Maundy Money
Special silver coins that are used in the Royal Maundy ceremony on Maundy Thursday. Also known as Holy Thursday, Covenant Thursday, Sheer Thursday, and Thursday of Mysteries, Maundy Thursday is the Christian holy day that occurs on the Thursday before Easter. The name “Maundy,” and the ancient ceremony itself, derive from a commandment, or mandatum, of Jesus Christ at the Last Supper that his followers should love one another (John XIII 34). It was also at the Last Supper that Christ performed the humble act of washing the feet of his apostles. It appears to have been the custom as early as the 13th century for members of the English royal family to take part in Maundy ceremonies by distributing money and gifts of food and clothing, and to recall Christ’s simple act of humility by washing the feet of the poor. In the 18th century the practice of washing the feet was discontinued; in the 19th century the gifts of food and clothing were replaced by money allowances. Today’s recipients of Royal Maundy are usually men and women who are 70, or older, chosen because of the Christian service they have given to church and community. There are as many recipients, divided into an equal number of men and women, as there are years in the sovereign’s age (in the 2019 ceremony, Queen Elizabeth II, who was 93 that year, presented Maundy money to 186 men and women). Until the 18th century the coins given were from regular, circulating coinage; it was not until the latter half of the century that the four Maundy coins developed as distinct, non-circulating silver pieces: four pence, threepence, two pence, and one penny pieces (threepence and four pence coins are only minted for Maundy money, whereas two pence and penny pieces circulate regularly, though not in silver). The obverse of the coins features the reigning monarch, while the reverse shows a crowned numeral enclosed by a wreath, a design that has remained virtually unchanged since 1822. At the ceremony the monarch hands each recipient two small leather string purses: a white one containing the specially-minted silver Maundy coins (which equal, in pence, the years of the monarch’s age), and a red one that contains a £5 and a 50 pence coin (not silver), which represents the value of the food and clothing that used to be distributed at the ceremony.