02/10/2026
🔎 Professor Francesca Tinti, a former Visiting Fellow of Clare Hall, has helped uncover fascinating new evidence about the lives of Anglo-Saxons in early medieval Rome.
Working with Cambridge historian Professor Rory Naismith, Professor Tinti has been studying Anglo-Saxon coins discovered during excavations near the Vatican.
We are delighted to see the work of a former Clare Hall Visiting Fellow receiving such prominent recognition and warmly congratulate Professor Tinti on these brilliant discoveries 👏
In the early Middle Ages, the Anglo-Saxons developed a “Little England” in Rome 🏴🇮🇹
Early written sources recorded some information about this discovery, but we never had any material evidence of the Schola Saxonum… until now!
New research by Professors Rory Naismith (Corpus Christi College, University of Cambridge) and Francesca Tinti (Clare Hall, University of Cambridge) suggests that English expats avoided ‘travel money’ hassle, thanks to special treatment from the Pope in the early Middle Ages.
The discovery of 20 coins, alongside evidence of craftwork, suggests it was a thriving and valued expat community.
“The Anglo-Saxons were very firmly a part of the European community," Professor Naismith said. "They kept these bonds with Rome going strong for hundreds of years, through thick and thin. These coins show us how deep that relationship went.”
The discovery of these English coins changing hands in Rome in this period challenges a long-held assumption that the papacy forbade the use of foreign currency in the city.
Find out more through the link in the comments 👇
