Theodoric II of Moers held the archbishopric of Cologne from 1414 to 1463 — one of the longest episcopates of the fifteenth century — and used that tenure to pursue an aggressively independent territorial policy that repeatedly brought him into conflict with both the papacy and the Holy Roman Emperor. The goldgulden coinage of his reign reflects that ambition: Cologne remained one of the few Rhenish ecclesiastical mints capable of sustaining gold production through the monetary instabilities of the 1430s.
The Felke 1225 attribution places this piece within a tightly defined die sequence. Noss Co II 351 remains the authoritative reference for Cologne episcopal gold of this period.
Theodoric II of Moers held the archbishopric of Cologne from 1414 to 1463 — one of the longest episcopates of the fifteenth century — and used that tenure to pursue an aggressively independent territorial policy that repeatedly brought him into conflict with both the papacy and the Holy Roman Emperor. The goldgulden coinage of his reign reflects that ambition: Cologne remained one of the few Rhenish ecclesiastical mints capable of sustaining gold production through the monetary instabilities of the 1430s.
The Felke 1225 attribution places this piece within a tightly defined die sequence. Noss Co II 351 remains the authoritative reference for Cologne episcopal gold of this period.