two periods in type and weight that they are known by numismatists as the ‘Sceatt series’ and the ‘Penny series.’ Finally, just as, in the case of the Frankish currency, the pound of 240 sceatts was the Roman pound of 6912 wheat-grains, so the pound of 240 of the later pence was the pound of the _nova moneta_ of 7680 wheat-grains, which in England after the Conquest became the standard or Tower pound.