Ludolf of Kroppenstedt served as Archbishop of Magdeburg from 1192 to 1205, a period when the archbishopric wielded considerable political leverage between imperial and papal interests in the eastern reaches of the Holy Roman Empire. Bracteates of this type were not small change — they functioned as the primary silver currency across much of northern and central Germany during the High Middle Ages, regions where the thin, single-sided striking technique had displaced the older bilateral denier entirely by the late twelfth century.
The Magdeburg mint was among the most prolific bracteate producers of the period. Mehl's numbering for this type places it firmly within a well-documented episcopal sequence.
Ludolf of Kroppenstedt served as Archbishop of Magdeburg from 1192 to 1205, a period when the archbishopric wielded considerable political leverage between imperial and papal interests in the eastern reaches of the Holy Roman Empire. Bracteates of this type were not small change — they functioned as the primary silver currency across much of northern and central Germany during the High Middle Ages, regions where the thin, single-sided striking technique had displaced the older bilateral denier entirely by the late twelfth century.
The Magdeburg mint was among the most prolific bracteate producers of the period. Mehl's numbering for this type places it firmly within a well-documented episcopal sequence.