Catalog
Denier au nom d'Otton III
| Issuer | Bishopric of Würzburg |
|---|---|
| Year | 983-996 |
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| Orientation | Variable alignment ↺ |
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| Obverse description | Stylized bust of Saint Kilian facing right, rendered in a crude but characteristic Ottonian hammered style within a beaded inner circle. The effigy is depicted in profile with schematic facial features typical of late 10th-century episcopal coinage. The circular legend +S-KILIANVS surrounds the central device, invoking the patron saint of Würzburg. |
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| Edge | Plain |
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| Additional information |
Würzburg's right to strike coinage derived from an imperial grant, and these deniers struck in Otto III's name reflect the peculiar political arrangement of Ottonian Germany, where ecclesiastical lords exercised minting authority as a direct extension of royal privilege. Otto III was between seven and thirteen years old during this entire issue's span — the coins bear the name of a child emperor whose regents, first his mother Theophanu and then his grandmother Adelheid, held actual power.
The Kluge and Dannenberg references place this firmly within the documented Carolingian-formula coinage that Würzburg continued striking well into the Ottonian period without substantially updating its monetary conventions.