Boniface IX reigned during one of the most fractured moments in Church history — the Western Schism, during which rival claimants held simultaneous papacies in Rome and Avignon. His need to finance both administration and military defense of the Papal States drove aggressive monetization, and the bolognino romano was among the workhorses of that effort. Boniface is also remembered for the scale of his simony, selling offices and indulgences so openly that even sympathetic chroniclers condemned it.
The CNI records this type across a notably wide die range, suggesting sustained and substantial output across his fifteen-year pontificate.
Boniface IX reigned during one of the most fractured moments in Church history — the Western Schism, during which rival claimants held simultaneous papacies in Rome and Avignon. His need to finance both administration and military defense of the Papal States drove aggressive monetization, and the bolognino romano was among the workhorses of that effort. Boniface is also remembered for the scale of his simony, selling offices and indulgences so openly that even sympathetic chroniclers condemned it.
The CNI records this type across a notably wide die range, suggesting sustained and substantial output across his fifteen-year pontificate.