John II: A King's ransom

In 1356 the French King John II, was captured in the battle of Poitiers, France, by the English King Edward III.  His ransom was set at a whopping 3 million ecus (£500,000) but the French government had trouble raising the money, so much so, that a new coin, the franc, was introduced to help the stabilise the French economy. 

Eventually, in 1360, a third of the ransom was raised, and this first instalment of £166,666 was brought to the Mint with much fanfare and excitement from the public.  None of the other instalments ever arrived, and John died four years later in France.

Joan Molakyn: The jewel thief

Joan Molakyn was the wife of Nanfre Molakyn, the deputy Master of the Mint in the 1390s. In 1393 she ran off to East Anglia with another man, John of Ipswich, apparently taking jewels and other goods belonging to the Mint with her. 

Joan was arrested in Maldon, Essex, probably on the way to John’s home town, and some of the goods were recovered.  Suspicion was thrown on her husband Nanfre, because security must have been lax if his wife had access to bullion and jewels stored in the Tower. However Nanfre seems to have been cleared and was eventually made Master of the Mint in 1395.

William Foxley: The sleeping beauty

William Foxley was a potter at the Mint in the 1540s, earning £10 a year.  In April 1547 Foxley inexplicably fell asleep for 14 days and 15 nights.  King Henry VIII‘s doctors could neither diagnose nor rouse him, and Henry himself even had a look at the Mint’s curious sleeping beauty.  The episode had no apparent lasting effects as Foxley continued to live and work happily for another 40 years in the Tower until 1587. 

We still don’t know for certain why Foxley fell asleep, but recent work on Tudor pottery excavated at the Tower showed high levels of lead in the metals inside the pots and the presence of other heavy metals such as arsenic. Perhaps Foxley suffered from heavy metal poisoning.