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Denier Bracteate - Beatrice I Gelnhausen
| Issuer | Holy Roman Empire |
|---|---|
| Year | 1170-1180 |
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| Shape | Round (irregular) |
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| Obverse description | Facing female half-length effigy of Empress Beatrice I, depicted in regal attire, holding a lily scepter in her right hand and an orb in her left, rendered in the Romanesque bracteate style with characteristic thin-flan relief. Above the figure, a decorative arcade of arches is flanked by towers, evoking an architectural canopy symbolic of imperial authority. The design is struck in high relief on one side only, as is characteristic of the bracteate format, with the image appearing in intaglio on the reverse. The artistic treatment is typical of mid-Rhenish bracteate coinage of the Hohenstaufen period, with stylized linear drapery and hieratic frontal presentation. |
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| Mintage | ND (1170-1180) |
| Additional information |
Beatrice I was Frederick Barbarossa's first empress, and Gelnhausen was among the imperial palaces he built — the Kaiserpfalz there was under construction precisely during this coin's minting window. Bracteates of this type were struck with her name and authority during a period when she actively administered imperial territories, not merely as a consort title but with documented administrative function. She died in 1184, making this issue confined to roughly a decade of production.