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Denier Bracteate - Beatrix II of Winzenburg
| Issuer | Abbey of Quedlinburg |
|---|---|
| Year | 1138-1160 |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Technique | Hammered (bracteate) |
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| Obverse description | Architectural facade of the abbey rendered in Romanesque style, featuring two flanking towers surmounted by domes, with two nimbed nuns depicted in bust within the upper arcade. In the lower register, two confronted busts are shown facing one another: on the left, Abbess Beatrix II holding a gospel book, and on the right, a bishop likewise holding a gospel book and raising his right hand in benediction. The design fills the tondo in high relief typical of bracteate coinage, with pellets distributed in the field. |
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| Mint | Quedlinburg |
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| Additional information |
Beatrix II served as abbess of Quedlinburg from 1138 until her death in 1160, presiding over one of the most prestigious imperial abbeys in the Reich — a house founded by Otto I's widow Adelaide and holding the rank of an immediate imperial fief. Quedlinburg's abbesses held the right to strike coin as early as the tenth century, a privilege that made issues like this bracteate instruments of genuine territorial authority rather than ceremonial curiosity.
Bracteate production in Saxony expanded rapidly through the mid-twelfth century as regional lords abandoned the thicker bilateral denier in favor of the single-sided fabric, which required less silver per blank.