The archaeology of Islam in Britain: recognition and potential

Abstract

What did the British know about Islam before the modern period? The author reviews evidence which shows that there was contact with, and appreciation of, Muslim culture from almost the time of the Hegira in the seventh century. This appreciation varied and was reflected in different choices of material culture: coinage, ceramics and architecture, in successive periods from the eighth century to the nineteenth.

The Overseas Contacts of the Anglo-Saxon England. A reassessment

“…It is a copy of Abbâsid dinar of al-Mansur from A.D. 774 and it also bears the inscription Offa Rex in Latin script. It might be interpreted, as it was found in Italy, as a part of tribute paid to the pope with Islamic currency treated as the most reliable form of money it would have raised the status of the payment 79 . But this interpretation is not necessarily correct: the coin might have been a kind of gift-item, which would not be treated simply in the means of payment 80 .…”