Ottokar II ruled Bohemia at the height of its medieval power, controlling territory stretching from Silesia to the Adriatic at his peak — earning him the epithet "King of Gold and Iron." These thin, single-sided bracteates were the dominant coinage of the Bohemian lands during his reign, struck from exceptionally pure silver drawn from the rich mines of Kutná Hora. His death at the Battle of Marchfeld in 1278, fighting Rudolf of Habsburg, ended the dynasty's expansionist ambitions and brought this issue to a close.
Ottokar II ruled Bohemia at the height of its medieval power, controlling territory stretching from Silesia to the Adriatic at his peak — earning him the epithet "King of Gold and Iron." These thin, single-sided bracteates were the dominant coinage of the Bohemian lands during his reign, struck from exceptionally pure silver drawn from the rich mines of Kutná Hora. His death at the Battle of Marchfeld in 1278, fighting Rudolf of Habsburg, ended the dynasty's expansionist ambitions and brought this issue to a close.