Dortmund's civic coinage of the late fifteenth century reflects the city's standing as a Free Imperial City with the right to strike its own silver — a privilege jealously defended against encroachment by the Archbishop of Cologne, whose own albus dominated regional circulation. The Reinoldialbus takes its name from Saint Reinoldus, the city's patron, whose cult was actively promoted by the civic authorities as a marker of municipal identity distinct from ecclesiastical Westphalian powers.
At roughly half a gram, this quarter denomination was the smallest practical unit in local silver reckoning.
Dortmund's civic coinage of the late fifteenth century reflects the city's standing as a Free Imperial City with the right to strike its own silver — a privilege jealously defended against encroachment by the Archbishop of Cologne, whose own albus dominated regional circulation. The Reinoldialbus takes its name from Saint Reinoldus, the city's patron, whose cult was actively promoted by the civic authorities as a marker of municipal identity distinct from ecclesiastical Westphalian powers.
At roughly half a gram, this quarter denomination was the smallest practical unit in local silver reckoning.