Denier

The Bishopric of Basel held imperial minting rights granted by the Holy Roman Emperors, a privilege fiercely contested by the city's burghers throughout the twelfth century. Bishop Heinrich II received confirmation of these rights around 1180, though the practical authority to strike coin shifted incrementally toward secular municipal control over the following decades — a slow erosion that would culminate in the city's eventual monetary independence from episcopal authority.

Dating individual pieces within this eighty-year span remains difficult; most attributions rely on stylistic comparison rather than documentary evidence.