The ceiniog ( la, denarius; en, penny; plural: ''ceiniogau'') was the basic currency of the medieval

Welsh kingdoms Wales in the early Middle Ages covers the time between the Roman departure from Wales c. 383 until the end of the 10th century. In that time there was a gradual consolidation of power into increasingly hierarchical kingdoms. The end of the early ...

such as

Gwynedd Gwynedd (; ) is a county and preserved county (latter with differing boundaries; includes the Isle of Anglesey) in the north-west of Wales. It shares borders with Powys, Conwy County Borough, Denbighshire, Anglesey over the Menai Strait, and C ...

and

Deheubarth Deheubarth (; lit. "Right-hand Part", thus "the South") was a regional name for the realms of south Wales, particularly as opposed to Gwynedd (Latin: ''Venedotia''). It is now used as a shorthand for the various realms united under the House of ...

Hywel Dda Hywel Dda, sometimes anglicised as Howel the Good, or Hywel ap Cadell (died 949/950) was a king of Deheubarth who eventually came to rule most of Wales. He became the sole king of Seisyllwg in 920 and shortly thereafter established Deheubarth ...

was the only ruler recorded as minting his own proper coins; however, the ceiniog was not a coin but a value of silver. The "legal penny" ( la, denarius legalis; cy, ceiniog cyfreith) was the weight of 32 wheat grains in silver; the "curt penny" ( cy, ceiniog cwta), the weight of 24 wheat grains. The latter was based on the old

Roman pound The ancient Roman units of measurement were primarily founded on the Hellenic system, which in turn was influenced by the Egyptian system and the Mesopotamian system. The Roman units were comparatively consistent and well documented. Length T ...

; the former, Charlemagne's and Offa's. The Welsh half-penny was the dymey of 12 wheat grains (roughly ⅓ the "legal penny")Lewis, Timothy.
A glossary of mediaeval Welsh law, based upon the Black book of Chirk
'. Univ. Press (Manchester), 1913. and the farthing (quarter-penny) was the firdlyc of 6.Lewis, p
150
Since the value in ceiniogau of most common goods and animals were regulated by the

Laws of Hywel Dda ''Cyfraith Hywel'' (; ''Laws of Hywel''), also known as Welsh law ( la, Leges Walliæ), was the system of law practised in medieval Wales before its final conquest by England. Subsequently, the Welsh law's criminal codes were superseded by t ...

, the system also simplified

barter In trade, barter (derived from ''baretor'') is a system of exchange in which participants in a transaction directly exchange goods or services for other goods or services without using a medium of exchange, such as money. Economists distingu ...

in Wales.

References

Medieval currencies {{coin-stub