The Plantagenets (1154-1485) continued - The inscription on the short-cross penny was still HENRICUS REX, while the long-cross pennies were variously inscribed HENRICUS REX TERCI, HENRICUS REX III (King Henry the Third), while one issue unpopularly omitted the moneyer's name, instead having HENRICUS REX on the obverse and ANGLIE TERCI on the reverse, while another issue had HENRICUS REX ANG on the obverse and continued on the reverse with LIE TERCI LON (or CAN or AED) indicating it was minted in London or Canterbury or Bury St Edmunds.

King Edward I (1272-1307) succeeded his father while on Crusade in the Holy Land. Coin production had to continue while the king made his way home (a seven-year journey!), so long-cross pennies inscribed HENRICUS REX III continued to be produced at the Bury St Edmunds, Durham, and London mints. As Edward made his way home he concluded an important wool-trade treaty in the Netherlands, which indicated the importance of foreign trade at that time. He also acknowledged the need to improve the style and fineness of English coins to avoid the poor-quality coins which had sometimes appeared during earlier reigns and shaken public confidence in the currency.

There was also a need for larger and smaller denominations since the penny had not changed much in 500 years, so the Groat (4d), halfpenny and farthing were successfully introduced. Finally there was the problem of clipping, for which the Jews were unfairly blamed (since powerful people including the king owed Jews money, persecuting them and forcing them to flee the country was an easy way to escape their debts).

In response to all these pressures, a completely new coinage was struck in 1279 with a different design which made clipping much easier to detect. Millions of coins were struck at London and Canterbury and the public could take their old, underweight, short and long-cross pennies to the mint and exchange them for new coins of the correct weight and fineness. The new coins were much admired in Europe and were extensively copied there, often with poorer fineness silver - but this only made Edward's coins even more popular and severely drained the local supply of silver such that the export of English coins was forbidden in 1299.

The strong, good-quality coins strengthened the economy and brought prosperity to the country. The 1279 penny was different from earlier issues in many ways. The king's bust is more lifelike, facing the front, and the legend on the obverse is longer, usually EDW REX ANGL DNS HYB - Edward King of England Lord of Ireland. The reverse had a long cross going to the edge of the coin; the moneyer's name is omitted except for one issue, but the name of the mint is usually given in full, e.g. CIVITAS LONDON (City of London), or VILLA NOVI CASTRI (Town of Newcastle).

The new coins also contained a privy mark, small differences such as a rose on the king's breast, differences in the king's hair style, or an alteration in the size of the king's eyes, or the style of a letter - these differences were not caused by carelessness but to enable identification of the moneyer who produced the coin, in place of giving the moneyer's name.

Coins of Edward II (1307-1327) were deliberately made very similar to those of his father. Edward I coins were minted at Berwick-upon-Tweed, Bristol, Bury St Edmunds, Canterbury, Chester, Durham, Exeter, Kingston-upon-Hull, Lincoln, London, Newcastle, Reading, and York. Edward II coins were only minted at Berwick, Bury St Edmunds, Canterbury, Durham, and London.