[i.e., NOBLE, bearing the device of an angel: cf. spade-guinea.] The fuller name of the gold coin ANGEL (see ANGEL 6); it being really the representative in value (6s. 8d.) of the earlier noble, coined by Edward III., but with a device adopted from the Fr. angelot; while the new nobles, called rose-nobles, or rials, passed for 10s.
1474. Warkw., Chron. (1839), 4. Also he [made] angelle noblys of vjs. viijd.
1552. in Bury Wills (1850), 142. To haue for his payunes too aungell nobles.
1587. Holinshed, Chron., III. 893/2. In this season the angell noble was iust the sixt part of an ounce Troie.
1686. Cerem. for King’s Evil, in Reader (1866), 3 March, 227/2. The King … crossing the sore of the sick person with an Angel Noble.
[1834. Penny Cycl., II. 14/1. When first introduced, the angel was rated in value at 6s. 8d., and being of the same value as the noble, was sometimes called the noble angel.]
