Denier Bracteate - Diethelm of Krenkingen

Diethelm of Krenkingen served as Abbot of Reichenau from 1169 to 1206, presiding over the monastery during a period when its political influence had already peaked and its finances were under increasing strain. The island abbey on Lake Constance had once been among the most powerful ecclesiastical mints in the Upper Rhine region, but by the late twelfth century its coinage authority was contested and its output declining. Bracteates of this type — struck from a single die on thin silver flans — were the dominant currency form in Swabia during this decade.