Denier Bracteate 'Moritzpfennig' - Wichmann of Seeburg

Wichmann of Seeburg's tenure as Archbishop of Magdeburg — from 1152 until his death in 1192 — coincided with the height of Hohenstaufen imperial power, and his mint at Magdeburg operated under Frederick Barbarossa's broad tolerance for ecclesiastical coinage rights. The bracteate format, struck on a single thin flan from one die, was the dominant coin form across northern and central Germany through this period, practical for hoarding but notoriously fragile in circulation.

The "Moritzpfennig" designation derives from St. Maurice, patron of Magdeburg Cathedral, whose cult was central to the archbishopric's identity since Otto I deposited his relics there in the tenth century.