Denaro - In name of Frederick II

Cremona's loyalty to Frederick II during the prolonged conflict between empire and papacy made it one of the few northern Italian communes to mint in his name rather than asserting full civic independence on its coinage. The city served as a key imperial base in Lombardy, and this deference — unusual among the fractious communes of the Po Valley — is reflected directly in the coin's issuing authority.

Frederick's excommunication by Gregory IX in 1239 and the subsequent Lombard League resistance complicate the precise dating of issues from this period. Cremona remained staunchly Ghibelline throughout.