Bertram of Saint-Geniès held the patriarchate from 1334 to 1350, appointed by Avignon rather than by any local or imperial process — a direct product of papal centralization under Clement VI. The Patriarchate of Aquileia exercised secular authority over a fractious stretch of Friuli, and the right to strike coinage was among the most jealously guarded of its temporal privileges. Bertram's tenure coincided with the Black Death's sweep through northeastern Italy in 1348, a disruption severe enough to have affected mint operations across the region.
Bertram of Saint-Geniès held the patriarchate from 1334 to 1350, appointed by Avignon rather than by any local or imperial process — a direct product of papal centralization under Clement VI. The Patriarchate of Aquileia exercised secular authority over a fractious stretch of Friuli, and the right to strike coinage was among the most jealously guarded of its temporal privileges. Bertram's tenure coincided with the Black Death's sweep through northeastern Italy in 1348, a disruption severe enough to have affected mint operations across the region.