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1 Zweier - Ernest of Bayern
| Issuer | Bishopric of Passau |
|---|---|
| Year | 1520-1537 |
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| Value | 2 Pfennigs (Zweier) (1⁄120) |
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| Obverse description | Two adjacent heraldic shields displayed side by side occupy the central field: the left shield bears the Passau arms (a walking lion), and the right bears the Bavarian lozengy arms. The date appears above the two shields. Below the shields, flanked by two small rosettes, the initial letter 'E' identifies the issuing bishop, Ernest of Bavaria. The design is executed in the typical late-medieval hammered style, with strongly relief-struck charges on a flat, irregular flan. |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Latin |
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| Additional information |
Ernest of Bavaria held the Prince-Bishopric of Passau from 1517 until his death in 1540, ruling a see that sat at the confluence of the Danube, Inn, and Ilz rivers — a position of considerable commercial traffic that made small silver coinage a practical necessity. The Zweier, worth two Pfennig, was the workhorse denomination of everyday transaction in the Upper Danube region throughout the early sixteenth century.
Ernest was a Wittelsbach, appointed to the see partly through dynastic maneuvering rather than ecclesiastical distinction. The overlap of his tenure with the early Reformation years put Passau under sustained pressure, as Lutheran ideas moved rapidly through the merchant networks his small coins were helping to lubricate.