O.1070 omtaler Adam af Bremen Ålborg som en blomstrende søfartsby med gode forbindelser til Norge. Ærkebispen har sandsynligvis aldrig selv været i byen, men formodes at have fået sine informationer direkte fra Svend Estridsen. Et andet indicium for stedets betydning i 1000-tallet er, at flere af kongerne lod fremstille mønter i Ålborg. Byens navn - ALABV eller ALEBV - optræder første gang under Hardeknud på en mønt, Hbg 39, slået af møntprægeren Alfric. Mønttypen findes også i en variant, hvor bagsidens møntmester opgives til at være LEFVINE ON LINC, Lefvine i Lincoln. Den angelsaksiske møntmester Lefvine, hvis karriere kan følges fra Lincoln til Lund, har altså også forestået møntprægningen i Ålborg i en kort periode, uden at han har fundet det nødvendigt at skære et bagsidestempel med byens navn. Der findes yderligere en række varianter af mønttypen med forvirrede indskrifter (se artiklen Magiske møntindskrifter), der antyder, at udmøntningen ikke har været helt ubetydelig.
Fra Magnus den Gode, Svend Estridsen og Harald Hen kendes derimod ikke til mønter fra i Ålborg. Under Knud den Hellige er der igen belæg for en møntproduktion i byen. Mindst tre møntprægere: Godvine, Orm (Worm) og Sebjørn deltog aktivt i fremstillingen af den nørrejyske type med den tronende konge, Hbg 13, i "ALEBVR(H)".
Møntsmedjen synes atter at have ligget stille under Oluf Hunger, for så at få en opblomstring under Erik Ejegod. Indtil 1980 var kendskabet til Erik Ejegods Ålborg-mønter begrænset til et enkelt eksemplar fra Store Frigård-skatten af en type lig Knud den Helliges Ålborg-mønt, der bærer Erik Ejegods navn og er slået af Edger i ALEBVR. Fundet af møntskatten i Lundby krat nær Ålborg ændredede dette billede drastisk. Skatten indeholdt 109 mønter af samme hovedtype, Erik Ejegod, Hbg 7, som man indtil da kun troede var fremstillet i Randers. Ikke færre end 61 af disse viste sig imidlertid at være slået i Ålborg af møntprægerne Baldvine, Godvine og Edger, hvoraf kun de to sidstnævnte i forvejen kendtes fra andre Ålborg udmøntninger.
Som det ser ud på det nuværende kildegrundlag, var Ålborg mønten kun periodevis aktiv i 1000-tallet. Fremtidige "Lundby Krat" skatte kunne imidlertid meget vel tænkes at ændre på denne konklusion.
(Tusindtallets danske mønter (Nationalmuseet 1995) side 52-53; let bearbejdet version)
Litteratur:
About 1070 Adam of Bremen describes Aalborg as a prosperous shipping town with good connections to Norway. The archbishop has probably never been to the town himself, but is supposed to have received his information directly from the Danish king Svend Estridsen. Another indication for the importance of the place in the 11th century is that several of the kings produced coins in Aalborg. The name of the town - ALABV or ALEBV - is for the first time represented on a coin type, Hbg 39, which was struck by the moneyer Alfric during the reign of Harthacnut. A variant of the coin type present the moneyer on the reverse as LEFVINE ON LINC. The Anglo-Saxon mint-master Lefvine is known to have been working both in Lincoln and Lund, before he went to Aalborg, where he probably was in charge of the coin production for at short period. Further variantions of the type have been found with blurred inscriptions (see nr.x), which indicate that the coinage has had a considerable size.
No coins are known from the reign of Magnus the Good, Sven Estridsen and Harald Hen. At least three moneyers, Godvine, Orm (Worm) and Sebjørn, struck coins in ALEBVR(H) during the reign of Cnut the Holy of the Norh Jutlandish type, Hbg 13, with an enthroned king on the adverse.
There is no evidence of a coin production under king Oluf Hunger, and up to recent times the only coin, which could be attributed to Aalborg during the reign of Erik Egode, was found in the Store Frigård hoard in 1928, resembling the Aalborg type of Cnut the Holy, with the only difference that it was struck in the name of Erik Egode by the moneyer Edger. In 1980 the discovery of the Lundby Krat hoard near Aalborg drastically changed this picture. The hoard contained 109 coins of the same main type, Erik Egode, Hbg 7, which up to that time was believed only to have been produced in Randers. However, no less than 61 of the coins showed themselves to have been struck in Aalborg by the moneyers Baldvine, Godvine and Edger.
Based on the present numismatic evidence the Aalborg mint was only periodically active during the 11th century. Is it however conceivable that future discoveries of new "Lundby krat hoards" could change this conclusion.