Penning, Gotland, Botulf, circa 1210–1220
Some Gotland coins bear the inscription BOTULFI in runes. On this coin, the letters are seen at each angle of a wheel cross (a cross with a circle around it). Other coins show a double-line cross with runes or letters.
Who was Botulf? In the context of coinage, he would have been a person of particular importance, perhaps a merchant with the right to mint coins. Botulf was a common name on Gotland in the early Middle Ages.
This coin was part of a hoard found under the floor of the ruins of Vreta Abbey in 1927. Many of the several hundred Gotland coins in this hoard, dating back to the early Middle Ages, came with runic inscriptions. Gotland pennings were used in Östergötland, as well as on Gotland.
