Aethelred the Unready viewed the attacks on his kingdom as divine retribution. He hoped that a show of public penance, including the creation of coins featuring religious imagery, would help earn God’s forgiveness

Different metal detectorists discovered the two "Lamb of God" coins at separate locations in Denmark. John Fhær Engedal Nissen / National Museum of Denmark

When Viking raiders led by the imposingly nicknamed Thorkell the Tall besieged England in 1009, the kingdom’s leader, Aethelred II , concluded that the invasion was punishment for his people’s sins. To atone for these wrongs, the English king ordered his subjects to engage in three days of penance by fasting, offering alms, walking barefoot to church and attending mass.…