Denier Bracteate - Matthias of Rammung

Matthias of Rammung served as Bishop of Speyer from 1464 until his death in 1478, a tenure marked by persistent conflict with the city's burghers over episcopal authority — Speyer's citizens had long resisted clerical control of municipal finances, a tension that periodically erupted into open confrontation throughout the fifteenth century. Bracteates of this type, struck on foil-thin flans from a single die, were the practical coinage of the Rhine-Palatinate region long after double-sided striking had become standard elsewhere in the Empire.

At 0.28 g, these were essentially fiduciary tokens by weight, their acceptance resting entirely on episcopal credibility rather than metal value.