Item 1992/2 - Two letters from Veronica Smart

2 items, paper

Two letters from Veronica Smart:
(a) manuscript, one folio (recto & verso), dated 22 January 1992, in response to a query from IS about Tom Fort [who contributed a paper entitled "The coinage of Beorhtric, King of the West Saxons, 786-802", Classical Numismatic review, vol. 17, no. 1 (1st Quarter, 1992), pp. 4-5, 44]. She says that TF is an American research student who worked on the Worcester charters before starting a PhD on the historical implications of the ninth-century coinage. She does recall the paper on Beorhtric but allows that she might have seen an earlier manuscript version. "Like many you research students, I suspect", she says, "Tom has a yearning to overturn accepted attributions and fly kites".
(b) manuscript, one folio (recto & verso), dated 7 February 1992, thanking IS for his letter and the enclosures. Regarding IS's identifications, she commented to Tom Fort that "the problem lay in ascertaining just how common or otherwise any name was", since the available sample is "only the tip of an iceberg". She explains that, linguistically, TF's argument is rather complicated, but concludes by saying that if he wishes to court controversy, he must be prepared to "expect as good as he gives".

For other material related to E. Tomlinson Fort, "The Coinage of Beorhtric, King of the West Saxons, 786-802", Classical Numismatic Review, vol. 17, no. 1 (1st Quarter 1992), pp. 4-5, 44, see JCPP/Stewartby/1/1/FORT/1992/1